Robert I. Field, Ph.D., J.D., M.P.H., Professor, Earle Mack School of Law & Drexel School of Public Health
With no deal in Washington to stop it, the sequestration of federal funds is about to begin. It could be enough to make you sick – literally.
Some of the automatic budget cuts won’t be felt for months, if sequestration lasts that long. But several cuts involving health care will hit us much sooner. And they could hit us hard.
Eleven years ago, twenty-five Flight Attendants took action as first responders in a war we didn’t know we were fighting. These heroes were among the first to relay the intelligence that alerted our country and our flying partners in flight 93, who in turn sacrificed their own lives to save countless others on the ground.
Immediately following the horrific events of September 11th, Flight Attendants and crewmembers helped usher millions of passengers home to their families and loved ones. Our work continues every day since then, adding to our role as first responder the new responsibility as aviation’s last line of defense.
On that horrific day 11 years ago, the emotional questions of why and how such attacks could have happened quickly evolved into our firm resolve: We will prevent this act from happening again. We will, as airline pilots, never again witness a friend, a family member or a fellow crewmember leave us too early in this manner.
Today, as we have done each year since 2001, the airline pilots and staff of ALPA reaffirm our commitment to stand together and to stay vigilant and actively engaged in every effort to secure our skies. We will never forget.
Even though 11 years have passed since that cloudless blue morning in September, the IAFF has not forgotten.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, IAFF staff mobilized swiftly to assist members in New York City, providing extra staff, financial support and counseling for the grieving.
“At the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, our members gave everything they had. The best that this union and this nation have to offer was demonstrated in their courageous response,” says [IAFF General President Harold] Schaitberger.
In the years since, the IAFF has strived in numerous ways to honor the service of members who made the ultimate sacrifice on September 11. In addition, the International has fought to ensure safer and healthier working conditions and advocated for benefits and protections for IAFF members and their families.
The tool allows activists to match their Facebook friends to the publicly available voter file and begin contacting their targeted friends via phone banks, print mail, e-mail and Facebook, in support of the Labor 2012 program.
The Field Clinic
American Federation of Government Employees Local 704 