Research has shown that 60 million American workers would join a union tomorrow if they could. Today in an interview on the Real News Network, journalist Phil Dine had this message for unorganized workers, on why all working Americans should be in a labor union:
If you'd like to see your pay increase by about 20 percent, get sick days, get paid vacations, get pensions, you ought to think about forming a union.
That's [the real reason] why employers are so against having a union--because workers do a lot better.
The conversation between Dine and senior editor Paul Jay was ripe with insight I haven't heard in quite a while re: the state of unions and the labor movement, as well as the role labor should be playing with the Obama Administration. At one point, Jay spoke on what what he thinks labor unions need to tell the Democratic Party:
The unions need to be able to say to the Democratic party, you're either with us...or you're with the Chamber of Commerce. On healthcare, on EFCA, on real issues--because issue by issue, there's a real war going on.
The Chamber of Commerce is mustering millions and millions of dollars, to spend massive amounts on television advertising and tons of money on lobbying in Congress. There's a war there. And right now you have an administration that seems more concerned to appease the Chamber of Commerce, than to appease labor.
Phil Dine's thoughts on labor needing to speak up much more in communicating to average Americans why the labor movement is so important:
The reason we've had economic prosperity and political stability for decades in this country is in large measure due to our industrial relations system, which has brought all parties together. In the last 20 years that's been completely unbalanced because labor has been marginalized. Corporations have been ascendant, and the government's been fronting for business interests. That produces the skewed public policies and private practices that people are suffering from now.
The problem [...] is that people aren't connecting those dots between the decline of labor and what's happening to them, their families, and their neighbors, economically. Labor needs to connect those dots so people understand that why it matters that labor's been marginalized, why we need an Employee Free Choice Act, why we need a robust labor movement.
There's a lot more good stuff where these quotes came from, so I definitely recommend watching the interview for yourself. If your attention span isn't up for a 10+ minute video clip today, however, the interview transcript just showed up alongside the video. Check it out here: The State Of The Union Pt. 2. Part 1 of the interview is here. Info on Dine's new book, State of the Unions, can be found at his website here.
More facts and figures on the union advantage here, here and here.
