Can you remove the timestamps: it's easy to imagine a world without
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labor unions we're essentially living in
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that world now
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and we are worse off as a result
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few of you probably belong to unions but
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almost all of you benefit from them
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unions that brought us the weekend
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more importantly unions built the middle
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class
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by ensuring that workers had the incomes
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to support families to buy
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homes and cars
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and to dream
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that their children could do better than
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they could
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it was union power and advocacy that
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helped us win social security and health
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insurance upon which almost all of us
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depend
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in the 1950s
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33
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of private sector workers belong to
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unions
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big labor stood proudly beside
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big business and big government
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no more
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today
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only six percent
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of private sector workers
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are members of unions
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with their decline in numbers came a
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decline
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in political and economic power
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and the result
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a significant increase in inequality a
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significant deterioration in the
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possibility of a middle-class lifestyle
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for this generation or the next
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and a receding chance
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to own a home
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or afford retirement
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we need unions to regain the power
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so that we can regain what we have lost
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build a better future
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and help forge democracies that are
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built on a decent social contract
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between citizens and government
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and among citizens themselves
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yes we need unions today as much as ever
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as a professor of political science and
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someone who has studied labor unions for
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a long time
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i can tell you that one of the most
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important things that unions do
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is to counter balance the power of
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corporations
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they even the playing field
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yes
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we need unions
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but we need
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better and different unions that are
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more attuned to the 21st century
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let's picture the world before unions
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small children
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toiling
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all day and even into the night
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in noisy polluted factories
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or immigrant women workers jumping from
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a burning sweat shop
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because the fire escapes were locked
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so that they
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could not take breaks
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that was new york city in 1911
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that's bangladesh
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now
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but unions changed that
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by winning protections for workers
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they transform lives
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they enabled even the worst off
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to achieve the american dream
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consider the longshore workers those who
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load and unload ships
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in the 1930s they were destitute
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homeless men who lived on the beach
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they were warfrats
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in the morning the boss
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came
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and yelled all along the shore thus the
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name longshore
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they pleaded for the scarce jobs
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just as migrant day laborers do today at
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places like lowe's and home depot it was
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humiliating degrading
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but when the unions won the right to
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organize
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and won contracts
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the wharf rats became lords of the dock
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they became middle class they could
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marry
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they could support families they could
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send their children to college they had
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health insurance and benefits
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they had dignity respect they were full
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american citizens
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unions enabled others to attain the
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american dream
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by raising wages generally
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and by reducing wage disparities
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between men and women and among the
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races
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my research has shown me
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that with every transformation in the
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economy the technology
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the way we work
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there has been an evolution in the labor
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movement
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craft unions
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think construction work or even beer
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making
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emerged from medieval guilds
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with the rise of industry auto steel
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new forms of organization emerged
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when white-collar workers
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in offices in government in healthcare
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and professions
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began to want
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voice and representation
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yet another kind of union developed in
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my mind in my ears is dolly parton
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singing 925
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inspired by a real life union of that
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name
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when you hear that song thank the unions
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for a decent working day
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history shows
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that unions helped people get dignity
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rise out of poverty
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inhibit workplace dangers and harassment
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and improve health and well-being of us
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all
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these are not yesterday's problems
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workers of today still need and want
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unions
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an mit survey in 2021 revealed that 50
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of the non-union workforce would join a
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union if given a chance
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so margaret
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if unions are so great
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why are they in such serious decline
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because the odds are stacked against
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them
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many of you have read about the amazon
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warehouse workers
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who failed to win a union representation
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election in alabama
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they failed because of concerted
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employer opposition
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indeed there are many employers
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and politicians
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who are preventing the reform of labor
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laws passed nearly a century ago
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in another era
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and another economy
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these are laws that inhibit
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agriculture
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and domestic workers from organizing
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largely black and brown workers
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they make it hard for workers
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in the gig economy to organize those we
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call forth with our apps ride share
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delivery service specialized tasks
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there are employers and politicians who
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are pushing states to pass right to work
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laws
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laws that abolish the requirement
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that those who are covered by union
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contracts have to pay union dues
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this effectively kills the unions
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now
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many workers in 27 states
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do not have to pay for the benefits the
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unions provide for them
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states that include michigan indiana and
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wisconsin former union strongholds
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and society
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loses big
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a recent study revealed that in
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right-to-work law states
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there is slower economic growth higher
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consumer debt lower wages worse health
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outcomes
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and lower civic participation
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than in states without such laws on the
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books
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but it's not just employers and
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politicians that are holding unions back
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unions
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are cause of some of their own problems
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some unions are extremely bureaucratic
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stifling debate
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and innovation
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some union leaders are corrupt
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rigging elections paying themselves
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humongous salaries
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even when they represent very low income
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workers and some commit felonies jimmy
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hoffa is the notorious example of a
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labor leader who went to prison
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but just this year
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several high-ranking officials in the
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united auto workers
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were sentenced for embezzlement
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now many critics possibly some of you
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blame unions for inflation
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when wages go up consumer prices go up
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true enough
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but so does the standard of living for
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workers
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if we paid one to two cents more per
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apple
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apple pickers and packers
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would have decent wages decent housing
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and some protection from pesticides
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and we as
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taxpayers
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benefit from higher standards of living
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by workers
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the pandemic gave us the term essential
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workers
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if those in grocery warehousing food
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processing delivery
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had strong unions indeed any
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unions at all
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there would have been no need for
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federal programs
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for those who have jobs
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to feed their families
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and prevent
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evictions
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now there are many reasons for union
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decline including structural ones
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the decline in union jobs and
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manufacturing
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but a major reason is public lack of
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awareness even misinformation about the
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value of unions
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well before president reagan fired the
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striking air controllers in 1981
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there has been concerted and continuous
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opposition by employers and politicians
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to undermine unions
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employers no longer suppress unions
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by hiring private armies
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like u.s steel ford and coal companies
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did
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now they hire very high priced
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consulting firms to do that work
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elected officials may no longer call out
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the police
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and the national guard to cart labor
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organizers off to jail
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now they pass legislation that restricts
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union organizing and power
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but workers are beginning to fight back
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as the headlines reveal
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they are building solidarity across
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racial ethnic religious partisan divides
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martin luther king exhorted us
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to to enrap ourselves in a single
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garment of destiny
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i have observed several unions that i've
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studied built expanded and inclusive
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communities of fate
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in which large numbers of others
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recognize that their destinies are
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entwined
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despite differences
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and distances
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this doesn't always happen
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but it can and it must
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if you took my class or
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gave me another hour i could give you
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numerous
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examples
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we need as as employees and citizens to
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build solidarity through communities of
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faith that crosses geographies and
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differences
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but to do that we need to reimagine
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labor unions for now
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the labor movement must evolve as it has
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in the past
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even producing possibly alt unions
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alternatives to unions
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alternatives to traditional unions
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workers in gig
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professions tech
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don't necessarily want a traditional
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union
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but they do want influence over their
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wages working conditions and even
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the policies of their companies
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and they are reimagining old approaches
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and
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coming up with new ones
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in order to build worker voice and power
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some are reconfiguring worker
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cooperatives employee owned
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businesses in which the workers
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determine wages
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working conditions
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and distribution of profits this is not
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a pipe dream
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mondragon in spain has over 80 000
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employee owners takes in over 13 billion
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dollars a year
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and redistributes its profits
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to build worker skills and capacities
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among its member cooperatives
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a newer approach is to use platform
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technologies to teach workers their
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rights
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in our global hyper-connected
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and socially isolating world
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platforms such as coworker.org
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or unit
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recognize and address the fact that
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there is a mobile workforce
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that no longer has water coolers or
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lunchrooms around which to gather and
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strategize
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these platforms provide workers with a
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way to share experiences
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access organizing resources
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and build networks at scale across
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geographies and employers
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coworker.org had a huge win
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with alphabet the parent company
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of google a giant among tech firms
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alphabet workers
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recognize that they are part of a
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community of faith that crosses large
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distances
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they have been protesting
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google's contracts with the pentagon and
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with immigration authorities
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they have normal run-of-the-mill
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economic union demands
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but they also have the political demand
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that they should have a say over company
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policies that affect them and us
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now whatever you thought of unions in
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the past i hope
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i hope
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that these examples have revealed to you
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what they can be today and for tomorrow
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unions once significantly
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reduced income inequality the gap
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between the rich and the poor
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they can again
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these graph lines came together
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when unions rose
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i'd like to see those lines permanently
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converge
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and inequality reduced once and for all
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billionaires are building rockets to
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explore outer space this is so exciting
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but equally exciting
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is are the workers
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who are providing the goods and services
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on which those billionaires we all
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depend
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exploring
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new ways
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to gain power and voice
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if even some of these explorations
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succeed
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workers will gain dignity
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economic security
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and the power
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to challenge
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employers and politicians
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the result
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the resuscitation of the middle class
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and a far more equitable society
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thank you