This week, newly elected Republican governors in Indiana and Missouri escalated the right wing’s war on working families by rescinding collective bargaining rights for tens of thousands of state employees.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels cancelled union contracts covering 25,000 state workers, dissolving a policy supported by three previous governors that allowed state workers to bargain for better pay, benefits and work rules.

In Missouri, Gov. Matt Blunt reversed an order issued by Gov. Bob Holden in 2001 allowing unions to collect bargaining fees from 9,000 state workers and declared contracts covering thousands of additional state employees “not in effect.”

In both states, workers who are being denied the basic right to form and join unions in order to have a voice on the job include those charged with delivering vital family and children’s services, maintaining safe transportation and secure prisons, and first-responders such as nurses and other health care providers, state troopers and police officers.

These actions deny Indiana and Missouri state employees the rights enjoyed by all private sector workers and by state employees in other states. And they echo a message coming from the White House down to men and women on the frontlines of our struggles against poverty, disease, crime and terrorism all across our country: We expect first-class devotion, service and sacrifice, but we will treat you like second-class citizens.

These actions are an outrage and the AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions will not let them stand. We will do everything within our power to help restore the rights of Indiana and Missouri state employees. And we will redouble our efforts to guarantee all workers in our country the fundamental freedom to join and form unions to improve their lives.

Contact Suzanne Ffolkes 202-637-5018