By UAW President
Stephen P. Yokich
Labor Day 1997. The story is this: All over America,
workers and unions are reinventing the labor movement.
America's working men and women are serving notice. We
are not going to stand on the sidelines and watch while
multinational corporations and Wall Street dictate all
the rules. And more and more workers are again realizing
that unions still offer the best way for us to win a seat
at the decision-making table.
Now, I realize that's just the opposite of what many
self-styled experts are saying about the future of
unions.
Some argue that unions can't do anything for workers
because in the New Economy corporations are just too
powerful. But, then, that's what they said about General
Motors back in 1937, too.
Others admit that unions have helped in the past. But
they argue that workers don't need unions today, because
unions like the UAW have accomplished what they set out
to do in the 1930s and 1940s. In other words, there are
not more battles to be won.
The fact is, as we head for the 21st century,
unions have more to do than ever.
Yes, by many measures the U.S. economy is
booming. Corporate profits, CEO pay, and the stock
markets are setting records. Inflation and unemployment
are the lowest they've been in years.
Yet many Americans have every reason to say--please don't
give me any more "good" news. Sure, more
Americans are working. But more and more are
stuck in part-time or temporary jobs. You've heard the
joke, yeah there are millions of jobs out there--I know
one guy alone who's got four of them.
And then there's the question of pay. Last year, the
average compensation of CEOs shot up 54
percent to $5,781,300. But the average worker
got a 3% raise.
At the workplace itself, in the name of
"competitiveness," employers are trying to turn
back the clock to near sweatshop conditions. Excessive
overtime, 12-hour shifts, line speed-ups, no relief,
vacations postponed are more and more common.
The "profits-are-everything" mentality is
taking a serious toll on family life. Anti-union types
like to talk about "family values." But when it
comes to protecting the rights of working parents to have
the time to help their kids with homework or go
to their Little League games, they are working night and
day to weaken both unions and the laws that prevent
employers from working children and adults harder than
ever.
Put it all together and it's no surprise that unions and
working Americans are answering the so-called new economy
with renewed labor vitality.
That's why Teamsters delivered the powerful message to
UPS that low-wage part-time jobs take our economy
backward--not forward.
Just in the last few months, thousands of UAW members at
GM local unions have stood up to management's efforts to
violate the contract provisions that protect vacation and
relief time they have earned.
At Action! Motown, a crowd of 100,000 strong, jammed
downtown Detroit in support of the newspaper workers'
struggle for justice with Gannett and Knight-Ridder.
On college campuses, young people are fighting for their
rights to organize and bargain collectively. For example,
more than 10,000 University of California graduate
teaching assistants have joined the UAW.
From Watsonville to Washington--American workers have
every right to stand up for their rights and fighting for
a future that keeps our economy and our democracy
healthy.
This Labor Day and every day thereafter--that's just what
we are going to keep on doing. |