Happy Labor Day!

This Labor Day, take a break: Go to a Labor Day parade, enjoy your family, have a cookout, and thank your union – and the three-fourths of Americans who support organized labor.

There’s good news.

Popular support for unions is at an all-time high, according to Gallup – 71%. Plus, younger Americans often and unfairly written off as slackers aren’t far behind. “Generation Z” – those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s – also back unions: 64%, according to the Center for American Progress (CAP).

And they’re organizing.

The increase in support by younger Americans reflects the “heavy concentration of power among big corporations and the elites that run them, and unions are a counterbalance to the strength of corporate power on the one hand and sort of shifts some of that power to workers,” commented Adam Cobb, an associate professor at University of Texas who studies unions.

Diego Quintanilla, a 23-year-old Texas sheet metal worker, last month told CBS News, “We seem to really care about fairness and equality in the workplace. We all kind of want to get paid a good amount of money for the work that we're putting in.”

Organized labor remains important despite years of resistance and worse by those interests that Cobb cited.

Elsewhere, CAP details why, reminding the nation of four main reasons unions are still vital and vibrant.

“Unions are a critical force in American society, ensuring that everyday Americans can earn decent pay and benefits and have a voice in our democracy,” write CAPS’ Sarah Nadeau and Madeline Shepherd. “Study after study has shown that unions make our economy and democracy stronger by boosting wages for workers, reducing wage inequality, increasing voter turnout for union and nonunion voters alike, and providing a counterbalance to wealthy interest groups.

“Unfortunately, decades of attacks on unions, weak U.S. labor laws, and a changing economy have caused union membership to steadily decline,” they continue. “However, in recent years, the popularity and activity of unions has grown to levels not seen in decades, bolstering their ability to deliver on these benefits.”

* a consequence of the decline in union membership is the impact on income inequality throughout the country. (CAP reports that the decline of unions was 33.9% responsible for rising income inequality, with 41.3% due to an education gap, and 24.8% all other factors);

* unions raise wages for all workers of all backgrounds

* unions are the most effective group with a mass constituency to represent working-class AND middle-class interests; and

* unions increase citizens’ participation in our democracy.

 

Meanwhile, at the Washington State Labor Council conference in mid-July, titled “Reclaiming Worker Power and Energizing our Movement,” WSLC President April Sims stressed the importance of political involvement, especially at this time of a rise of anti-worker, Right-wing ideology.

Addressing delegates from a cross-section of organized labor, including fire fighters, UA plumbers and pipefitters, SEIU Healthcare, teachers and Teamsters, she said, “Fascism is the opposite of organized labor, a movement that has been the principal force in this country for turning misery and despair into hope and progress, in the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. We must continue to be that force.

“Fascists are organized,” she continued. “They are empowered in this moment. They believe that they will win. But they will not. Working people will not let them.”

Organized labor is a beacon of light in such dark times, Sims added.

“At a time when trust in our foundational institutions is wavering, when political violence and charged rhetoric is rising, unions remain a place of unity, and of hope,” she said.

And CAP emphasized the value of our movement.

“Workers are better off when they have a collective voice,” CAP shows. “They earn more in the labor market and can better stand up for their interests in democracy. Stronger unions are associated with higher wages and wealth, more engaged citizens, and a stronger middle class. As policymakers strive to make the economy work for everyone, they should be sure to include in their solutions policies that increase worker voice and power.”

Have a great holiday.