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Lisa Feldman of Orono is a longtime member of Food AND Medicine and a Maine Education Association retiree.
“Unions: The Folks Who Brought You the Weekend.” That bumper sticker summarizes 150 years of labor struggle.
In America’s Gilded Age, captains of industry lived high on the hog. Too many workers — from childhood to old age — toiled long hours for starvation wages.
Workers realized the deck was stacked against them. The bosses had money, manpower and political clout. Workers had only one another. They joined forces in unions to make their lives better.
Over the years, low wages and unsafe working conditions have swept people into the labor movement. Other things have kept them there:
Without a union, your boss can fire you at any time for any reason that isn’t strictly illegal. If he does violate the law, it’s your responsibility to hire a lawyer and prove it. A union contract stipulates that you can be fired only for “just cause.” It gives you due process rights in disciplinary matters. If you are called to an interview you think might result in discipline, you can bring your union rep with you.
Unions make three fundamental changes to life on the job. A contract governing wages and working conditions provides one set of rules for all employees. A raise, a promotion, an improved work schedule are no longer favors to be doled out at employer whim. They are benefits anyone can earn with longevity and continuing job performance.
Second, you’re not alone in a cut-throat environment where everyone competes for employer favor. Your union reps are there when you need advice, information, a reality check, or advocacy.
Third, union membership gives you a voice in deciding your wages and working conditions. Member surveys help determine contract negotiation goals and priorities. No union contract can be implemented unless union members vote to ratify it.
As the labor movement gained traction under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s, unions worked to change the law to extend some of the gains they had made to non-members as well. The work week went from six days and 60 hours a week to 40 hours over five days. Occupational safety laws help prevent industrial accidents. Workers’ compensation funds make payments when accidents do occur. Unemployment insurance cushions the blow if you’re laid off. Most of us enjoy a minimum wage and paid time off. Social Security means we no longer have to work until we drop.
For several decades, changes in law like these and the upward pressure on pay exerted by union wages meant that many non-union workers benefitted from union gains. Beginning in the 1980s, employer groups waged ruthless, coordinated resistance to organizing initiatives. As the percentage of unionized workers fell, these spillover effects weakened.
In recent months, President Donald Trump has (with dubious legality) fired the only Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board while leaving two other seats unfilled. Deprived of a quorum, the board cannot do its work of supervising union elections or preventing unfair labor practices.
The president has moved to cancel union contracts for more than a million federal workers on debatable “national security” grounds. A chaotic regime of workforce reductions means that in many federal workplaces — Social Security offices, VA health care facilities — remaining workers have unmanageable workloads. Why should any of this matter to you?
These are not isolated incidents but test cases. Rights gained by struggle can be lost when power relationships change.
So this Labor Day, read some labor history. Attend a union-sponsored Labor Day event. Find out what it took to bring you this long Labor Day weekend. Figure out what you can do to preserve its celebration.
