As we head into America’s annual “Labor Day” holiday, it’s worth asking – all you organized labor members in the private sector, what on earth do you think the government is telling you?

This morning, the AFL-CIO released this statement to the press:

AT&T Will Return 5,000 Jobs to U.S. on Completion of AT&T/T-Mobile Merger 

Company Commits to No Job Losses for Call Center Workers at AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile 

Washington, D.C. — AT&T’s announcement that it will bring back a net 5,000 quality wireless jobs to the United States following the completion of its merger with T-Mobile USA is very good news.

“These jobs will provide quality wages and benefits and good working conditions for U.S. workers — exactly what’s needed to help turn around our struggling economy.  Instead of sitting on more than $2 trillion in assets and sending jobs overseas while millions of Americans are out of work, working people are looking for U.S. employers to follow AT&T’s lead.  If more employers took this kind of action, we could begin to move our economy forward and strengthen the middle class,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

AT&T’s commitment that the T-Mobile merger will not result in any job losses for current call center workers at AT&T Mobility or T-Mobile USA is more evidence of the kind of corporate responsibility we need here in the United States, Trumka said.

CWA President Larry Cohen pointed out that “cuts in wages, benefits, and jobs have become the new normal in America, so that when a company like AT&T takes action to bring back quality jobs, it’s big news.”

In addition to restoring a net 5,000 quality jobs and a commitment that no job losses will occur for U.S. call center workers at either company, the merger has additional positive gains for workers, consumers, communities and the industry.

• It will accelerate the buildout of high-speed wireless broadband to 97 percent of the nation, enabling an additional 55 million people, especially in rural and underserved areas, to share in the benefits of Internet technology.
• AT&T will develop T-Mobile’s assets and offer T-Mobile customers the latest in technology.
• AT&T and T-Mobile utilize compatible technologies.
• AT&T has a demonstrated commitment to workers’ rights, supporting management neutrality that enables workers to make a free and fair choice about union representation and bargaining rights.

That’s jobs, people!  Not just “living-wage” and “shovel-ready”, but good, solid, technical jobs with real skills and long-term potential – not the “shovel-ready” govenment make-work jobs the Administration and the public employee unions are babbling about.  The kind of jobs you can raise a family, build a career and support a community on!

And so what did the Administration do?

Joined up with Al Franken, and kicked you all, every one of you private-sector union employees, straight in the teeth:

The Department of Justice today filed a civil antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T Inc.’s proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA Inc. The department said that the proposed $39 billion transaction would substantially lessen competition for mobile wireless telecommunications services across the United States, resulting in higher prices, poorer quality services, fewer choices and fewer innovative products for the millions of American consumers who rely on mobile wireless services in their everyday lives.

The department’s lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to prevent AT&T from acquiring T-Mobile from Deutsche Telekom AG.

“The combination of AT&T and T-Mobile would result in tens of millions of consumers all across the United States facing higher prices, fewer choices and lower quality products for mobile wireless services,” said Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole. “Consumers across the country, including those in rural areas and those with lower incomes, benefit from competition among the nation’s wireless carriers, particularly the four remaining national carriers. This lawsuit seeks to ensure that everyone can continue to receive the benefits of that competition.”

So there you go, unions; after you spent tens of millions of your dues on getting Obama and Franken elected, what do you get?  Screwed – in favor of a bunch of nutroots whose only agenda is controlling all alternative media!

So whatdya think about that?

Feeling – what’s the word I’m looking for…

…betrayed?

UPDATE:  The CWA is not amused.

The decision by the U.S. Department of Justice to seek to block the merger of AT&T and T-Mobile USA is simply wrong.

In today’s sinking economy, where millions of Americans are looking for work, the DOJ has filed suit to block a merger that will create as many as 96,000 quality jobs. In the U.S., where too many Americans, especially in rural areas, don’t have access to the tools of Internet technology, the DOJ is looking to block a plan to build out high speed wireless access to 97 percent of the country.

In a nation where workers’ rights are routinely violated, as occurs everyday at T-Mobile, the DOJ apparently believes that workers should be on their own instead of having a fair choice about union representation.

The DOJ’s action would put good jobs and workers’ rights at the bottom of the government’s priorities. Just yesterday, AT&T announced that it would return a net 5,000 jobs to the U.S. on completion of the merger. That is the kind of corporate responsibility that more employers in the U.S. should demonstrate if we are ever to have an economic recovery.

Instead of acting to block this merger, our government should be looking to support companies that create, keep and return good jobs to the United States.

They spent millions electing Democrats, and all they got was those lousy, usually awful-colored and ill-fitting, slogan t-shirts.