CWA members were flabbergasted and outraged to learn that Governor Nixon proposed additional massive cuts to Missouri’s most vulnerable citizens in his state of the state address and initial budget proposal.
Among the wrongheaded recommendations he announced were plans to lay off nearly 500 direct service employees in Department of Social Services and Department of Health and Senior Services. In addition to adding hundreds to Missouri’s already historically high numbers of unemployed, these cuts will:Governor Nixon is refusing to advocate for any measures that would significantly increase state revenue, even measures with support from both parties such as taxing internet retail sales or increasing the tobacco tax. Governor Nixon seems to have forgotten his promises to restore social services during his election campaign, but the hundreds of union members who devoted thousands of hours to his first election campaign have not.
- make accessing and applying for Medicaid, Foodstamps, child support and child care services vastly more difficult for thousands of financially struggling Missouri families
- reduce the number of state employees assigned to protecting children, senior citizens and people with disabilities from abuse and neglect
- force families with troubled youth to travel hundreds of miles to access state mandated treatment services.
By issuing this budget recommendation, Governor Nixon has decided that the entire burden for Missouri’s economic crisis should be carried by abused children, people with disabilities, and unemployed and low-wage workers. He has decided that the interests of out of state corporations and the tobacco industry are more important than the needs of the citizens of his state who are struggling the most during this economic crisis.
The 6,500 public workers represented by CWA will not forget this outrageous decision and will fight this cruel and shortsighted budget at every possible level.Communications Workers of America, Local 6355, AFL-CIO
You can say Nixon's in a tough spot, but at the very least this calls into question his claim that he will "fight every day for every job."
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How DO these people keep getting elected? And by the very people they are determined to remove from the face of the earth. Thanks for your reporting! Visit often, first time commenter.
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