Yes, that's right. What we need in this country is not less unions, like we've seen happening for the past 34 years since Ronald Reagan occupied the Oval Office, but MORE Unions.
Why?
Because of what Unions brought to the bargaining table and WON for American Workers:
The 40 hour work week
Overtime pay for more than 8 hours a day when working over 40 hours in a week
Paid vacations
Ended child labor
OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)
FMLA (Family and Medical Leave Act)
Maternal Leave
EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity Act prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin)
Those are just off the top of my head.
But the problem in American Unionization is that it is fading.
The statistics on Income Inequality, oddly enough, march right alongside the statistics on Union composition of the workforce, both of them in equal and opposite strides:
So it bears considering that at least part of the problem in our current trending Income Inequality is a result of falling Union Membership in American Labor.
Source: Catherwood Library, Cornell University based on US Dept of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
UNION MEMBERS -- 2013
In 2013, the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions--was 11.3 percent, the same as in 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions, at 14.5 million, was little different from 2012. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent, and there were 17.7 million union workers.
1983 Union Membership was 20.1% with 17.7 million members
2013 Union Membership was 11.3% with 14.5 million members
The other side of the coin is that there is limited Power held by any Union in the United States anymore, because of the limited number of Unionized workers AND by the increased Power held by the corporations, with their rising wealth brought on during the past 34 years.
But what if every Union in the United States could, overnight, increase their Power exponentially?
Reported in 2006, by a DOL (department of labor) employee:
For 1999 -
Reporting unions 1999 = 30,703
Reporting unions 1999 = 20,242 with membership of 200 or less
For 2006 -
Reporting unions 2006 = 25,351
Reporting unions 2006 = 15,269 with membership of 200 or less
What if the
14.5 million Union members in the thousands (but quite likely many less than that 2006 figure) of the various Unions organized within the United States all considered
amalgamating into a singular American Labor Union?
Remember, per those numbers, there are vast numbers of Unions with less than 200 members. Just how powerful can a Union with 200 or fewer members be, when it comes time to negotiate a new Labor Contract?
Now imagine if those small Unions amalgamated under a single banner and brought the POWER of 14.5 million members to bear, instead?
Do you think that the balance of power for the Fast Food workers currently demonstrating and striking to get the Minimum Wage increased from a lousy Federally Mandated Minimum Wage of $7.25 to a LIVING WAGE of $15.00 would be shifted in the favor of those Workers, if they were able to join a Union which already exists - and weren't forced to Organize and Create a new Union to negotiate on their behalf with one of the world biggest employers?
Most of the trouble that wage workers face when trying to get better compensation is that with Unionization so low now, they not only have to agitate for better wages and benefits - they do so mostly without the benefit of any Union. To do so, they would first have to try and organize a Union for their workers to join.
But what if the newly amalgamated American Labor Union would accept as members ANY wage worker in the United States, regardless of industry or current working conditions?
What if all that wage workers had to do was elect to Join an existing Union and when parity of Members in the Union was reached, then the Union could negotiate on their behalf with the employer?
Which begs the question: Why haven't the Nations largest and most powerful Unions already done this?
The current AFL-CIO did exactly this same thing decades ago. The history of the AFL-CIO
First, the AFL (American Federation of Labor) portion:
In December of 1886, the same year the Knights of Labor was dealt its fatal blow at Haymarket Square, Samuel Gompers met with the leaders of other craft unions to form the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR. The A.F. of L. was a loose grouping of smaller craft unions, such as the masons' union, the hatmakers' union or Gompers's own cigarmakers' union. Every member of the A.F. of L. was therefore a skilled worker.
Next, the CIO (
Congress of Industrial Organizations):
Union presidents, including John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers, founded the Committee for Industrial Organization in November 1935. Fed up with the refusal of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) to organize unskilled and semiskilled factory workers, Lewis and his allies provided the money and organizational framework for their mobilization and unionization. The committee formalized its break with the AFL when it held its first convention in 1938, renaming itself the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
But eventually, in 1955 these two flagship Unions combined into the AFL-CIO which still exists today. They combined their efforts for the Crafts trades of the AFL and the Industrial trades of the CIO, to bring more
power to labor negotiations.
This is a terrific Labor History Timeline of the United States.
In the Year 2000, women became 2/3rds of new Union members.
In October of 2010 LIUNA (Laborers International Union of North America) rejoined the AFL-CIO.
The trend of Unions amalgamating is increasing in recent years, and it's likely in response to the dropping Union membership numbers that all Unions are seeing.
Perhaps 2015 should be the year that the AFL-CIO opens it's doors to any and all Wage and Salaried Labor workers in the United States.
Stop creating barriers too high for small prospective Unions to meet to form new Unions, lower that barrier entirely and simply accept all wage and salaried employees. When membership in any specific company reaches parity, notify the Company that the shop is now Unionized and begin negotiations on behalf of those workers.
Own the power to organization general strikes across the land when faced with the might of wealthy corporations which refuse to negotiate in good faith with their employees. When all Labor is Unionized in a single massive entity - perhaps then the Unions will hold an equitable place at the table when it comes to negotiating on behalf of members.
Is it time for the American Labor Union (ALU) to arise and champion the working people of America?
Our bought and paid for Congress simply doesn't seem up to the job. They are in cahoots with the corporations they should be defending The People who are workers from in far too many cases, plain and simple and so easily seen by their leaving Congress to move into six figure jobs working, in far too many cases, for the very companies which the Laws they were writing were meant to Regulate.
What say you, folk of Orange Territory?
Should the AFL-CIO and SEIU begin talks to consolidate all Unions across America into a single, massive American Labor Union and bring back the power of the working people and speak with the power of 14.5 million when negotiating?
I think they should. I think they can't do it soon enough.