This guest post was written by Michael Honey, Haley Professor of the Humanities at the University of Washington, Tacoma, and a former holder of the Harry Bridges labor studies chair at the University of Washington. His recent book, “Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King’s Last Campaign,” recently won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. He is President of the national Labor and Working-Class History Association.

Labor Day 2008 marks a moment of crisis for middle and working-class Americans. Housing, health care, transportation, education and job needs are growing acute in an economy that has been run into a ditch. If you have been paying any attention at all for the last eight years, you know what I’m talking about. Yet 2008 also may be a time of significant change. People are fed up and many are demanding a new direction.

However, really changing the American economy is a long-term project and it revolves around improving the conditions of American workers. Furthermore, whether things get better and incomes go up in the months to come depends a great deal on whether workers are able to organize unions. In a recent opinion survey by Peter D. Hart Associates, 65 percent supported unions while only 25 percent did not. That is no surprise: by one research estimate, unionized workers earn 30% higher wages, are 59% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and are 400% more likely to have pensions than their non-union counterparts. Unionized workers have more rights than those without unions, and a union still remains the best anti-poverty program for a wage earner, as Martin Luther King once said.

In Washington State, New York and a few other places, nearly 20 percent of workers belong to unions. But nationally, less than 12 percent do and in the South and parts of the west the percentages are much lower. If statistics show that workers want unions and that unions improve their conditions, why do so many not have them?

In many work places, employees simply do not have the freedom to choose. Employers blatantly disregard their First Amendment rights to speak, associate, and organize. The National Labor Relations Board, stacked against unions by the Bush administration, admits that at least a fifth of those who try to join a union get fired instead. The actual percentage is much higher. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch designate the land of the brave and the home of the free as one of the greatest violators of workers rights. American workers are not free.

This summer, federal agents in Smithfield, North Carolina, slowed a campaign to organize a union of African-American, Anglo and Latino packinghouse workers with deportation raids. Across the land, deportations turned into felony proceedings, imprisoning workers and smashing union organizing in the process.

Many of us have seen the full-page ads employer groups place in newspapers falsely blaming unions for America’s huge job losses (half a million in the last six months). They even mail anti-union literature into the homes of workers when they try to organize, while employers curse and run union representatives off job sites. Employers systematically break federal labor laws to put unions out of business.

This summer, Wal-Mart held captive audience meetings warning its employees against voting for Democrats. They said Democrats will support the Employee Free Choice Act (which they will), and claimed EFCA will force them to join a union (which it will not). This is blatantly illegal and underlines the simple fact that we need to strengthen labor laws and their enforcement to stop corporate bullying of employees.

Last year, EFCA passed in the House of Representatives but Republicans prevented a vote in the Senate. It allows workers to form unions through majority sign-up rather than through elections procedures that take years and have become a travesty as employers hold captive audience meetings to pressure workers into voting against unions. EFCA shields workers from such practices. It increases penalties for illegal employer actions, and creates mechanisms for binding arbitration for first collective bargaining contracts when employers refuse to bargain in good faith or the parties can’t reach an agreement.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has made defeat of EFCA in the next Congress a top legislative priority. In contrast, union supporters are signing millions of post cards and circulating a national petition to support EFCA in the next Congress. Senator Barack Obama co-sponsored EFCA while Senator John McCain voted against it, so as they battle it out for President, employee freedom of choice hangs in the balance.

Employee free choice and union growth offer the most direct path to reduce the monstrous economic disparities between the great majority of wage and salary earners and the top 1 percent of the population, which owns more wealth than 90 percent of Americans combined. Unions are also important if we are to rejuvenate progressive politics in America. As Stewart Acuff and Sheldon Friedman recently wrote in the Huffington Post, “Social security, civil rights, women’s rights, progressive taxation, high-quality public education and health care for all are but a small sample of the national policies that cannot be defended or implemented without a strong labor movement.”

This Labor Day 2008 is a critical time that holds the possibility for sweeping political and economic change. Vote like the future of working-class and middle-class America depends upon it, because it does.

This entry by AFSCME President Gerald McEntee was crossposted on The Huffington Post.

Labor Day traditionally marks the start of the election season. This year is certainly no different, but the stakes are much higher than they’ve been in a long time. The economy is in trouble, unemployment is high, bankruptcies are up, and families are finding their budgets crimped by rising gas, food and utility costs. The media reports that even college students are turning to food stamps to make ends meet and sky-rocketing food prices are forcing more and more people to rely on charity food pantries to feed their families.

It’s true that the economic indicators paint a gloomy picture, yet workers have much to be proud of and even to celebrate. Although largely unheralded and unseen, most workers contribute to their workplaces and communities. AFSCME members in particular can take pride in doing the work that makes America happen.
Every day, in towns, cities, suburbs and exurbs across our nation, AFSCME members are driving school buses, working in hospitals, caring for children, staffing 911 call centers, fixing bridges and roads, repairing tunnels, providing food stamps and other emergency assistance to families, and doing many other jobs that protect and strengthen communities.

Our nation’s economy has faltered during these last eight years and from time to time, so have our spirits. But we have an opportunity to regain what we’ve lost. We all are ready for change. And what’s more, we are ready to create it. In 2006, union workers voted for change in overwhelming numbers, taking back the U.S. Congress and putting worker-friendly governors and state legislators in office across the country. This year, we’re going to do everything we can to build on that success. We need a new President who will stand with workers.

We need a president who supports public services and the workers who provide them, and opposes the privatization of public service jobs. We need a president who will work to protect Social Security, not privatize it. We need a President who will sign the Employee Free Choice Act so that workers can join unions to negotiate for better wages and benefits, not one who opposes efforts of workers to organize. We need a President who will work to enact quality, affordable health care for all Americans, not one who supports taxing employee health benefits. This year, the choice for working families is clear.

Although we can’t hit the rewind button and undo the last eight years, we can move forward by electing a new president who will be a champion for working families. With this election, we can restart our economy and regain workers’ rights. We can restore food safety and environmental protection laws. We can create good jobs and revive public services and people’s faith in them. And we can end the war in Iraq that’s robbed our nation — and families — of too many working men and women, and is costing us $12 billion a month.

Now’s the time for us to reclaim America — and to reclaim the values that built America’s middle class. Now’s the time for us to elect candidates who truly value workers and understand the needs of the nation’s working families.

Day 4 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: Hope was in the air when U.S. Senator Barack Obama spoke to thousands of cheering AFSCME activists today. Even though he spoke via satellite, we could feel the energy of his words as he called for “jobs for the jobless and hope for the hopeless.”

Shirley Brown

Obama told the inspiring story of Shirley Brown, a housekeeper at Resurrection Health Care’s Westlake Hospital in Illinois, and a leader in workers’ efforts to win a voice and dignity on the job with AFSCME. Senator Obama has been an active supporter and has spoken at two rallies in support of Resurrection workers. He also signed a letter to Resurrection CEO Joseph Toomey urging him to dialogue with employees.

In addition, Senator Obama renewed his commitment to make sure the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law. The Employee Free Choice Act would allow employees to form a union without employer interference and intimidation.

Senator Obama was preceded by U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton.

Watch an excerpt from Senator Obama’s address:

Day 4 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: Hillary Clinton arrived at AFSCME’s Convention today to loud cheers and warm applause from the delegates. She was smart, compelling, and gracious. She thanked AFSCME for being such an important part of her campaign. “From the very beginning, I counted on you and you never let me down.”

And she promised not to let us down – to continue to fight for working people and the public services that make our nation strong.

At the close of her speech, her escorts started to lead her backstage. She had another idea, and headed to the throngs of AFSCME members so she could shake their hands and thank them personally.

Watch an excerpt from Sen. Clinton’s address:

Day 3 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: Former Vice President, Nobel Prize Laureate and winner of the 2002 presidential election Al Gore addressed AFSCME’s 38th International Convention, where he was warmly and enthusiastically welcomed by the Green Machine.

Gore spoke of his long history with AFSCME, the importance of public services, the environmental crisis the world faces and and our ability to save the planet through the use of renewable resources.

And he talked of the need for change in Washington, saying, “The only obstacle to accomplishing change is political will, but in the United States of America political will is a renewable resource.” On AFSCME’s role in making that change happen he said, “Over the years, I’ve repeated the slogan that I learned from my father and you’ve heard this so many times before: ‘Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and organize.’ That is a big part of what we count on you all to do and what I want to help you do.”

Day 2 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: In addition to a stirring speech by Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy, the important work of public service workers across the nation was featured during a special “We Make America Happen” program on Tuesday. The program was led by Jim Howell, executive director of Connecticut Council 15.

Through a blend of video and live member testimonies, delegates learned about the different ways AFSCME members make America happen as workers in the public sector, and as activists in politics and grassroots organizing. Watch an excerpt from Yolanda Gonzales, senior food service worker at the University of California, Local 3299:

Visit the AFSCME.org Convention site for more video from Tuesday, including testimony from Michelle Mason, direct care worker at the Bellefontaine Habilitation Center, Local 2370 (Missouri Council 72); Mike McGuire, house inspector in the City of Langley, Local 1896 (Pennsylvania Council 13); and Mike Flaherty, equipment mechanic for the City of San Diego, Local 127 (California Council 36).

AFL-CIO Exec. Vice Pres. Arlene Holt Baker, a former AFSCME International Union area director in California, also addressed the Convention. Today, delegates heard from former Vice President Al Gore.

For photos and more convention coverage, go to www.afscme.org/convention.

Day 2 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer William Lucy delivered the main address to delegates today. In his speech, Lucy called the fight against privatization nothing less than a fight to save our nation.

Lucy also spoke movingly of the long history that led up to June 3rd, the day Barack Obama won enough votes to secure the nomination of the Democratic Party for President of the United States. Said Lucy:

“To understand Tuesday night, June 3rd, you have to understand the journey from Goree Island to Charleston, South Carolina, crossing over five thousand miles of ocean chained in the bottom of a ship… To understand Tuesday night, June 3rd, you have to understand the sacrifice of Fannie Lou Hamer, Viola Liuzzo, Rosa Parks, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, Jimmy Lee Jackson, Medgar Evers, E.D. Nixon, the walkers in Montgomery and the marchers in Selma, and the four little girls in a church in Birmingham… And as we look toward the future we do so understanding that nothing is certain but all things are possible.”

Watch an excerpt below:

Day 1 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: Unity and Victory was the theme as Alice Goff, president of California Council 36 and an International vice president welcomed the nearly 6,000 delegates, alternates and guests to her home state, reminding us of the great importance of the November 2008 elections. “We must come together,” she declared.

President McEntee, in his keynote address, called for members to work together to meet our biggest challenges: to elect pro-worker candidates across the country and build public support for the vital public services that make our communities a better place to live, work and raise a family.

“The stakes are too high – too high – for our nation to elect another President who doesn’t respect our work, doesn’t respect our families and doesn’t respect the public services that America depends on and that our members provide,” McEntee said.

The day’s program, which was chaired by former International Vice Pres. Russell Okata and included testimonials from members from CA, HI, NY, OH, OR and IL, underscored our common commitment to make this country a better place for working families.

“You know something is wrong when Big Business is getting their bailout packages handed to them from the government but all working people seem to be getting are foreclosure notices. I want a President who will do the right thing,” declared Davida Russell, a school bus driver in Cuyahoga County, OH, and state vice president of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees/AFSCME Local 4.

Russell was joined at the podium by Lorraine Guest, president of Local 215 (New York’s DC 1707); Michael Hanna, vice president of Local 88 (Oregon Council 75); Margarita Jaramillo, member of United Domestic Workers (UDW/NUHHCE Local 1199); Lori Laidlaw, member of Local 817 (Illinois Council 31); and Kim Wallace, member of New York’s Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME Local 1000.

For pictures, videos and more of the AFSCME 38th International Convention, check out www.afscme.org.

Day 1 of AFSCME’s 38th International Convention: President Gerald W. McEntee got delegates jumping to their feet when he asked them to, “stand up if you’re ready to make a better America happen!”

In his keynote address, McEntee told the crowd of nearly 6,000 that, “Together we will build an even more powerful union! Together we will reach out and organize the unorganized! We will negotiate contracts that make our families strong! Together we will fight for a new America!” Watch an excerpt below:

When they get to rewrite the rules that decide who receives health coverage and who doesn’t, the insurance companies win every time. A new video from Health Care for America NOW asks: what would happen if we all got to live by insurance company rules?

The video is funny, but these are serious issues – our health care system is broken, and we need to fix it now. For more information on AFSCME’s campaign for quality, affordable health care we can all count on, visit www.afscme.org/healthcare.