Pittsburgh Workers, Activists Rally to Protest ALEC

Hundreds of activists and working people rallied in downtown Pittsburgh today to protest the big-business lobbying group ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) and remind the bill mill that their corporate greed is not welcome in the Steel City.

Members of community organizations and local unions protested in droves across the street as the band of conservative legislators and highly-paid executives met at the Omni William Penn Hotel.

Sam Williamson, leader of the Western Pennsylvania Service Employees International Union, led the rally and energized the crowd of activists that gathered to show their support for labor rights, economic equality, and democracy. ALEC attempts to destroy every one of those values by manipulating legislation for their own self-interests while claiming to be a non-profit.

“ALEC is trying to control and turn every aspect of American life into a stream of profit to benefit their members,” Williamson said. “They are not a charity.”

Attendees and speakers represented a wide range of organizations such as the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Pittsburgh Interfaith Impact Network, the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, Fight for 15, and the United Steelworkers (USW).

Tom Crawford, the regional vice president of the CWA, spoke to the crowd about telecom giant and ALEC corporate member Verizon. Nearly 40,000 of the wireless company’s employees are currently on strike due to a nine-month long contract dispute. Verizon, which in the last three years alone has earned over $39 billion in profits, is seeking rule changes that would make it easier to outsource work.

“We built this company. We made them profitable,” Crawford told the energetic crowd. “Companies should be building up the middle class, not tearing it down. Verizon exemplifies everything ALEC stands for.”

ALEC is a corporate-funded, pay-to-play operation that creates a space for global companies and state politicians to meet behind closed doors to try to rewrite laws and line their pockets.

The Republican-dominated organization boasts 2,000 legislative members and 300 corporate members. They gather at expensive junkets and work together to produce anti-democratic statutes like stand your ground gun laws, voter suppression, pension cuts, and Citizens United.

Enacting unjust legislation for the sake of profit, ALEC attempts to influence not just national, but also local government policy, including in Pittsburgh.

Nina Esposito-Visgitis, president of the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, addressed the crowd and voiced her disgust towards ALEC. The group promotes voucher programs that drain public schools of resources by using taxpayer dollars to subsidize private schools. It also attempts to segregate students with disabilities from non-disabled students by incentivizing the creation of largely unregulated private schools.

“Every child deserves a quality education,” Esposito-Visgitis said. “The bills they introduce prove that they are out to get and destroy public education. Pennsylvanians are tired of ALEC cashing in our kids.”

For more information on ALEC, go to www.alecexposed.org.

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