You probably heard the good news: The refs are back!
You probably heard the good news: The refs are back!
The football season started in disaster, but now we’re set to get back on track. On Wednesday night, the NFL Referees Association and the league reached a tentative eight-year agreement, ending the lockout of professional referees, who are back on the field.
If you support the refs, there’s more you can do to support workers fighting the same type of corporate greed—check out our petition to stand in solidarity with American Crystal Sugar workers, who have been locked out for more than a year.
Many of you have asked me some questions about the ref lockout, and I wanted to clear up two important things. This wasn’t a strike—so there weren’t any picket lines to cross. Refs weren’t refusing to show up to work; it was owners who wanted more than their fair share who forced the lockout.
Many of you suggested that players should go on strike, and couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t do that to make sure we got the right refs back. However, with their new collective bargaining agreement, players aren’t actually permitted to go on strike, except in very specific circumstances.
While I’m relieved the Steelers won’t be subjected to any of those awful calls, this is about something bigger than just the football field. There are workers everywhere—like those at American Crystal Sugar, who have been locked out for more than a year—who might not have the same national stage, but endure the same corporate greed and unfair treatment the NFL refs did.
I hope you’ll join NFL fans everywhere in telling American Crystal Sugar you support professional, highly skilled workers both on the football field and at the sugar plant. Sign your name to our petition supporting sugar workers:
http://go.aflcio.org/SupportCrystalSugarWorkers
Whether it’s the outcome of a football game, the safe and efficient manufacturing of the sugar we consume every day, the education of our children or our public safety—we rely on each other to get the job done, and we owe it to each other to stand up together against the type of corporate greed and unfair treatment that hurts us all.
Just one more thing. To NFL fans and workers everywhere fighting for a voice on the job: Game on!
In Solidarity,
Richard Trumka
President, AFL-CIO
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GO PACK GO. 