Who will stand up for the worker?

What about the worker?

In recent opinion pieces, we have heard from Republican legislators regarding workers’ rights, the American success story and fiscal responsibility. 

Republican state Sen. Bruce Tutvedt of Kalispell railed against workers’ right to organize in his opinion piece, “Uncertainty hurts Montana jobs.” (See related story).

Republican Sen. Taylor Brown of Billings wrote that “Business [is] built on work” but failed to mention the workers without whom no business would exist.

Republican Sen. Jeff Essman of Billings wrote that “Republicans [are] responsible for state budget surplus” without a single mention of the services that were paid for but not provided to hardworking Montana families.  

Montana’s Department of Health and Human Services, local schools, and higher education centers are still suffering from unnecessary and irresponsible budget cuts.

On behalf of the hard-working men and women across the state, I must interject some truth into this conversation.

First, Tutvedt attacks unions saying they bring conflict, increased cost, and uncertainty for business owners. Tutvedt says that the government should prohibit workers from organizing to gain job certainty for themselves. This argument is especially ironic because he had no problem accepting certainty for himself in the form of over a half-million dollars in farm subsidies between 1995 and 2009, according to the Helena-based Policy Institute.

Who will stand up for the worker? What about the uncertainty of not knowing your hours, schedule, pay, or benefits? Workers are what make a business. They create the wealth and deserve a voice in their working conditions and pay.

Brown argues that the “highways and bridges that we use are actually paid for by the users.”  We are all in complete agreement on this point. 

The system where we all pay toward public services that we use is called government. Brown accused President Obama of “talking down” to taxpayers when Obama said, “if you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help … somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive.”

The president wasn’t talking down to taxpayers. He was reminding us all that we are the taxpayers who pay for the services we receive. Less government will mean fewer vital services, which will hurt everyone, including business owners.

Brown writes that the root of American success is “the commitment of private businesses.” That certainly is part of the equation. However, government services and hard-working employees who make enough money to purchase the goods workers produce are also required to make America successful.

Brown also received nearly a half-million dollars in farm subsidies, so I guess he would have to admit that he has had a little hand up from the people (i.e. government). In fact, Tutvedt and Brown are both among the top 10 farm subsidy recipients in Montana.

Finally, Essman writes that the Republican Party is responsible for the state budget ending fund balance and points his finger at Gov. Schweitzer and the Democrats saying that if it were up to them, we would have a deficit. 

The truth is that Montana Democrats are fiscally responsible, and Montanans know it. They proposed a balanced budget that funded services while maintaining a healthy reserve.   Essman’s scare tactics won’t work because Montanans are smarter than that.

Montanans paid into a system expecting to get a certain level of services in return. Right now, they aren’t getting what they paid for thanks to the Republicans’ needless budget cuts. Essman touts Legislative Referendum 123, a ballot measure that would squander our savings and put it into the hands of the wealthiest Montanans. 

Essman says Republicans will “keep a sharp eye on public spending,” but I have a better suggestion: How about getting a sharp pencil? If the Legislature had accepted the governor’s initial budget projections, Montana would have passed a budget that kept a reasonable reserve while providing vital services to Montanans who worked hard to pay for them.

Amanda Curtis is the Representative-elect for House District 76 in Butte.