A Nation Where Work No Longer Matters
Check out the below op-ed from VT AFL-CIO President Larry Moquin, which is currently being published around the state.
A Nation Where Work No Longer Matters
Recently, the richest person in the world was granted a salary of one trillion dollars over ten years. Let that sink in. $1,000,000,000,000. One person will receive ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS per year for 10 years to run a company. One person, already unimaginably wealthy, was handed more money than the total budget of the state of Vermont, not to mention that a trillion dollars is larger than most countries’ GDP.
At the same time of that announcement, tens of thousands of federal employees went to work and didn’t get paid because of the government shutdown. Millions of poor and working-class Americans didn’t receive their SNAP benefits and struggled to feed their families. And healthcare costs for working people are sky rocketing with no end in sight.
Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives, the leaders we elected to run the government, didn’t meet for over a month. The President, with no sense of irony, threw a Great Gatsby–themed party, a celebration of excess named after a story that was supposed to warn us about it.
The rich got richer. People went to work and didn’t get paid. Millions went hungry. And somehow, this has become normal.
What is happening in our country?
We used to value work. We believed that if you worked hard, you’d earn enough to live with dignity. One job could support you and your family. Now, too many companies and politicians treat workers as disposable and view the economy not as a shared project, but as a game to be won by a handful of shareholders.
The results are everywhere: record corporate profits, record CEO pay, and record levels of despair among working people. The rich continue to spend, propping up our economy while millions of people look for food. When the system rewards hoarding instead of helping, and speculation instead of service, it’s no wonder faith in the American Dream is fading.
It doesn’t have to be this way. We can value labor over luxury, community over greed, and people over profits. But that means demanding more—from our government, from corporations, and from ourselves.
At the Vermont AFL-CIO, we work every day to support workers throughout the state and raise up their voices. Through the power of collective bargaining and union organizing, working families in the Green Mountain state can restore hope for tomorrow. Our strength lies in our unity, whether on the picket line, at the bargaining table, or in the halls of government, we are one movement fighting for justice for all. We are building a future where every Vermonter earns a fair wage, has a safe workplace, and can live with dignity and security. Because if we keep rewarding the richest for taking and punishing the rest for working, we won’t just lose our paychecks. We’ll lose our soul as a country.
In solidarity,
Larry Moquin, President, Vermont AFL-CIO
Business Manger LiUNA Local 668