Nearly three quarters of a million federal workers in the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security are fighting an attack on their labor rights under the guise of national security. John Gage is President of the American Federation of Government Employees, or AFGE. He wants people to call Congress urging that it take another look at the stripping away of these hard-earned collective bargaining rights.

[John Gage 1]: "We're fighting back on this and we're asking people to call their congressman. And really Congress has to take another look at this, a sober look and not a look that was clouded by nine eleven and the war in Iraq."

The government can ignore union contracts and violate labor agreements even if the issue at hand has nothing to do with real national security issues.

[Gage 2]: "Yeah, that's what really struck in our craw. What the hell does overtime assignments have to do with national security? What does any of it have to do really with national security?"

Gage says workers are under siege in this country and middle class working families’ better wake up reassert their rights in the workplace.

[Gage 3]: "There's an attack on working people going on, it seems that everything this administration does is just geared to money. Takin' away workers' overtime, health benefits, pension, hourly wages. Real wages falling in this country and corporate profits bein' up off the charts. I mean, it's time people wake up and stand together a little bit more and take our country back."