I'm the granddaughter of an extremely hardworking member of the carpenter's union. Though my Grandpa Art (my dad's dad) passed away before I ever met him, his work ethic and beliefs have been instilled in me since I was a child. He introduced my dad, my uncles and my aunt to the struggles of the working person. He taught them the value of unions and all the rights that unions had won them and future generations. A brilliant progressive mind, my grandpa was the son of a Norwegian immigrant (my great grandfather Hans) and the daughter of Norwegian immigrants (my great grandmother Lena.) My great-grandfather worked in the shipyards up in Superior, Wisconsin to provide a decent life for his family. He worked hard, for hours a day, to show his family a bright future. His is the quintessential story of the American dream - immigrate to America, work hard, provide and see your family succeed. Why am I telling you this? Because it's the story of the working class. The backbone of this country. It's everything labor day stands for.
Labor Day is important. It celebrates union victories. It celebrates the middle class. It honors workers. Without unions, our working force would be in real trouble. But now, with the GOP trying desperately to dismantle everything unions have done, it's never been more important to appreciate unions.
Weekends.
Health insurance.
Breaks.
Paid vacations and sick leave.
Time off.
Workers Compensation.
Unionization of the workplace.
8 hour work days.
End of exploitative child labor.
Women's workplace rights.
End of workplace discrimination.
Brave men and women stood up, made demands for basic humanity in the workplace, and won. Some gave their lives for us. That's a sacrifice we can never forget. In labor and unions beginnings, factory owners would let police murder their workers. They would fire striking employees and hire on scabs. They would shut factories down. They would hire child in place of adults. They would endure unbelievable working conditions. People went through extreme trouble to make working life better for us. To me, Labor Day is a day to remember and be thankful for what we have. It motivates me to continue to fight hard to make it even better.
When Scott Walker decided to rescind the BASIC principal of workplace democracy by taking away the right to collectively bargain, I began hearing people suggest that unions were outdated and we no longer needed them. Hell, some Republicans were actually talking about the need to get rid of child labor laws. Walker got the ball rolling for the GOP in other states to decide that workers apparently had too many rights. They want to send us back to a time where we worked 17 hours a day, could be discriminated against, taken advantage of. That alone is the prime example of why unions can never leave us. No sooner do we get rid of those things, will the middle class disappear. Labor built the very economic backbone that has kept our country thriving for years. The workers have been propping up our country, keeping it going day in and day out. It's important that all day, every day, we fight hard.
When you go to work on Tuesday, stop and think. What do you like best about your job? Do you like your half hour lunch break? Do you like your health insurance? Do you like having vacations and days off? Give it real thought. Then say a little thank you to the brothers and sisters who came before you to fight for those rights. Honor them always.
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| From the wonderful movie, "Norma Rae" |
Posts
Thanks for sharing this!!! Not enough is done these days to recognize labor unions and the work they have done for all of us (union and non-union) over the past 100+ years!!!
ReplyDeleteI have made it a personal quest to change that the best I can. Unions, the best of what unions are and what they can be, are needed today almost more than at any other time in our history!!
Great comments, Meg.
ReplyDeleteLabor laws and unions are all the protection a person has from being exploited by employers--who have their interests dominate over the interests of their workers. We may have a Constitution, but many of that worker's rights are set aside when they chose to employ you.
Workers acting collectively can leverage the interests of its workers to a far more equitable setting. Happy workers make quality products, which benefits those workers, as well as the employer.
I look forward to this campaign season with hope, knowing that our candidates have our best interests at heart, and will work actively to turn around Congress and set it back on a real road to recovery.
Very well written. I think you have a bright future in this.
ReplyDeleteThey call it the working class for a reason.
ReplyDeleteScott Walker and the Republican party, through their core values of recognizing the true social structures of the world, know that only an elite class is even fit to rule over the lesser classes.
Why liberals can not figure this out is beyond comprehension.
You are not equal, equality among the lesser class itself makes some sense.
Only a certain few are even genetically fit to more or less keep the lesser classes in their proper places of society.
This is why Scott Walker won----TWICE!
And this is why workers are only considered the backbone of America. The appendages can be severed and replaced, only the head ( the true owners ) of the country need to be kept intact.
The backbone can never replace the brains.
...without a spine a brain won't work. No wonder Republicans are idiots!
DeleteWhat a scary way to think. "Elite" class, Are you still living in the caste system? The only reason Walker is where he is today is because he is bought and paid for by those with money who want more money, AND they intend to get it by taking away from those who work for them. Oh they try to make it sound like all they are doing is improving, but I have yet to see any improvements for those who need it.
DeleteObama wasn't able to make many of the changes he would have liked to because the republicans made it their policy to make sure he couldn't make positive changes. God forbid that President Obama be remembered as being human, caring and doing a good job.
^This. It's hard to argue with Republicans because you can't argue with stupid :)
DeleteWeekends.
ReplyDeleteHealth insurance.
Breaks.
Paid vacations and sick leave.
Time off.
Workers Compensation.
Unionization of the workplace.
8 hour work days.
End of exploitative child labor.
Women's workplace rights.
End of workplace discrimination.
Thanks to America for providing the opportunity for businesses to form and succeed. Thanks to the unions for correcting serious problems and getting basic rights codified into law.
What are my dues paying for these days? Union leaders live like congressmen and party with them.
If I'm disillusioned by the lack of leadership in the White House what's my choice. Four more years of economic disaster or Mitt Romney?
LOL, this is a joke, right?
DeleteAll I will comment on is this:
If you want 4 years of economic disaster, then by all means, vote for Romney.
If you want to continue to have quarterly job growth, vote for President Obama.
If you think that Obama is to blame for the economy not growing faster, then you should probably turn off Fox News. He has introduced jobs bills and bills to improve infrastructure (also a jobs creator.) The GOP refuses to either vote on them, or consistently vote no. They do not have America's best interest at heart and they love seeing us fail. They welcome a bad economy because then they can use it as leverage. They count on people like yourself who will ignorantly and blindly ignore the truth. Republicans have been nothing but bullying obstructionists. You're purposefully ignoring the truth. I feel sorry for you.
The economic disaster happened before Obama took office. And Rmoney and Lyin' Ryan wants to take us back to those failed policies. You are a low level troll, aren't you?
DeleteNo question unions have helped working conditions in america, but...now we have laws in place as well as government agencies to police workers rights. At this point the unions coupled with politicians they have bought or put in place have hurt the productivity that has made america great. Cities going bankrupt due to union employee benefits (may have been milwaukee had it not been for Walker) and companies like GM hamstrung to union interests. They will be right back in bankruptcy when the public stops funding them. Thanks in part to Obamas vision of an electric car. Which has shown no interest from the buying public.
DeleteUnions were an important part of history, but eventually that is all they will be, history.
Same with this overly liberal government. Too many lesser classes get to vote. Too many activist judges. Too many namby pamby worker restrictions.
DeleteAnd this is the slightest tip of the iceberg. The true leaders of industry will emerge and make America the powerhouse it once was, back before communism seeped into the oval office.
Government did not build that, it was industry leaders who brought their intellectual wealth together and look at how these liberal masses took over everything they built.
It is time to put the power back in the hands of the elite classes, who are genetically superior to lead through their successive generations of greatness.
Sure, call it a guilded concept, but IT WORKS.
Scott Walker is leading us to victory!!!1!
IMBAR-
DeleteYou mention the laws that the unions got to be enacted, but you don't mention that those same laws have been constantly eroded as the union's strength has waned.
And since when do the unions set the price for benefits such as health care? Here's a hint: They don't. Want to complain about the high cost of benefits, put it where it belongs - with Big Insurance, Big Pharma and Big Hospitals with their multimillionaire executives and board members.
And as usual, you dead wrong on the union's future. More and more people are seeing what's happening and taking steps to protect themselves from people like you by joining unions.
The benefits I was referring to were the pensions, you know that, because we've had this discussion before. Cities going bankrupt. But since you mentioned it, They were setting the price for health care under WEAC. And yes, we have saved millions on health care for teachers so far.
DeleteAnom, it must be annoying for you to have to put up with differing points of view.
"Public-employee unions in Wisconsin have experienced a dramatic drop in membership — by more than half for the second-biggest union — since a law championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker sharply curtailed their ability to bargain over wages and working conditions"
Amazing what happens when people have a choice to join, or not.
The only reasons that pension costs have escalated is the Bush/Cheney recession and people like Walker refusing to pay the full bill on them, thereby escalating the costs. His short-term savings has cost taxpayers even more than if he paid the full tab.
DeleteWEAC doesn't control the pharmaceutical or health provision fields. The other funny thing is more and more school districts are going back to WEAC because they keep prices down and aren't doing the bait and switch that the other insurance carriers are. Go figure.
And for the drop in union memberships, well, let's cut your income by 20% and see what things you have to cut from your personal budget. It's not a matter of choice, it's a matter of fiscal extortion.
Any other right wing talking points you want me to disprove?
Isn't that the same recession that Obama promised to pull us out of. Wasn't this supposed to be "recovery summer"? Or was that two years ago? You Blame Walker for not paying the bill, and not the people who made the bill? Like his predecessor? One of us is drinking the kool aid.
DeleteNow tell me WEAC didn't lower their pricing to get those contracts back. Just put it in writing.
But you said yourself that the union brings benefits far beyond wages. Apparently others don't see it that way. Or they would cut their expenses in other places as you have, assuming your still paying dues. It must be liberating writing that check each month.
Yes, tell me again how the rich don't create jobs.
Obama did, and while things aren't moving as fast as we'd like, it's still improving in most states, except where governors like Walker rule. Or have you missed those repeated posts pointing this out. Or perhaps you ignore them since they don't support the talk radio lies you spout?
DeleteWEAC isn't winning all those contracts back by being more expensive, are they?
And I think more and more people are starting to remember the benefits of the unions, since numbers are on the rise again. At least for those that can afford it after Walker's pay cuts.
And yes, I am a member in good standing. I am also an active member.
And if the rich create jobs, where are they? They have the Bush tax cuts enhanced by the Walker tax cuts, yet we're still losing them at an alarming pace. In fact, Walker got in the unenviable position of being the only state in the nation to have significant job losses.
Tell me again how those jobs are being created when there is no demand for the products because their is no money to buy them with.
He hasn't even got a budget passed in almost four years. One of his was voted down 97 to 3 in the senate. Even his party there can't get their shirt straight.
ReplyDeleteHow can anyone base their accusation that Romney means anything other than not on the path we are currently on?
Obama's not helped. The quarterly job growth doesn't even pace with the world economy's growth. He has accomplished very little in 3.5 years.
Yet he's done more than Romney's plan would do. Moving slowly forward is much better than rapidly going backwards.
DeleteOh BTW, this is not a joke. Do I as a working man have to believe Obama's my savior? In almost four years he has made my situation worse than it was under Bush. Do I as a working man have to believe that union dues are helping me and my family?
ReplyDeleteExplain why my dues are not nothing more than an extra tax I have to pay that management doesn't have to pay.
Because without the unions, you would be giving up at least 10% of your pay due to budget cuts without a say in the matter. If you don't know what unions are about, you'd best get educated, friend.
DeleteGreat article Meg. I'll take it a step further.
ReplyDeleteIn the 1950s and '60s, America had its hghest rates of unionization, its highest rates of wages as part of GDP, and the most social mobility of the country's history. Many kids of union members became the first in the families to graduate from college, and further increased their earning power. Oh, and the top tax rate was 91%.
Today, we have low rates of unionization, the lowest amounts of wages as a % of GDP, social mobility and inequality is at its worst since right before the Depression. And the top tax rate is 35%, with corporate profits at an all-time record, and corporations deciding to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on politicians instead of hiring workers.
Any questions? Unions and high taxes on the rich are needed now more than ever.