Strong Trade Unions are Vital Gerry OShea
During my
working years, I recall a female colleague named Catherine coming to my office
on the verge of tears. I was taken aback to see her in such a vulnerable state because
our relationship had never advanced beyond a professional acquaintance. She apologized
for her surprise visit and her distressed state.
Really distraught, she started talking about
her father who, at 71, had just taken a job filling shelves in a supermarket.
This decision was driven solely by economic necessity because he could not cover
his bills every month.
Catherine
opened up with her family story. She was the second of three daughters raised
in the rent-controlled apartment in the East Bronx, where her father still
lived. Her mother died eight years earlier after all three sisters finished
college and moved away from home.
She
described her father as a determined, hard-working man who provided well for
his family, including paying the tuition for all three of his children to
attend Catholic schools. He worked in a large warehouse in Manhattan and was
promoted twice over the years to supervisory positions. His wife did not hold
any job outside of the home.
A few of his
co-workers led a campaign to unionize the “shop” sometime in the eighties. Her
father saw the validity of the case they made for better salaries and especially
for pension benefits for retirees, but, at heart, he was a company man with a
great deal of influence on younger workers, and he declared against the proposal
to organize, which was narrowly defeated.
Catherine and
I share membership in the United Federation of Teachers, and she mentioned our
union's lengthy negotiations for a good retirement package. By comparison, she
explained tearfully that her father was dependent solely on his monthly social
security cheque to cover his rent, food, and car maintenance.
The three
sisters offered to supplement his monthly government allowance, but he firmly
rejected this idea. He settled reluctantly for donning the brown employee work
coat and filling the shelves in a nearby supermarket—35 hours a week, $12 an
hour.
In an emotional family meeting the previous
weekend, he conceded that he was gravely mistaken in promoting the company line
during the drive for unionization. Reflecting on those days, he now sees the
position he espoused as a big error in judgment. He regrets that he fell for
the management palaver when his own clear interests would have been served by
aligning with the trade union drive.
The economic
advantages of belonging to a union are clear.
Members enjoy higher wages and better benefits than nonunion workers.
Studies reveal that union households have nearly four times the wealth of their
nonunion counterparts.
About
two-thirds of Americans approve of membership in labor unions, the highest
level for seventy years, and over 90% of people under 30 support strong unions.
Yet only one in ten workers in the United States carries a union card.
According to
the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), during the 25 years after the Second World
War – up until 1970 – workers’ pay increased in line with improvements in
production, resulting in substantial growth in the middle class. However, from
1979 to 2020, while productivity surged by 61.8%, worker pay packets increased
by just 17.5%.
During the
1950s and 1960s, about 20% of private company employees were unionized, which
had a real impact on the salaries and working conditions not only of union
members but also on other employers who felt pressure to match the negotiated
agreements in organized workplaces.
Since the
1980s, powerful and well-funded employer groups spread the message of needed
subservience to the company owners and investors. They preach about the
financial risks they take and how sensible workers must realize that they are
lucky to have a job with a guaranteed weekly salary.
Big Daddy
sits in the top office with his leadership team, dictating policy without any
formal consultation with elected workers’ representatives. Salary increases are
announced not after negotiations but entirely at the boss’ discretion.
EPI research
shows that de-unionization has been a significant factor in the surge in
inequality and the decline of the middle class during the last forty years.
Working people are now losing about $200 billion every year because of the
erosion of union power, with that money being redistributed upwards to the top
5% who continue to live on clover to the detriment of ordinary employees.
Such
avaricious corporate greed explains current efforts by Amazon, Starbucks, Tesla
and other powerful corporations to crush unionization drives. The law is
clearly on the side of the companies whose goal is to pay their employees the
minimum that they can get away with.
It is vital
for Congress to pass the Protecting the Right to Organize Act and the Public
Service Freedom to Negotiate Act which affirm the right of workers to bargain
collectively. I hope that readers of this column call their Washington
representatives to determine where they stand on these vital pieces of pro-
worker legislation.
Research
covering the last ten years reveals that 52% of workers don’t have a contract a
year after voting for unionization. This is a disgraceful statistic that
reveals the widespread corruption of the whole process, favoring employers at
every turn.
At its core,
this is a moral issue. Nearly every pope since Leo X111’s famous encyclical Rerum
Novarum has affirmed in the strongest terms employees’ rights to a just
wage and benefits.
According to
the sainted John XX111 in his encyclical Mater et Magistra, employees are
entitled to part ownership and profit sharing in the company where they provide
their labor.
When last
did you hear a sermon dealing with these crucial moral issues?
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