When my union was formed, you had to quit when you were aged 32.
You couldn't be married.
You couldn't have children.
You had to step on a weight scale until 1993.
You know who you should thank for your weekend?
Not that Weeknd—the weekend we actually look forward to seeing.
Well, the answer is labor unions.
They’re the organizations who fought for workers’ rights to have 2-day
breathers, better paychecks, and a seat at the proverbial table.
But let’s get real: While unions like the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA might get
all the headlines, most workers in the U.S.
are flying solo.
So where does that put unions in the age of social justice and workplace equity?
To understand the role of unions today, we have to rewind.
The significance of labor unions in the United States
is really hard to overstate.
I think labor unions have been critical to building the middle class
and making American middle class, really, the envy of the world.
That’s David Madland,
senior adviser at the American Worker Project at American Progress.
He’s written several books about labor and unions that focus on
how the collectives impact the American economy.
The origins of labor unions really start with the origins
of industrialization in the United States, so early 1800s.
But unions really came into their own in the 1930s and ’40s,
when the law gave workers legal rights to form unions.
That law is the
That law is the National Labor Relations Act,
which made unionizing more widespread, especially in the industrial sector.
especially in the industrial sector.
We took on Big Tobacco
and got smoking out of our workplace before any other workplace in America.
And before anybody else was successful in taking on Big Tobacco,
our little flight attendant union did that—
even without the backing of the male unions that were around us.
That’s Sara Nelson.
She’s the international president of the Association of Flight Attendants.
She’s a major name in the labor movement and has been a pivotal force
in negotiating better wages and working conditions in the aviation industry.
Fast-forward, and we’ve got a list of things we can
thank unions for: the 40-hour work week, ending child
labor, family and medical leave, and employer-based health care coverage.
Union membership was at an all-time high in the 1950s, with approximately
In the 1970s, though, there was a dip in union popularity driven
by corporate and political forces.
In 1965, major corporate leaders
formed the Business Roundtable to lobby for laws
that limited workers’ collective bargaining rights.
Anti-union politicians also took aim at organized labor.
When air traffic controllers went on strike in 1981,
former President Ronald Reagan fired the strikers, which was a blow to unions nationwide.
With jobs scarce amid a recession,
employers exploited workers’ vulnerabilities by offering lower wages.
The combined corporate and political attacks
led to plummeting membership over the decade.
Unions haven't always been inclusive.
Early unions often excluded immigrants, women, and people of color.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 empowered these groups
to join these collectives, but even when interested in the effort,
they faced barriers to actually organizing.
According to the Economic Policy Institute,
According to the Economic Policy Institute, ‘this diverse group of workers
was increasingly unsuccessful in its organizing attempts because employers
pushed to new heights their efforts to break and bend labor law.’
Now, fast-forward even more to 2023,
and we’re seeing what many refer to as a ‘union boom.’
We’re seeing strikes, negotiations,
the works—all with the goal of leveling
the playing field and creating workspaces that are made for everyone.
From the Writers Guild's ongoing strike,
to flight attendants
rallying for better pay and working conditions,
to recognizable brands like UPS, Starbucks, and Amazon seeing an increase
in organizing efforts, there’s been a lot of momentum for improvement
in the workplace in recent years.
I think that this started to change when Karen Lewis
took the Chicago teachers out on strike in 2012,
and they had that amazing strike that was so connected to the community.
It changed people's lives,
and there was an immediate change for the community in Chicago.
And it told the rest of the country that the word 'strike' was not a dirty word
and collective bargaining is the way to solve problems.
We have successfully won concessions for nursing mothers,
and it put more than 500 of our members back to work.
We have restored
some of the art, music, world language, technology,
and physical education classes to many of our students.
People like Sara and David are helping to lead the charge, pushing for conditions
that don't only benefit
workers in specific fields, but that make waves across industries.
The Protecting the Right to Organize Act aims
to come together and bargain for higher wages, better benefits,
and safer workplaces.’ Passing this bill could give the labor movement
Passing this bill could give the labor movement
a significant boost
and could lead to union growth that we haven't seen since the early 1900s.
The future of America and the modern labor industry is hard to predict,
though many are hopeful that the current movement is inspiring more change every day.
So are modern unions simply continuing the work of their forebears,
or are they innovating the art of collective bargaining for a new era?
Let's be real: It's both.
And the stakes? Higher than ever.
You never think you need a union until you do, and then it's usually too late.
So don't wait.