The BDN Opinion section operates independently and does not set news policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com
Jared Golden of Lewiston represents Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives.
This piece was originally published on August 29 in “ Dear Mainer,” Golden’s Substack. It is reposted here in its entirety, with permission.
People who work hard should be able to get ahead. That deal is the foundation on which our economy is built. But for too many workers, it’s a broken deal.
Whether it’s low wages, insufficient benefits or anti-worker actions by politicians and corporations, many American workers struggle to afford the basics or live a life with the dignity they deserve.
It’s a bad situation because we know that workers are the ones who power our economy and form our middle class. If they’re scrambling, it means our economy isn’t working the way it should.
I’m a Labor Democrat because I know that banding together to collectively bargain over wages, benefits and working conditions has reliably been the best way for workers to ensure fairness, safety, dignity and a seat at the table on the job.
Today is Labor Day, when we celebrate the contributions of all workers to our nation. With new attacks against workers’ rights coming at a dizzying pace, it’s critical that all of us recommit ourselves to standing up for working families.
Economic conversations often focus on new technology, the rise and fall of the stock market or the latest moves on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley.
But it’s not algorithms, hedge fund managers or CEOs who power our prosperity. It’s workers. It’s shopworkers and shipbuilders, daycare providers and day laborers, fishermen and firefighters, teachers and truck drivers, and all the other people who contribute their smarts and sweat to their jobs.
Workers and their unions helped build our nation’s middle class. Thanks to unions, we have weekends, workplace safety rules, the 40-hour workweek, paid sick leave and vacation time.
Workers collectively bargained to win these benefits and others. Once unions won them, they became the norm. It can be easy to take for granted, but it’s one reason that even workers who aren’t part of a union benefit from the work of collective bargaining. Beyond these, the broader labor movement — including unions and nonunion workers and community and political leaders who support them — are responsible for basic worker protections like the minimum wage and unemployment insurance.
Americans’ drive to improve job conditions and make the economy fairer continues today; According to the Economic Policy Institute, petitions for new union elections have more than doubled since 2021, showing surging interest from workers looking to form or join a union. Meanwhile, “public support for unions is near 60-year highs — at 70%.”
In these divided times, it’s hard to get such huge majorities favoring anything. Americans disagree about a lot, but we agree on supporting unions.
I believe that’s because we recognize working people’s interests are being put on the back burner. Homes are unaffordable, but the GOP majority just passed a budget bill that will enrich the wealthiest while making the working poor even poorer. Our health care system is a mess, and that same budget will strip health care from millions.
Americans turn to unions because unions have a proven track record of improving workers’ lives by focusing on bread-and-butter issues: raising wages so workers can afford rising costs, providing good health care and benefits, and ensuring job security so we can plan for the future.
Millions of Americans would like to join a union, but can’t. They face fierce corporate opposition using every dirty trick to oppose organizing efforts, plus President Donald Trump’s executive actions that unfairly tear up workers’ contracts or undermine their fundamental rights.
That’s why I’m so committed to the fight to ensure our economy works for everyone.
I’ve stood in solidarity with workers, from Machinists at Bath Iron Works striking for a fair contract to Washington, D.C. workers boycotting union-busting restaurants.
I’m leading the effort to overturn President Trump’s union-busting executive order, which took away collective bargaining rights for 1 million federal employees. My bipartisan bill has the support of a majority of members in the House, and we’re fighting to force a floor vote to restore workers’ rights.
I’ve supported more than doubling the national minimum wage, from $7.25 to $15, and I’m working with the rest of the Maine delegation to re-open Maine’s Job Corps Centers; leading efforts by the Congressional Labor Caucus to protect American shipbuilders from unfair foreign competition; and once again co-sponsoring the PRO Act, which would make it easier for workers to form a union and hold corporations accountable for unfair anti-union scare tactics. (These are just a handful of my efforts to stand up for workers. You can learn more here.)
Labor Day isn’t about sales at the mall or the supermarket. It’s not even about barbecues or get-togethers with friends and family, though I hope you get to enjoy all these parts of the holiday. It’s about workers — all workers.
I’m grateful to the workers today who power Maine’s and our nation’s success, and to those prior generations whose contributions improved all Americans’ quality of life. Together we can make sure that there are just as many advancements for workers in the future as there have been in the past.
