About a year ago, in February 2021, workers in the United States began to voluntarily leave their
jobs in record numbers. Economists took notice and dubbed this phenomenon the Great Resignation.
This sort of thing isn’t unprecedented. However, normally when the number of resignations
starts trending up, it’s a sign of economic prosperity — people are leaving their jobs
because they’re confident they’ll be able to find something better. But, as we all know
far too well, February 2021 was not a time of economic prosperity — it was the beginning of
the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Workers weren’t quitting their jobs because
they were optimistic about their prospects. Many of them were quitting because they found
their working conditions or the demands placed on them by their employers to be intolerable.
They were quitting because they couldn’t take it any more.
Wouldn’t it be nice if these workers had some alternative other than quitting their jobs? Some
way to negotiate with their employers for better conditions, better benefits, better compensation?
Some way to force their reluctant, profit-minded bosses to take them and their interests seriously?
If only there were some sort of — okay, I’m done. Labor unions. I’m talking about labor unions.
Labor unions, also called labor organizations, trade unions, or just unions,
are organizations formed by workers to represent them during negotiations with their employers,
to advocate for their interests and protect their rights.
The organized labor movement began in the mid-19th century in the wake of the
industrial revolution. The first labor unions in the United States were formed in the 1860s,
after a series of court rulings made it legal for workers to collectively
bargain — the law had previously treated it as a type of conspiracy. These early unions
were made up of railroad employees, coal miners, and people who worked in factories.
As the 19th century gave way to the 20th, and these industries grew,
the unions grew with them. When union membership in the United States peaked in the mid-1950s,
nearly 35% of American workers belonged to a labor union. That might not sound like a lot,
but the influence of unions reached beyond their members.
Higher wages and shorter hours have been among the central demands of labor unions since the
first ones were organized, and in 1938 those demands found their way into U.S. federal law
with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which mandated a minimum wage and overtime pay for
those who work more than forty hours a week. The law applied to union and non-union workers alike.
And that’s not all — workplace safety standards, health benefits, paid vacation time,
retirement benefits, and the end of child labor all came about in large part because labors unions
spent decades fighting for them. Most companies didn’t worry about the welfare of their workers
until they were forced to. The government didn’t take action to protect workers’ rights
and mandate certain basic standards until enough people demanded it. Strong unions
lead to stronger, healthier, and more equitable communities, and that’s to everyone’s benefit.
Wages for unionized workers are generally higher than those of non-union workers, but historically,
improvements won by unions for their members have also eventually benefitted non-union workers as
well. Periods of high unionization have seen upward mobility increase, and income inequality
decrease. And you don’t need to be an economist for that to make sense. If a greater number of
people have more money, are able to provide a stable and comfortable standard of living for
themselves and their families, and afford things like health care and higher education — because we
treat those as luxuries here in the United States — then it’s better in the long run for everyone.
My paternal grandfather — Pap, as I called him — had a union job. He worked for the railroad
for thirty years. Before that, he worked other union jobs in local factories. In the early years
of his marriage to my grandmother — Granny — he was often on strike. Granny took what
secretarial work she could find to help pay the bills and keep food on the table. It was
a struggle just to make ends meet.
But eventually, Pap got hired on at the railroad, and the family’s fortunes began to change. Pap
never graduated high school, but thanks to his job with the railroad, and the benefits he was
guaranteed thanks to his union, he earned a good wage, got medical benefits and vacation time,
a retirement plan. He made enough money that he was able to invest some, and those investments,
along with his savings and retirement, allowed him to spend the last decade or so of his life
in comfort, pursuing hobbies that interested him, traveling the country with Granny,
and spending lots of time with my brother and me.
But, that’s not all. He bought this house. He could afford to buy a new
car every couple of years. He helped my parents buy the house where I grew up,
and their vehicles. He bought me my first car. The money he saved paid for me to go to college, and
for my brother to go to technical school to become a certified mechanic — no student loans necessary.
And here’s the most important thing about all of that: Pap was not a rich man. He was a working
man with a good union job. Pap worked hard — too hard sometimes. He often put in long hours away
from home, riding trains from here in Maryland down to Florida and back. But the fruits of that
labor benefited not only him and my grandmother for the rest of their lives, but my parents,
and they continue to benefit my brother and me to this very day. And while it’s almost unimaginable
to many of us, among people of his generation, his story was not at all unusual. It was,
to put it as tritely as I can, the American dream — back when it was possible to actually live it.
Upward mobility, the opportunity to not just keep up but get ahead, the potential to set up
the next generation to have it better than you’ve had it — all the elements
that make up that American dream can only be realized through an empowered
labor force. And the best way to empower a labor force is through labor unions.
A single employee has little power compared to the company they work for.
Individuals can be replaced. That’s why the ability of a unionized labor force
to bargain collectively is so important. As the lyrics to one of my favorite songs,
the Almanac Singers’ “Talking Union,” put it, “The boss won’t listen when one guy squawks,
but he’s got to listen when the union talks.” By banding together and speaking with one voice,
workers can overcome the power imbalance between them and their bosses and defend
their rights and bargain for a better deal on even ground, or at least something closer to it.
Membership in a union gives workers who are unhappy at their jobs an option besides quitting.
Through the union, they can demand better from their employer. The largest segments of the
workforce taking part in the Great Resignation come from the service industry — hotels and
restaurants. These industries also have some of the lowest unionization rates.
Compelled to put in longer hours for relatively low pay, during a major public health crisis no
less, many of these workers decided it was no longer worth it and simply walked off the job.
Had they been unionized, had they been able to stand up to their employers and demand
higher pay, better benefits, safer conditions in a voice their bosses were forced to listen to,
perhaps fewer would have felt it necessary to quit. The Great Resignation isn’t the only impact
the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the workforce. Over the last two years, thousands of unionized
workers have walked off their jobs not because they quit, but because they were on strike.
Not every strike since the pandemic started has been caused by the pandemic — in fact,
from what I can tell, most have been over the same sorts of disagreements
that usually lead to strikes — workers asking for higher wages and/or lighter workloads,
and employers stamping their feet and holding their breaths in response.
But even if it’s not a primary cause, the pandemic has played a role in several strikes.
For example, in December 2020, 400 members of the United Steelworkers who worked at an
aluminum recycling plant in Alabama went on strike, alleging that the new contract offered
them by the owners of the plant would have weakened the established system of seniority,
compromised health and safety, and given management too much authority over scheduling.
None of those concerns were directly tied to the COVID-19 pandemic,
but the workload of the plant has significantly increased because lockdowns and higher numbers
of people working from home has resulted in greater aluminum can consumption,
making the pandemic a factor in the strike, albeit mostly an indirect one.
Since that high point in the 1950s, the rate of unionization in the United States has been
steadily falling. Today, according to a recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the union membership rate in this country is just over 10 percent. The weakening of unions
is the result of decades of unrelenting efforts from companies and their mostly conservative
Republican political allies to make it as difficult as possible for workers to form unions,
and to persuade workers that they don’t need to join a union, anyway.
This was a primary tactic used by Amazon to dissuade workers at its Bessemer,
Alabama warehouse from unionizing last year. The company warned its
employees that the union just wanted to siphon off their wages by charging dues,
would interfere with Amazon’s ability to help its employees learn new skills and advance in
the company, and complicate communication between management and workers. Besides,
what good could a union possibly do when Amazon already takes good care of its workers?
Amazon, the company that has had warehouse employees putting in fifty-five hours a week
and falling asleep from exhaustion during their shifts,
and delivery drivers so pressured to keep to schedule that they were pissing in bottles
and shitting in bags. Yeah, no need to empower those workers, everything there seems just fine.
Here’s the thing: does joining a union cost something? Sure. You will have to
pay membership dues. The union will come between you and management — that’s its job,
that’s what it means to represent someone. Joining a union means allowing the organization to speak
for you. Yes, most unions operate democratically, and actions aren’t taken without the consent of a
majority of the members, but still, you are adding your voice to the collective voice
of the membership rather than speaking for yourself alone, and lots of people
are uncomfortable with that. We Americans have a streak of independence, and we come by it
honestly — mostly — but it doesn’t always do us credit. Often, it works against us.
But if you are not in a union, that’s costing you something, too. According to that same report from
the Bureau of Labor Statistics I referred to earlier, the median weekly income of nonunion
workers is only 83% of what union workers make. Union workers are also far more likely to have
health benefits and retirement plans. Union membership gives workers protection against being
fired unjustly, and makes it more likely that workers who are fired receive severance packages.
Union membership empowers workers. Why should employers have all the leverage?
Why should companies — especially massively successful companies like Amazon — be able to
tell their employees “take it or leave it”? Your boss isn’t doing you a favor by employing you.
It doesn’t have to be a one-sided transaction. It could be, and should be, an exchange. You
are trading your time and your labor to your employer in return for compensation. You should
have something to say when it comes to setting the terms of that exchange. All workers should.
Look, unions aren’t perfect, and unions won’t fix every problem in our society, or even in
our economy. They are not sufficient, but they are necessary, and I support as many workers as
possible joining them, and I support making it as easy as possible for more workers to join them.
Like I told you, I’m standing in the house my grandfather bought and kept thanks to the
income from his union job. That was over sixty years ago, and through those years this house,
this modest, beautiful little house, has been a home to three generations of my family:
Pap and Granny, my father, who grew up here, and now, me.
I’m not gonna tell you the union gave Pap this house, because that’s not true. Pap worked hard,
and he earned his money. The union just helped him make sure that he got it.
Thanks so much for watching, everybody. If you enjoyed this video,
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