Give Unions Their Due

On Veterans Day, we are urged to thank those that have served our country. We should. They've earned that respect.

On Father's Day, we honor Dads, on Mother's Day we honor Moms. On Memorial Day, we honor our dead, on the 4th of July, we celebrate the independence of our country.

On Labor Day, we post memes about what unions have brought us, and we have a cook out and celebrate the end of summer.

This year, I'm urging my friends to do something a little different; take some time today to thank a union member. Tell them happy Labor Day.

I have been a member of three different unions. I have served those unions as an alternate steward, a steward and have been active on the CAP (Community Action Program) of the UAW.

Today, as a card carrying member of the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the UAW, I have the honor of being a member of one of the strongest and most storied unions that our country has ever known. I am damn proud of that membership.

I build Jeeps in Toledo and work for Fiat Chrysler. Right now, my fellow union brothers and sisters are experiencing a few of the ups and downs that are associated with being union members. Our current union contract expires in seven days. Three weeks ago, we took a strike vote to authorize our international committee to use a strike as a negotiating tool. At my local union hall, that strike vote passed with 99.6% support. Nationally, UAW members have voted 95% in favor of striking if it is deemed necessary.

News reports broke last week, that the Toledo plant that I work in, would lose one of the two Jeep SUV's that we build. The CEO of our company told a news reporter, that the Jeep Cherokee would be assembled somewhere else in the near future. That news comes despite the fact that many of my union brothers and sisters and I worked seven days a week last year and built a record 516,000 Jeeps. Only one other auto plant in the United States built more cars than we did. This is a prime example of the state of the American Worker in today's world. We sacrifice our time, our bodies, our sweat, and we are continually rewarded with concerns over the security of our jobs.

But today is Labor Day. It's a national paid holiday, created to honor labor unions in the United States. Why would we honor labor unions?

In a capitalist society, employers don't usually just hand their employees benefits. Eight hour work days, forty hour work weeks, weekends off, paid holidays, paid vacations, paid personal days, retirement accounts, overtime pay, health insurance, short term disability, breaks at work, lunch breaks, FMLA, social security, child labor laws, unemployment benefits, workplace safety laws, age discrimination in employment laws, veterans employment laws, sexual harassment laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act, pregnancy and paternal leave, military leave, the civil rights act, equal pay acts; all of these have been brought to all American workers because of Unions.

In an era of American history, where lobbyists control our politics, the American Worker really only has one voice in Washington; labor unions.

The unions are the middle class, and union membership is declining. States are passing laws aimed at crippling the voice that unions have. It is no coincidence that nearly all of the economic growth in our country goes to the richest of the rich, while worker's wages have remained stagnant for years. It's no coincidence that the states that have passed anti-union legislation, now have the highest rates of workplace injuries. Weakening unions is directly responsible for the continuing decline of the middle class.

Today, as a member of the UAW, politicians still flock to us, to shake our hands and ask for our support, promising to support the American work force. Every local charity imaginable, petitions our union for donations to their cause. The Toledo Assembly Complex, where we currently build Wranglers and Cherokees, is the largest financial supporter of the local United Way. Recently our UAW local held a 'bike rodeo,' where we donated dozens of bicycles and helmets to local children. Our local has a Veteran's Committee, that provides amenities to local disabled veterans. We have a woman's committee that works to bring awareness to equality and women's rights. We have a diversity committee that works on diversity and equality issues. We collect food and money during the holidays and provide Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner to thousands of local needy families. We have an 'angel tree' every year at Christmas time, where we select dozens of local families, and provide their families with Christmas presents. Last Easter, over a hundred local children received Easter baskets, thanks to our UAW Local 12. You don't see these things in the news very often, but those same news companies rush to report the amount of our annual profit sharing checks.

And the middle class is dying, and union membership is shriveling.

On this Labor Day, would you take a moment to reach out to someone you know that's a union member? Will you personally tell them thank you? Tell them thanks for paying dues and supporting the rights of the working man and woman? Could you take a moment from your paid holiday, the same paid holiday that was created to honor these men and women, and tell them thank you for that?