Monday, January 24, 2011

When you voted for State Senator and State Representative last election, did you think you were voting against New Hampshire’s working families and lowest paid employees?

Well it seems the new legislative leadership in Concord thinks you did. So far, less than a month since they were sworn in to office, these newly elected leaders have promoted an agenda that undermines public servants, minimum wage workers and hard working union members in our state.

The so called “Right to Work” bill that has been defeated time and again in New Hampshire since the 1980s, is back again. New Hampshire has been smart to keep this job killing law off the books because workers in the states that have adopted this law make less money, have more on-the-job accidents (and deaths), are more likely to go without health care and have a better chance of becoming a statistic in higher poverty rates.

In addition, Republican senators are sponsoring legislation to eliminate our state’s minimum wage, pulling the rug out from our lowest paid workers and their families, many of our neighbors and friends.

Yet another bill will take away protection from our public service employees, removing a New Hampshire statute that maintains negotiated contracts between employers and employees until another negotiated contract is in place.

Please join me in contacting your elected representatives and senator and telling them to vote against these mean-spirited attacks on working people in our state.

Danny Keating

Nashua

http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/opinionletters/906425-263/senate-taking-aim-at-working-people.html