Joshua Anijar, Florida AFL-CIO communications director, sends us this report on the recent Republican National Convention where working families greeted Mitt Romney and friends.  

When the Republican National Convention headed to Tampa, Fla., to nominate its candidate for president, the West Central Florida Federation of Labor (WCFFL) was ready. The 12-county organization staged “Welcome to Romney’s America,” a combination protest and satirical street theater to illustrate what America would be like under a Romney-Ryan administration.

The premise of WCFFL’s event was based around the tenets of a proposed America’s Second Bill of Rights, which defines five fundamental rights essential to workers and the middle class:

1. Full employment and a living wage.
2. Full participation in the electoral process.
3. A voice at work.
4. A quality education.
5. A secure, healthy future.

Romney’s vision for America would make a mockery of these basic rights and destroy the middle class. 

Instead of just holding a march or a rally, the event had different stations where guerrilla theater tactics were used to highlight how Romney would wreak havoc on our basic rights.

The first stop was at the corner of two busy downtown Tampa streets, where performers illuminated economic injustices that benefit the 1% at the expense of the 99%. 

Further down the parade route, they depicted voting inequities (which we have been experiencing in Florida) with a booth that is open to white male voters but closed to all others.

The next stop on the route was devoted to highlighting the need for workers to be able to advocate for better working conditions, safety, security and pay without having their labor exploited by their employer.   

The fourth stop showed that not funding public education and pricing higher education out of the reach of most American families ultimately undermines our global competitiveness. 

The fifth stop, at the end of the parade route, drew attention to the dangers a Romney-Ryan administration presents to the future of all working people.

The event concluded with the signing of America's Second Bill of Rights by the performers and their audience. 

This event was a huge success both in educating people on what Romney’s America would look like and also empowering our activists for the important work we have in front of us in the Sunshine State; making sure working families have a voice in all halls of government.

The WCFFL, along with our families and friends, believes that by electing leaders who will fight to rebuild the middle class, we can all enjoy economic prosperity and a safe, healthy future.