The question is often posed to me why are you a union member and even more so why a union official? I was raised in a union household. My late father was employed by Ford Motor at their Rouge complex. He was there when the United Auto Workers (UAW) organized the workers in the 1930s. It was through the benefits that the UAW obtained for its workers that my parents, both children of the depression and high school graduates were able to provide their five children with good health care, dental care, and afford to help all five of us graduate from college, three with advanced degrees.
As a student of history I too realize that many of the benefits so many of us have taken for granted like health insurance, pensions, child labor laws, health and safety regulations, minimum wage legislation, the 8 hour day, paid vacations, to name just a few, came from the efforts of organized labor. Too it was organized labor in the forefront of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. It is no surprise then with the erosion of the power of organized labor that these benefits may soon be only historical memories.
That is one of the reasons why unions are important. To help retain those benefits and regain them where they have been lost. Another reason is in the past and at present it is often the Unions that are the voice for social justice like insuring that Social Security is not privatized. I know many say that given the opportunity to invest on their own they would not need Social Security. Maybe some but what about those who barely earn the minimum wage or have to help care for elderly parents or special need children?. What about those who become disabled or die at an early age before they could amass their “fortunes”? Where Social Security (and pensions) usually guarantees a life long benefit your own 401 plan or annuities may stop before you die. Or an unexpected illness may wipe out your investments earlier than you planned.
Unions give the individual employee the resources to fight their employers when an injustice strikes them. It is the rare individual that could amass the knowledge and finances to fight for them when they are treated unfairly, suspended or fired.
I am not going to state here that the unions, like any other sector in the USA, have not had its bad characters. Yet the positive force that unions are well outweigh the few bad apples.
I believe that workers need unions and that if you examine the case for unions closely you too will agree. If you are not a member, Join today. And support Union workers whenever and wherever you can.
