Friends?

Have you ever had a good friend and been disappointed by something they did?
I have.
In fact, I've been on both sides of that equation.
I've been disappointed and others have been disappointed by me.

You know how it is, you expect something from your friend or spouse and you feel like they didn't step up like they should be capable of doing.
Conversely, maybe you fell short.
Maybe you had a good reason, or maybe you just made a poor decision, but rarely is it because you intended harm.
I mean, you're friends.

So what do you do?

You get angry, you yell, and eventually you have to decide.
Can you put this behind or not?

The Connecticut Labor Community is in that position right now with some long time political friends.
Friends who have supported working families year after year, but who voted for an austerity state budget that is just unacceptable. A budget that lays off workers, cuts vital services and negatively effects town budgets.
Our members are angry and rightfully so.
We have worked hard to support these friends election after election and they turned their backs on us.

And yet.

How do you not support a friend who stands with you 90% or more of the time?
How do you not support them when the person running against them absolutely wants to destroy worker's rights?
This is our dilemma.

Like the legislators, I have disappointed friends.
They have felt like I let them down by something I did or didn't do.
God bless my wife, I do it to her on a regular basis.
I'm not saying it's always my fault, but I do need to look in the mirror and be honest with myself.

And I need to keep the lines of communications open.

I think that's were Connecticut Labor and our normal political friends are now as we meet for the Connecticut AFL-CIO Political Convention.

Labor is disappointed, and rightfully so.

We have to decide, can we put this behind us and work together for the workers of this state?
Labor needs our normal friends to "look in the mirror."  We deserve that.  We owe it to our members to hold legislators accountable.
But we also have to remember our history with them.  Many have stood with us most of the time.
We must keep the lines of communication open, in fact, we must insist on better lines of communications.

The next couple of days we will grapple with these issues.
Those who wish to destroy worker's rights are hoping we cannot find a solution.