Face of labor is changing, but commitment to do good work remains

BY ALISE MARTINY
Guest columnist
Kansas City Star
Monday, September 3, 2012




Monday’s Labor Day holiday offered Americans another opportunity to celebrate the many benefits we as a society derive from our country’s labor movement, which is better educated and more gender and ethnically diverse than ever before and is getting younger.

Yes, it was a day for celebration, in spite of the fact that America’s unionized industries and union members have suffered some of the heaviest casualties of this most recent economic recession.

Most of us are well aware that America’s labor movement suffered plenty of hard knocks even before we got clobbered by the recession. National Public Radio reminded us of this in a June 16 report when it noted that only 12 percent of America’s workforce belongs to unions, compared with about one-third right after World War II.

Yet in these tough times, as America strives to get its economic engine back in gear, the U.S. labor movement is more important than ever. We all agree that businesses need to make healthy profits to keep their doors open and grow. But our economy cannot grow as it should grow unless American workers — American families — receive decent pay and benefits. Otherwise, not enough people are going to have the means to purchase the goods and services American companies produce.

This is why unions support the preservation of statutes such as Missouri’s prevailing wage law, which establishes a minimum wage rate that must be paid to workers on public works construction projects.

Prevailing wage laws not only support decent wages, but they provide workers better training in areas such as the use of scaffolding and power tools. Better training leads to safer working conditions, which translate into fewer workplace deaths and injuries. That’s the right thing to do for workers, and it holds down costs for employers. Indeed, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration states on its website that an effective safety and health program can save $4 to $6 for every $1 invested.

Better training also leads to higher-quality work. Fortunately, union opposition helped defeat legislative efforts to weaken Missouri’s prevailing wage law this year.

Besides the tangible benefits of decent wages, training, safety and high-quality work, union membership provides American workers with the dignity they deserve on the job. Employees who are treated with dignity feel more motivated to do good work and to go the extra mile, and that’s a win-win for workers and employers.

Unions also play a huge role in training the next generation of workers and fostering workplace diversity. For the past two summers I have enjoyed the privilege of taking a leadership role in MAGIC (Mentoring a Girl in Construction) Camp, a free one-week summer day camp held by the National Association of Women in Construction’s Kansas City chapter, in partnership with national and local construction vendors. MAGIC Camp introduces high school girls to the world of construction, to the benefit of the girls and our future workforce.

I am proud to be a 32-year card-carrying union member and keenly aware that the challenges facing organized labor have never been greater. We are on a mission to better educate decision makers, voters and contractors on the very real value that well-trained, safety-conscious union workers bring to the job site and to the communities they work and live in.

Alise Martiny, a veteran concrete finisher, was recently elected business manager of the Greater Kansas City Building Trades Council. She is the first woman to hold that position.