Why Sandbagging Public Servants Invites Waste, Fraud, and Abuse
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
Workers who issue licenses and permits for the city of Dallas fought back in 2024 when officials moved them into a building that failed to meet the very same safety requirements they enforce at dozens of other office towers.
The workers, including members of the United Steelworkers (USW), organized a rally, secured the city council’s intervention, and leveraged media coverage to highlight the fire risks, 140 code violations, and other hazards that the 11-story building at 7800 N. Stemmons Freeway posed to them and the public they serve.
Within a few weeks, the city surrendered to the mounting outrage and closed the building that workers called the “lemon on Stemmons.”
“It was an accident waiting to happen,” recalled Lou Luckhardt, former president of USW Local 9487, noting the union empowered workers to expose the city’s foolish purchase of a money pit and callous disregard for public safety.
It’s the kind of security that Americans are rapidly losing as anti-worker extremists at all levels of government cut union jobs, attack organized labor, and target the labor rights of the dedicated public servants who keep the nation running.
Elon Musk, the billionaire who attached himself like a tick to the Trump administration, continues his mad efforts to decimate the federal government and deprive Americans of the basic services they need.
His ignorant meddling eviscerated the Education Department, denying the nation’s most vulnerable........
