Public Employee Press

Editorial

Viewpoint
HOW TO ANSWER MEMBERS WHO ASK: "HEY, WHAT DOES THE UNION DO?"

By RALPH PALLADINO

"Just what is a union, anyway?"

That is a question many members ask after signing union enrollment cards.

Members start working for the city and discover they're paying union dues. But too many don't know what a union is.

Why do so many people not know what unions are about or just have negative views of them?

Well, schools do not teach about unions. The media, which live on corporate advertising, create a negative public image by attacking unions as a selfish interest group.

Big corporations encourage union bashing. They do it because unions stand in their way of excessive profits and expanding their power. They are run by CEOs and billionaires who want to get rich at the expense of workers. They use their money to spread their propaganda and also to get anti-union politicians elected to office to help destroy unions. What Gov. Scott Walker did in Wisconsin to cripple unions is an example of the anti-labor alliance of conservative politicians and corporations.

Unions = Economic Justice

Working people formed unions to be able to fight for economic justice and benefits.

Workers came to realize that as individuals they could not successfully fight management or big corporations. They began meeting at work sites and networking with other workers.

Strikes and sit-ins were weapons used to fight management. Workers knew they needed solidarity among all of the workers in a given work site or industry in order to succeed. They pooled their resources to pay dues. It took people and money to fight big business.

Many workers were fired or imprisoned and some even died for the right to form unions. But over time, the movement grew and became too big to stop. The union movement forced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to institute the New Deal, which helped establish the right of most workers to form unions and resulted in unemployment insurance and Social Security. He did so because of "street heat" created by millions of workers marching.

Unions = Social Justice

Eventually unions became involved in the broader fight for social justice. Most unions supported the Civil Rights Movement. Great union leaders like A. Phillip Randolph and Caesar Chavez led successful union movements to organize people of color. Much of this fight led President Lyndon Johnson to sign key legislation, such as the Voting Rights Act, food stamps, Medicaid and Medicare. Similar to Roosevelt, Johnson did so because he felt the "heat from the street."

Think about workers who are not in unions. Today, our union has stood with low-wage workers who have no benefits and are fighting just to make $15 a day. These workers don't have union contracts to protect their rights on the job.

The best unions are the most democratic ones. They are the ones who have elected shop stewards and fight for workers' rights at the work site and in the halls of City Hall and Congress such as ours does.

AFSCME, our national union, continues to lead the fight for our members in the halls of Congress and at the White House. When President George W. Bush tried to privatize Social Security, AFSCME led the fight to stop him. Funds from PEOPLE, AFSCME's political action committee, were key in this victory.

Obviously, all unions need resources like dues money. Our dues go towards services and our fight for a better life for our members. But the biggest resource is our membership. Members who want to help build a stronger union must get more involved like the pioneers who built our unions. Together, let's build DC 37 and AFSCME strong!

Ralph Palladino is 2nd Vice President of Local 1549.