WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Ann Marie Taliercio serves as President of the Central New York Area Labor Federation.  The Central New York Area Labor Federation represents more than 100,000 Union Members who are in turn represented by 200 Local Unions that are located in 11 Central New York Counties, including: Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland, Delaware, Madison, Onondaga, Oswego, Otsego, Tioga, and Tompkins.  The mission of the Central New York Area Labor Federation is to improve the lives of Working Families - to bring Economic Justice to the Workplace and Social Justice to New York State and the Nation.  The We Are New York website she speaks about can be directly accessed at: www.wearenewyork.us

February 2011 awakened the American Public to the continuing struggle to secure the rights of American Workers in the workplace as Public Sector Workers in Wisconsin took their fight into the street and the entire country responded.

Over the past three decades, Americans have quietly watched private sector jobs disappear by the thousands, numbed by the media’s repeated report of how the workers felt on the last day as they entered their work place for the last time – while at the same time never exposing the truth behind the losses.  Instead, we all agreed that someone else’s job loss didn’t matter.  However, Wisconsin triggered the reality: What is gained or lost by ONE Worker is gained or lost by ALL hourly workers, management, small business and the community.

In February, in Central New York, the Area Labor Federation began receiving phone calls asking: “How do we let Albany know that we won’t take it in New York?”  Americans accept all of our rights as a given.  We don’t fight until those rights are challenged.  

To those callers in Labor Unions, I sent them to back to their individual Unions. 

To those callers NOT protected by a Collective Bargaining Agreement, I recruited them to the next meeting of what became a new partnership.

The Central New York Organized Labor Community was prepared to accept this new type of membership from our community because in January the Union leadership had acknowledged that: “We can’t do it alone anymore” (as if we ever could).  Instead, we’ve taken action. We started a movement which became the WE ARE NEW YORK ALLIANCE, which is made up of individuals, Unions, community groups and businesses who are dedicated to working together for Economic and Social Justice for all in our community.

The Central New York Chapter is in its infancy, but we have inquires from throughout our region asking how to join.  Community coalitions similar to WE ARE NEW YORK are springing up across our Nation because all Americans are feeling the effects of allowing politicians to divide us by our differences.  

So we’re coming together, united by our similarities.

This is the only way Americans will keep those hard fought for rights.

We, as Americans, have come full circle to the understanding that if you go to work each day to earn every dollar to pay for food, housing, transportation and Health Care - we must stand together and speak with ONE Voice for our rights and the well-being of our communities.

It makes no difference whether we’re self-employed, a small business, middle management or hourly workers: WE ARE NEW YORK!