Labor & Employment Law

Right-Wing Noise Machine Aims at Public Employees

By Mike Hall

New Republican governors, old right wing radio windbags, Fox News and extremist hacks continue to stoke the noise machine that?s belching blather about public employees.

As Dave Johnson at the Campaign for America?s Future writes:

The right’s propaganda machine begins with a simple narrative, repeats it endlessly, and then ties current events to the narrative to drive the point home. The corporate/conservative right are currently working a narrative that public employees and their unions are the reason for state and local budget problems. This is repeated endlessly, and every current event that hits the news is then used to support the claim. This is how an untruth becomes ?conventional wisdom.?

Johnson traces the recent (and false) mantra that public employees? pensions and wages are causing state and local budget meltdowns. It ran from George Will to the Wall Street Journal to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) to anti-tax extremists.

As we reported last month, AFSCME launched an aggressive new ?Stop the Lies? campaign to fight back against lies about public workers by radical talking heads like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, John Stossel and right wing politicians.

The campaign is using social media, videos, paid advertising and ground events across the country to get the truth heard.  See this five-minute video by Brave New Films that calls out right wing mistruths on workers? pensions, wages, state budget deficits and tax cuts for the very wealthy.  Says AFSCME President Gerald McEntee:

Public service workers have become the scapegoats for the far right. We?re not going to sit around and let corporate CEOs define the debate. After all, it was their greed and incompetence that drove this country?s economy into the ditch.

Also, check out this recent post from Mike Brenner on Labor Notes on public employee myths and realities.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on January 04, 2011 (boomark / email).