by Seth Michaels, Mar 19, 2008
Some three-quarters of the American public say we’re in a recession—and by now, most economists agree. Economic inequality is greater than it’s been in generations and wages are declining after years of stagnation. The middle class is getting squeezed out of existence.
As labor and civil rights leaders noted at “Empowering Workers: A Progressive Imperative,” a session at Take Back America 2008, it’s no coincidence that these tough times have been marked by a sharp decline in the ability of workers to form unions and empower themselves.
AFL-CIO Organizing Director Stewart Acuff says the crisis in our economy can be traced directly to the loss of freedom for workers to form unions.
A weakening economy, exploding inequality, and the middle class squeeze are directly related to the wage decline created by the abolition and destruction of workers’ freedom to form unions.
This economic crisis has ramifications in the political realm as well, Acuff notes—and political action is necessary to fix what’s wrong.
When our workers are denied their freedom of association, denied the right to mutual aid, the notion of working for the common good is undermined and our democracy is undermined. Sooner or later, economic inequality trumps and overwhelms political democracy.
What is happening to American workers is not inevitable. It is not the result of natural forces…it’s the result of bad public policy, and we can change it with good public policy.
Acuff says the mobilization of millions of workers behind a pro-working family president and Congress, and passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, will help restore the rights of workers to join together, improve their lives and rebuild the middle class, just as they did in the middle of the last century, pulling the country out of the Depression and creating broad, sustainable prosperity.
Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP’s Washington Bureau, says the NAACP has made workers’ rights a priority because empowered, engaged workers are at the heart of progressive change. Unions, Shelton says, have brought millions of people into the middle class. Union members are more likely to have the wages, health coverage and other benefits that provide essential security for workers.
The Employee Free Choice Act passed the U.S. House last March but was blocked by a minority in the Senate in June 2007. Shelton says the election this fall will help determine whether labor law reform can become a reality.
We hope to have new and vibrant leadership in the White House who will use that bully pulpit, and we hope to have leadership on Capital Hill with the courage to fight for the Employee Free Choice Act.
The panel’s moderator, Mary Beth Maxwell, the executive director of American Rights at Work, describes the huge legal and practical barriers to forming unions today. Corporations are spending billions to prevent union organizing, and the National Labor Relations Board repeatedly has failed to protect workers. Corporate elites know the stakes and have been working for decades to weaken workers’ freedom to form unions.
Our opposition has created a well-funded campaign against unions, because our opposition understands what a difference it makes in terms of building power for the issues we all care about. This is about whether we have a future for progressive politics in this country, whether we make workers’ rights a top priority.
Union members at Take Back America 2008 were gathering signatures as part of the Million-Member Mobilization to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. Progressive activists at the conference understand that engaged workers are the basis of real political change.
More articles at http://blog.aflcio.org/