America Needs Her Unions

ByLabor Day message from UAW's Ron Gettelfinger

There will be one marcher missing from this year's Labor Day Parade in Detroit: Our friend and brother Stephen P. Yokich, who was taken from us all too soon, just weeks after he retired as President of the UAW.

Steve will never be far from our hearts, however, whenever working men and women gather to celebrate the dignity of work and the common bond of solidarity. His achievements in collective bargaining, political action and community service have touched the lives of people all over the world. His fighting spirit and his dedication to the common good are an example for the rest of us every day, not just on Labor Day.

Throughout his lifetime, Steve worked to build a strong and inclusive labor movement. Our movement has never been more essential, at a time when working families are challenged with a sinking economy and corporate scandals so widespread that Congress has been forced to stiffen the laws that govern their accounting practices.

Recent polls show that Americans are increasingly worried about the economy as well as the overall direction of the United States. Our manufacturing base is eroding, 44 million Americans have no health insurance and hundreds of thousands of hard-working Americans have seen their retirement savings evaporate in the stock market -- the same stock market in which the current administration would have us gamble our Social Security funds.

Some are so cynical about politics and politicians that they believe their vote doesn't count. Others say that politicians have lost touch with the everyday concerns of working Americans and they're tired of trying to choose between political candidates with no substantial differences between them.

These are challenging times, but the American labor movement has always been about facing and overcoming challenges. From fighting for the 8-hour day in the 1880s to winning -- as Steve Yokich did -- unprecedented job security guarantees and innovative programs to help balance work and family life, we've always been about ordinary people accomplishing the extraordinary. And that's why America needs her unions today more than ever.

America needs her unions to be a watchdog against corporate abuse and crooked CEOs and to strengthen the checks and balances that are so needed in today's workplace. Just look at Enron and WorldCom whose employees did not have the protections of a union. There was no one to question the companies' claims that their accounting and reporting procedures were in order. And when the companies collapsed, there was no one to negotiate extended insurance coverage or severance pay.

America needs her unions because workers deserve the same democratic rights on the job that they enjoy socially. And no democratic right is trampled on more than the basic right of American workers to free association when it comes to union organizing. This summer, for the first time in 15 years, a hearing was held on Capitol Hill focusing on rights violations during union organizing campaigns. Intimidation, firings, threats -- even beatings -- were described in the testimonies. The hearings disclosed that in 1998 alone, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found 24,000 cases of employer violations during union organizing campaigns. This is not democracy, it's tyranny.

But the media determined that these hearings weren't newsworthy so we didn't read or hear about them. Instead, we read about Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., who wants to further restrict workers' rights to organize by outlawing card check recognition. Card check recognition is the simplest way to determine union support among workers. If a majority of workers freely sign a union card, the company can recognize a union as the representative of its workers. This bypasses the often contentious NLRB election procedure that allows employers to intimidate employees while denying unions access to them.

Experience shows that when workers have the free choice to join a union without intimidation and threats from management, they overwhelmingly choose union organization. Workers join unions because they want a voice about their wages, benefits and working conditions. Unions give workers the same rights that the U.S. Representative from Georgia already has: a voice and vote about wages and benefits.

America needs her unions to be a voice for working families. To be a voice for the unemployed, the uninsured, the undocumented and the underprivileged. America needs her unions to continue to fight for a prescription drug plan for all seniors, and to preserve Social Security and Medicare. America needs her unions to fight to improve and invest in schools and early child care. America needs her unions to fight unfair trade policies that ship our good-paying manufacturing jobs to countries that have no labor rights or environmental protections.

Just as workers need a union to have a powerful voice on the job, America needs her unions to be a powerful voice for social and economic justice for all Americans.

For more than forty years, Steve Yokich was a tireless marcher for justice. We will honor his memory this Labor Day, and in the future, by marching forward to strengthen our labor movement and serve our communities.

Ron Gettelfinger is the president of the UAW, representing 1.3 million active and retired workers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.