What a strong labor movement has done — and can do again

Today is Labor Day—and there is a reason it is a national holiday.  Workers created American prosperity, which became shared prosperity in the last century as a result of a strong labor movement. So rather than think about Labor Day as the last gasp of summer or bemoan the loss of union clout, let’s redouble our efforts to revisit its intent and recreate the middle class.

Wages for workers have barely budged in three decades. Income and wealth inequality rivals levels last seen in the Gilded Age. The larger forces of globalization, trade, deindustrialization, and advancements in technology have hurt American workers and the communities in which many live, The American dream has slipped away from those who are working hard to make it.

{mosads}And rather than confronting these realities, many, particularly on the right, engaged in trickle-down magical thinking and—when that didn’t work—union bashing and restrictions on labor rights that rendered workers powerless to confront these inequities, The result: stagnating wages for hard-working professionals, and stifled hopes for men and women who worked hard for the promise of the American dream.

America’s teachers know this first hand. After the Great Recession, as some on the right seized the political moment to vilify teachers and make a frontal assault on the labor movement that gives them a voice. In the aftermath, a study by a University of Utah economist shows that in the four states that successfully weakened teachers’ right to bargain together, public school teachers’ wages fell by almost a tenth—9 percent.

Conversely, robust unions help everyone – not just members, and a growing body of research demonstrates that. There’s a multiplier effect. Unions lift up communities, strengthen the economy and deepen our democracy.

Last week, the Economic Policy Institute released a study showing that when union membership falls, wages fall for everyone. If unions were as strong today as in 1979, non-union men with a high-school diploma would earn an average of $3,016 more a year. And the Center for American Progress finds that kids who live in communities where unions are strong have a better chance to get ahead. 

You see it in our advocacy as well. When the Great Recession devastated the construction sector and put millions of Americans out of work, the American labor movement came together with the goal of raising $10 billion to repair the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. Five years later, our pension funds reallocated $16 billion for infrastructure investments putting 100,000 rehabilitating NYC’s LaGuardia Airport—turning it into a travel hub befitting a great modern city.

For those in unions, the advantage is even clearer. Collective bargaining leads to higher wages, economic growth, equality under the law, better public services and a strong public education system—all essential to leveling the playing field for working families.

Workers in unions earn, on average, 27 percent more than non-union counterparts. The National Women’s Law Center has found unions close the pay gap for women, and the Center for Economic Policy Research finds black workers see outsized gains from union representation. It’s a powerful reminder of the link between organized labor and economic success.

In the classroom, unions are critical partners in giving kids the chance to succeed. A 2016 study from National Bureau of Economic Research finds where teachers’ unions are strong, districts have a better track record of building the quality of our teaching force- keeping stronger teachers and dismissing those who are not making the grade. Unions fight for the tools, time and trust that educators need to tailor instruction to the needs of our children, to help them dream and achieve their dreams.

Here at the AFT, we take that work seriously—curating Share My Lesson, a free digital collection of lesson plans and resources for educators used by almost a million people. In fact, there are more than 750 lessons about Labor Day!

Despite years of right-wing attacks on unions, which have curbed union strength dramatically, a 2015 survey found a majority of Americans would join a union if they had the choice. They want what a union offers: a voice in their workplace, the opportunity to negotiate wages and benefits and to retire with dignity and security. In fact, according to a recent Pew Research Center report, 57 percent of millennials say labor unions have a positive impact on the country, up from 32 percent in 2010.

Indeed the AFT—which is 100 years old this year—has grown over the past several years, despite all the attacks wages against us, with well over 1.6 million K-12 and higher education educators, state and local employees, nurses and other health care professionals as members.  And now we are seeing more vulnerable workers, such as adjunct faculty and graduate students, teachers at charter schools and early childhood educators seeking to join our ranks. In the private sector, tens of thousands of low-income workers have joined the Fight for 15 and a union movement because they know that a union will help them get long-denied wage increases.

The aftermath of the Great Depression and World War II led our country to understand we were all in it together. As part of that we established the GI Bill and other educational access and equity; management and labor respected each other, with union s being the voice of labor; and the middle class thrived.

Now, as income inequality is again at its height, let’s remember on this Labor Day what a strong labor movement has done — and can do again — to help workers, our communities, economy and democracy grow and thrive.

Randi Weingarten is president of the American Federation of Teachers.

The views expressed by authors are their own and not the views of The Hill.