On Labor Day, some see the growing clash between corporations and workers and ask, “Which side are you on?”
I’ve seen both sides. As a third-generation union member, I know the anger many working people feel as they struggle to improve their lives by joining together in a union, only to face a hostile employer determined to defeat them. But, as the CEO of a growing insurance and investment company in the union marketplace, I also know employers and workers can be on the same side.
But that will take corporate America to accept—voluntarily or, more realistically, through legal compulsion—that companies can thrive and serve their shareholders, while still respecting the rights of their workers.
As millions of working people struggle with low wages, scarce benefits, and the prospects of an insecure retirement—all while corporate profits soar and executive compensation averages $17.7 million a year—a majority of workers say they want a union. Yet anyone who has been close to an effort by workers to unite knows their first questions: Are we allowed to do this? Will the company permit it? That, despite the fact that the right to a union has been enshrined in U.S. law for 89 years. The truth is employers have learned to routinely game the system.
Corporations spend nearly a half-billion dollars a year on anti-union consultants to defeat workers’ organizing efforts. Managers force workers into one-on-one mandatory meetings and interrogate them to determine who among their co-workers is pro-union. Nearly half of employers threaten workers with job loss, and nearly a fifth follow through on the threat. And when, against all odds, workers win, employers stall negotiating the protections and benefits of a union contract so that workers lose faith.
There are inspiring examples of workers overcoming the odds—union election wins are surging. That’s because workers want the on-average 10% more pay, safer workplaces, secure retirements, and greater likelihood of paid sick leave and employer-paid healthcare that come with a union.
It is no coincidence that years ago when the percentage of workers in unions was highest, income inequality was lowest. Or that that’s when our country’s middle class was born and our economy saw its biggest productivity gains. When unions were strongest, more workers and their families led middle-class lives, and that was good for America. Growing up in a union family in Tennessee, I know first-hand the benefits of the financial security offered by union membership.
My grandfather joined a union in the 1950s during a period of tremendous growth for the labor movement. This was no accident—it was a direct result of President Franklin Roosevelt’s championing of the Wagner Act, which he declared was to ensure that workers had the freedom to choose a union. The act enforced the creed that corporations owed allegiance not only to shareholders but also to stakeholders, including their own employees. With that enforcement, corporate America still thrived. However, later legal changes at the federal and state level have empowered employers to stifle organizing efforts and bully workers who pursue collective power.
It’s time for a new Wagner Act. Waiting in the wings is the PRO Act, which could be more aptly named the Restoring the American Dream Act. Such an act would outlaw much of the corporate behavior that blocks workers from joining a union, and it is a near certainty that the majority of Americans would have what they want—a union in their own workplace.
Such a law would benefit companies that respect workers’ freedom to choose, ending a race to the bottom and leveling the competitive playing field. Fair protection for union organizing would begin to address the 12 million children in the U.S. who grow up in poverty. It could correct the shame that one in four adults older than 50 have no retirement savings, and it would address the growing number of Americans who must work multiple jobs to make ends meet. Poor is a four-letter word, and a big part of the solution is a five-letter word: union.
To most Americans, it seems every day in our country has become Corporation Day, leaving only one day to honor the workers who make America work. On this Labor Day, all of us—companies that play by the rules, a new diverse generation of workers who want and deserve their fair share, candidates for office who want their support, and anyone concerned about the future of America—should lead the effort to restore the freedom of workers to unite in a union to improve their lives.
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