This Labor Day, let’s work to restore balance

Hey!  The Columbia Tribune ran a pro-union commentary on Labor Day!  This is the first time I can remember them running anything about labor unions on Labor Day.  Thanks Tribune!

By KIMBERLY FREEMAN BROWN
Sunday, September 4, 2011

What a year it’s been for working families. Since last Labor Day, we’ve seen unprecedented attacks on the middle class from CEOs and corporate-backed lawmakers in workplaces, in the states and on Capitol Hill.

Millions are still jobless, and income inequality is at an all-time high, with black and Latino families bearing a hugely disproportionate share of the burden.

The good news? We’ve already started to turn back the tide. Grass-roots mobilizations in Wisconsin and across the country are rooted in a growing awareness that workers joining together in unions are a vital counterbalance to the CEOs and corporate-backed politicians who ran our economy into the ground.

After all, we have unions to thank for a lot of things we take for granted: the minimum wage, the eight-hour workday, child labor laws, health and safety standards. And studies show a large union presence in an industry or region can raise wages even for non-union workers.

One of the best things we can do for our economy is ensure that workers who want to have a union have a fair chance to do so. In June, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proposed a rule intended to accomplish just that by cutting back on costly litigation and needless delays that stand in the way of a fair vote for workers. It’s a modest proposal, but given the economic crisis we find ourselves in, an important one.

Predictably, the same corporate interests and right-wing politicians rolling back workers’ rights nationwide are opposing the NLRB, and they’re working overtime to malign unions at every opportunity, hoping Americans will forget everything that unions have done and continue to do to help workers.

This Labor Day, we’ve got to fight back harder than ever for a fair vote at work and a fair shake in the economy.

Kimberly Freeman Brown is executive director of American Rights at Work, a labor policy and advocacy organization.