Several speakers at the MTD executive board meetings examined key issues facing the labor movement, with special emphasis by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney on the critical need to protect workers’ rights to join a union.Sweeney, MTD President Michael Sacco, U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Calif.) and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) addressed important topics affecting America’s working families that the federation, its member unions (including the SIU) and pro-worker legislators are tackling.
The board also passed a resolution supporting the Employee Free Choice Act—legislation designed to end discrimination against workers who try to organize.
Additionally, Sacco and Sweeney offered comments on potential restructuring within the AFL-CIO, the national federation of unions. Sacco, who also serves as president of the SIU, praised the work done by Sweeney and described him as a “great role model for a labor leader. He’s done a tremendous job. Through his leadership and his team, we will continue to move along and do what we must do to protect the job security of our people.”
“At a time like this, I think it’s important to remember the many great things about the labor movement, and what we’re capable of when we work together,” Sacco added.
As just one recent example, he pointed to organized labor’s united efforts aiding tsunami victims, including the establishment of a relief fund through the Center for International Solidarity and the mobilization of aid workers.
Further, he noted that members of the SIU and other maritime unions sailed more than a dozen ships into the disaster area. They carried food, fuel, medical supplies, construction and road-building equipment, power generators and more.
“That type of giving and caring—that type of unselfishness and dedication—reflect what the labor movement is all about,” Sacco added. “The bottom line is that the things that have always been good about the labor movement are still good today. Unions do more good for more working families than any other organizations out there.”
Sweeney said that workers “need unions now more than ever, and millions would join unions if given a fair chance. That’s a fact. But our unions are struggling to help new workers organize, as more and more jobs are shipped overseas—as employers continue to use an endless variety of legal and illegal tactics to fight us. And as the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) helps them by eroding the protections of the law.”
He added that organized labor needs “a strong, coordinated campaign to restore the freedom of every worker to organize a union and gain a voice at work.”
He touched on internal challenges in the movement and the various proposals that have been submitted to restructure the federation. “We all agree on the need and the urgency to change and to grow…. Unity is our greatest asset. That does not mean we should avoid debate, but there can be no real solution that undermines the unity of working people.”
Sanchez reminded audience members about the labor movement’s many key accomplishments throughout its history. She noted that unions won the eight-hour work day, overtime pay, the 40-hour work week, pension plans, health care plans and the Family Medical and Leave Act.
“Labor did that for all American workers, whether they were in a union or not,” she stated. “Each of these ideas of labor collectively working together … were an important piece of making the standard of living of Americans something that every country envied.”
Sanchez was one of several speakers who expressed deep distress over the national health care crisis, pointing out that it is a long-term problem.
Additionally, she cited concerns regarding government workers losing their collective bargaining rights under the guise of homeland security. She further suggested that the danger extended well beyond those individuals losing their rights: “Where our government workers go, so goes the private sector.”
Thompson emphasized the need for unions to continue organizing new members and pledged his ongoing support to America’s working families.
He noted that he has a 100 percent voting record for labor, despite representing part of a so-called right-to-work state. “I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for organized labor,” he said.
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