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2001
Labor Day Message
by Stephen P. Yokich
President International Union, UAW
At first glance,
you may not think that autoworkers at Nissan's assembly plant in
Smyrna, Tennessee and graduate teaching assistants at Brown University
in Providence, Rhode Island have anything in common when it comes
to their jobs. Yet Nissan workers and Brown T.A.'s have at least
one very important thing in common on Labor Day 2001: they are among
the thousands of workers across America, in virtually every sector
of the economy, who are organizing. And while they probably don't
see themselves as heroes, they are in my eyes because I know the
kind of resistance workers face when they exercise their legal right
to form a union.
Back in the
1930s when the UAW was born, most employers didn't make any bones
about seeing their workers as second-class citizens worth less than
the machinery they operated. Not even the most anti-worker employer
would openly admit to that attitude today. Instead, they call their
workers "associates" or "partners," and use touchy-feely slogans
like "our people are our most important resource." But let a few
of their most important resources start talking about forming a
union, and suddenly it's back to the '30s. In the vast majority
of workplaces, workers who try to organize face intimidation, threats,
harassment, and protracted legal maneuvering - all designed to break
their spirit and shatter their solidarity.
Think I'm exaggerating?
Consider this: A study conducted by Professor Paul Weiler of Harvard
Law School found that one in 20 union supporters were illegally
fired during union organizing campaigns. And in a study by Kate
Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University, over 60 percent of the employers
surveyed admitted to threatening to close plants in order to derail
their workers' organizing efforts. Such tactics violate federal
labor law, but the enforcement process is slow and penalties amount
to a mere slap on the wrist. The bottom line is that many employers
are willing to spend millions on anti-union lawyers and consultants
-- and willing to violate federal law -- to prevent their workers
from exercising their right to organize and bargain collectively.
Why? Money is
one factor, of course. Although employers often tell their workers
that they could actually lose wages and benefits at the bargaining
table, employers are well aware that unionized workers' wages are,
on average, one-third higher than their non-union counterparts,
and benefits are better as well.
But money isn't
the biggest issue in most union organizing campaigns -- for employers
or workers. In fact, hourly wages at Nissan and other foreign-owned
non-union auto assembly plants are comparable to wages at GM, Ford,
and DaimlerChrysler, because the Japanese and German automakers
are willing to pay union-level wages to prevent wages from becoming
an issue in organizing campaigns.
What could be
more important than money? Control. It doesn't matter whether we're
talking about auto companies or universities, most employers simply
don't want their workers to have a seat at the decision-making table;
they want to dictate, not negotiate. And while wages, benefits,
and working conditions are obviously important to all workers, what
inspires them to stand up for themselves and organize in the face
of fierce employer resistance is their determination to have a voice
in the decisions that affect their lives instead of letting a powerful
few call all the shots.
So, make no
mistake, when employers violate workers' rights to organize and
bargain collectively -- and when political leaders look the other
way - they're not just holding workers back economically, they're
chipping away at democratic rights that are essential to the economic
and political health of our society. It's no coincidence that social
and economic fairness in America expanded dramatically during and
after the rapid growth of union membership in the 1940s and 1950s
- or that inequality has worsened in our country over the last two
decades as the proportion of workers represented by unions has declined.
Nor is it any coincidence that workers' rights and independent trade
union movements don't exist in non-democratic countries like China,
while democracy has taken root in countries formerly run by repressive
regimes, like Poland, Brazil, Korea, and South Africa, through the
efforts of vibrant independent trade union movements.
That's why
I get mad as hell when President Bush and other politicians claim
to care about working families and democratic values while promoting
free trade deals and other policies that undermine workers' rights
and living standards -- and concentrate more and more economic and
political power into the hands of fewer and fewer people.
But getting
mad as hell won't change things; only our collective action will.
This Labor Day, let's make a commitment to ourselves, our families,
and our communities to stay in the forefront of public efforts and
campaigns to keep and expand workers' rights and progressive policies
that help all of America's working men and women build brighter
futures through their own active participation in making the decisions
that affect their lives. Building unions is the way to build that
future.
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