Gov. Martin O’Malley to Firefighters: Republicans Are All Opposed to Collective Bargaining

"All of the Republican leaders you heard from today are opposed to collective bargaining. Collective bargaining you see runs contrary to their belief that keeping wages low somehow makes America's economy better ... The second commitment they cannot make with any credibility is that they will increase our federal commitment to first responders and public safety because once again, this runs contrary to their ideological belief that government is the problem and that our government must be dismantled, limited, reduced, as quickly as possible, everywhere possible ...

Their prescription is shutdowns, sequester cuts, tax cuts, on top of tax cuts for the super wealthy and the banning of public safety unions. All of this, at time when the safety of average Americans in our homeland has never been under greater threat ... I believe that you don't play games with public safety. I believe that you don't play games with peoples lives, not now and not ever ...

It used to be that if you worked harder you earned higher wages. But over the last twelve years, wages in our country have actually been going down ... It means we must fight for better wages for all workers so that Americans can live again on what they earn and that means raising the minimum wage, expanding eligibility for overtime pay and respecting the rights of all workers to organize and collectively bargain."