‘Working Families, Not Big Oil’

Frank Snyder, Labor 2008 state director for Pennsylvania, reports on rallies in Pittsburgh and Allentown. These actions are part of the union movement’s nationwide protests against high gas prices and Sen. John McCain’s support for Big Oil. In Riverside, Calif., some 40 union volunteers gathered outside a McCain fundraiser this week in an event organized by the Central Labor Council of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. And in Dayton, Ohio, union members protested high gas prices on Wednesday.

This week, the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO is focusing on gas prices and their effect on working families.

On June 21, members of AFT, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA), Mine Workers (UMWA) and United Steelworkers (USW) rallied in Pittsburgh to tell Sen. John McCain and the Bush administration to stop giving tax breaks to Big Oil. More than 15 people gathered at a corner gas station on E. Carson and S. 10th streets and chanted, “Working families, not Big Oil,” as cars drove by and honked in support.

Bob Muchow, a member of AFT Local 400, says he came out because oil prices are not only affecting the way people commute but every aspect of their lives—from how they buy food to how they shop for new clothes. 

I don’t know how people who have families can afford to put gas in their car. I don’t have kids and for me it is a daily struggle. The little money I get each year, any raise I might get, is for nothing. The cost of food and gas takes it away. Oil prices are affecting everything from the cost of groceries to clothing. Nothing is affordable anymore. McCain is offering tax breaks for Big Oil, while working families struggle just to put food on the table.

UA member Jim Lewis says he is worried about families struggling to get to work each day.

When Bush came into office, gas was $1.47 a gallon and now it is over $4 a gallon. It is changing the way working people live and not for the better. I have three kids that I have to shuttle around to different activities and people are struggling to get to work every day.

The overwhelming support the Pittsburgh rally received from passing vehicles is yet another reminder that voters are tired of tax breaks for Big Oil while working families feel the pain of high gas prices. The Pennsylvania labor movement is out in full force to tell John McCain and the Bush administration that their priority needs to be working families and not Big Oil.

In Allentown on Thursday, union activists gathered in front of a gas station at rush hour to draw attention to the fact that working families are struggling to afford enough gas to get to work while McCain continues to support Big Oil.

Lehigh Valley Labor Council President Gregg Potter, who attended the rally, says:

The Bush administration’s failed oil policies have working families struggling to afford a tank of gas and John McCain only promises more of the same.

Rick Sturz, from Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 126, says as veteran, he respects McCain’s military service, but his policies are destructive for working families. 

I go to union meetings and people talk about how hard it is just to get to work with these gas prices. It is clear that John McCain does not care about working people.

Here’s what other workers who volunteered to come to the rally had to say.

From Cas Riepensell, a member of IBEW Local 1600:

I don’t know how some people are making it, especially nonunion workers. I know what some people make and I know that their whole paycheck must be going into their gas tank. It breaks my heart that this is happening in America.”

John Lemos, an IAM Local 917 member, says:

It is time for people to get involved. People are starting to get angry and realize that the Bush administration is not taking care of us and that John McCain will be more of the same. Union members have got to get involved and let every one know that John McCain is not standing for working families now.

This week, Pennsylvania union members made sure that McCain knows how they feel about exorbitant gas prices. By standing together in solidarity to make sure other members are informed, they also helped ensure that come November, John McCain and his anti-labor policies will no longer be allowed free reign to support Big Oil companies and ignore working families.

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Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Political Contributions Committee, www.aflcio.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

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