Unionism, the banding together of workers to promote their common interests, has a long and colorful history. The first recorded public worker strike occurred in Egypt around 1170 B.C., when hungry workers at the Necropolis in Thebes threw down their tools and walked off the job for eight days until they were paid the two months back wages owed them by the Pharoah.
American unionism has a shorter, but similarly colorful, history.
American unionism brought about livable wages, pensions, health and recreation programs that were remot dreams less than three generations ago. Public employee unions were born during the hard Great Depression years of the mid-1930s. Back then, their issues were a job secure from political patronage and a livable wage. Many public workers may not fully understand the struggle preceding that victory. But many others now know that what has been achieved can be taken away.