The 53,000 members of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, stand together with the public-sector workers of Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and anywhere collective bargaining rights are threatened. The ability to join as a group to negotiate working conditions with an employer is a fundamental tenet of a free democracy.

Teachers, police officers, firefighters, nurses, and other public employees are the bedrock of our society. They deserve our respect and recognition for the essential work they do. Like all workers, they also deserve the right to organize their members and bargain on their behalf.

Many of the basic work conditions every American takes for granted, including retirement plans, employer-supported health care, the five-day work week, and paid holidays, came as a direct result of advances made by organized labor. Whether or not they belong to a union, every working American enjoys benefits won through collective bargaining. The current anti-labor backlash perpetuated by some cynical politicians ignores our history and cheapens the collaboration between labor and management that has created the most prosperous, best-educated workforce in the world.

As we have seen too often in our own industry, pay, benefits, and work rules can change, and not always for the better. But we firmly believe that any changes in employment deserve to be negotiated directly with an employer, not arbitrarily imposed by government or the courts.

We urge all ALPA members to support their union colleagues and take a stand with them for the American principles of fairness, equity, and justice.