America needs labor unions like fish need water

America still needs labor unions because workers are still being intimidated,attacked and pushed down by employers and the current economic status of our country. Despite the development of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935 the laws created to protect workers are not strong enough. Our country has labor laws, as does the United Nations, but they are not enforced as well as they should be. Legislation such as the Employee Free Choice Act, which makes it easier for employees to join unions,speeds up the process for creating unions and increases penalties for employers who violate worker's rights, can help to change this. Without decent standards of living and working for employees, the standard of living for all will continue to drop. Labor unions have been an essential part of our country's history, from the inclusive origins of the Industrial Workers of the World(IWW) and the Knights of Labor helping to organize and protect non-white workers to the mobilization of the current labor movement against outsourcing and globalization.

America still needs labor unions because the laws designed to protect workers in the workplace do not adequately protect workers. When I worked with the workers at the Three Mile Canyon Dairy in Oregon I saw firsthand how workers are still fired for trying to organize a union at their workplace. The right to collective bargaining is a basic right that no one should be denied. They wanted a union because the dairy where they worked sprayed unsafe chemicals which made the workers sick and because the workers were not given reasonable pay or healthcare. None of these things are unreasonable requests, they are basic things that every worker needs. Their protests of working conditions fell upon the deaf ears of the management. Our country still needs labor unions because when these workers won a contract with the United Farm Workers(UFW) their working conditions improved and workers were no longer fired for talking about unions.

There are so many situations when workers are forced to work in conditions which are unsafe, unhealthy and ultimately unfair. Two other campaigns I worked on were the struggle of the employees at the Parry Center for Children in Portland and that of the Providence workers at Providence Hospital. In both of these situations the staffing ratios was so unsafe that the turnover rate at these facilities was sky high. At the Parry Center the staffers who worked there were required to at least have their Masters degrees yet they were paid less then $10 an hour and the staffing ratios to patients was so high that employees felt unsafe among the physically and emotionally unstable patients they cared for. Once again the demands of individual workers was ignored by the management. Because they went through a long struggle to become part of a union they were able to stand together as a strong group and in one voice say they deserved better. Because they were part of a union they could go on strike and stay strong on the picket line until the management gave in to their demands. This is one case of  just how much power a union can have in achieving it's goals and improving the jobs of many people.

Labor unions have always been a part of our American history and they represent the American Dream: the ability to have fair access to moving up in life, having the means to take care of your family, and job security.  In addition to these things unions have always helped to provide, they also help to secure good wages and benefits in an economy that is increasingly destructive to the working class. Decreases in wages and in good paying, union jobs with benefits are some of the reasons full time employees cannot provide decent standards of living for their families. Because increasing numbers of jobs are being sent overseas, workers are forced to take lower paying jobs which often do not include healthcare benefits. If wages were at the same rate as they were in 1968, in real money they would be over $10 an hour. But instead they are decreasing; the minimum wage is not a living wage. These are all changes in our economy that have made unions even more important because they are the only means by which workers can protect their livelihoods and families.

Union density has dropped,partially because large businesses are now more able to hire union busters who try to break and stop unions. In addition, the number of industry jobs have gone down, and these were historically union jobs. Unions are one way to provide adequately for workers, and organizing union membership can greatly help to raise the number of employees at this standard. The security in benefits, such as health care and overtime as well as decent wages and hours that come with union jobs allow for members to better provide for their families. The wages of union members are 27 percent higher then those of non-union employees. Non-union members who are paid the minimum wage, or even a little bit higher, with few benefits still struggle to make ends meet.

Unions are important not only because the make lives better for those within but they also push to make life better for those not yet in unions. As more and more businesses become unionized the other businesses in the sector must also raise their wages and benefits to meet these same standards because these things create fierce competition in the job market. When labor unions offer employees higher wages or benefits they create a competition in which everyone wins because when the workers have better pay and healthcare they will put the money back in to the local economy, thereby helping everyone out. When workers have healthcare that adequately covers them they will get healthcare when they need it and no wrack up huge hospital bills when they are forced to use the emergency room. When workers are paid living wages they will be able to care for their families, put time and money into their local communities and schools. All of these things help out the society as a whole. Although it is possible to have higher wages and good healthcare without a union, a union is the best way to guarantee that these benefits continue.

Although the benefits are an important part of what it means to be part of a union another big issue is the treatment of employees in the workplace. When employees join a union there is a larger force that can speak to the management when various types of harassment occur on the job. Many factors have led to decreased sexual harassment in the workplace, one of which is the formation of unions. Many union contracts include clauses about these issues and make it harder for culprits to go unpunished when such things happen.

Through my work with Jobs with Justice I have seen how important unions are to so many people. I have seen how belonging to a union can be a life or death choice when safety is the issue. I have seen how families have suffered during campaigns to form a union and how they feel the the union is so important the sacrifices have been made because they know that in the end, their lives will improve as a result of the union. Because so many workers are willing to risk so much to form a union there must be something right about them. These workers are willing to risk it because being part of a union means power, it means the power to speak so that the management will listen, it means the power to have wages, hours and benefits that work for them; it means the power to do raise up the standards for other workers so that all workers have these same benefits.