To my brothers and sisters of AFGE 507 and to our wider coalition of federal employees:

Within the next few weeks, the House of Representatives will vote whether to approve H.R. 2550 - the Protect America's Workforce Act - to overturn the Executive Order titled “Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs” and decide if federal workers have the right to union representation.  The fact of the matter is that neither the President nor Congress nor even the Supreme Court should get to decide what we're entitled to as Americans.  Our collective bargaining rights are not entitlements or privileges; they are basic human rights fundamental to self-determination and self-preservation as well as towards the preservation of basic American values. 

Since the passage of the Labor Management Relations Act in 1947, our elected officials stopped representing the interests of the American worker and chose to sell their influence to the highest corporate bidder.  Every year we see the gap between the richest and the poorest widen like an abyss wider and deeper than the Grand Canyon, and those people we've entrusted to the highest offices in our nation have abused that trust at every given opportunity. Somehow, these politicians and political pundits have managed to convince the American people that we should be fighting each other instead of fighting to preserve the ideals and promise of our American democracy - that all people are created equal, born with the inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  While we're busy fighting each other over Red and Blue, they horde all the Green, leaving us to quarrel over pennies like paupers and peasants.  

Far too long have we allowed others to speak for us and tell us what we get while they collect taxes out of our pockets and spend it on their own interests and privileged lives. Once upon a time, Americans picked a fight with those trying to steal the fruits of our labor. We told those conniving thieves back in Britain that we will not accept taxation without representation and fought to establish our own democratic nation and government.  Now, we allow our politicians to rob us of our labor and our hope, to stir up resentment that pitches neighbor against neighbor, and to pay lip service to the very idea of representing us in those hallowed halls of government. 

You can choose to accept the yoke of that shame, or you can choose to be a true American patriot. You can call your members of Congress and tell them they work for us, not the other way around. Tell them to support H.R. 2550 - the Protect America's Workforce Act.  Tell them that if they vote against us - the American people - that it is them that won't have job security and representation come the next election. It's far past the time we take our power back. Use your voice and call today.

United We Stand,

George Scott Davis

AFGE Local 507

To contact your local Representative, click the following link: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative