Organizing
What is Organizing?
The common term for a group of workers seeking to
join or form a Union is
“Organizing”. Workers organize for various reasons, be it to
improve their working conditions, wages or benefits, and/or
to create a better working environment.
We encourage you to read more about us to see if joining our
union is right for
you and/or your coworkers.
The American Promise is that if we go to school, work hard,
and become a productive and faithful employee, we can then
expect to support a family, raise and educate our children,
enjoy a healthy and fulfilling life and retire with dignity.
That was the vision of middle class Americans, who once
modeled the image of what it was to be an American. The
middle class is disappearing in direct proportion to the
demise of the American union movement. After World War II,
nearly 30 percent of our work force belonged to unions.
Today, about half that percentage is organized. Today, a few
own the world’s resources while most live in poverty.
Wages of $8.00 per hour are common but for most of these
workers there is no health insurance or retirement plans.
The result? Taxpayers across the United States are making up
for what employers should be paying with public assistance
programs. That’s corporate welfare.
Why are wages so low? Because that’s the easiest way to
increase profitability. The result is that the wealthiest
one percent own as much of our nation as ninety percent of
the rest of us. Corporate CEO’s can earn 500 times
the wages paid to their workers.
Why Unions?
The freedom to form unions is a basic human right. In 1935,
the US Government enacted the National Labor Relations Act
that said “Employees shall have the right to form … labor
organization … to bargain collectively … (and employers may
not) interfere with … the exercise of … this right.” In
1948, the US joined four-fifths of United Nations member
states, to ratify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
which included the right of all people to come together in
unions.
Workers form unions because there is power in numbers. Where
union are strong, employers must bargain collectively to set
the terms and conditions of employment. The demand for
profits must then be compromised with fairness toward
workers.
Union members earn 28 percent more than nonunion workers.
But stronger unions raise living standards and improve the
quality of life for all. In the ten states in which unions
are the strongest, there is less poverty, higher household
income, more education spending, and better public policy
than in the ten weakest union states.
Unions Encourage Democracy:
Union encourage voting and other forms of political
participation by members and other social groups with common
interests. It has been estimated that for every one percent
decline in union membership there is a 0.4 percent decline
in voter participation.
What have Unions done for us?
As a result of the organization of unions, workers now have
an eight hour work day and a five day work week; health
insurance for them and their families;
better wages and pensions; job security; overtime pay, job
safety; family and medical leave; fair treatment for women,
people of all ethnic background and those with disabilities.
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