Page 5 - Work Force January 2016

Hope means working people coming together to amplify our voice and stand strong
One of our nation’s founding principles
is that everyone should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work and dedication. Many
have fought — and died — for the right of democracy, believing we would always be stronger by following common goals of fairness, dignity and respect for all, and by joining together we would succeed.
Working people still believe in these principles, and should know that the right to belong to a union and speak out for economic justice is key to preserving them for all workers.
Union membership and solidarity helped build a strong middle class in the U.S. that benefitted all. Fifty years ago, hard work and a 40-hour workweek were enough to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. Families sat at the kitchen table together. Industry was alive.
Loyalty was rewarded. Democracy was stronger than it is today, and the Labor Movement was growing.
Today, most Americans are overworked, underpaid and struggling to make ends meet. Dual income households can’t keep up with inflation, skyrocketing college education
costs or high health care expenses. Many workers put in 60-plus hour weeks, sacrificing time with family for the chance to get ahead. Relationships crumble under the weight of overscheduled lives. It’s not coincidental that all of this has happned as the Labor Movement has been under constant attack.
The Labor Movement can and must do better but it is the manipulation of the few that is silencing the voice of the many.
The top 1 percent wealthiest of our population controls as much wealth as the
bottom 90 percent and continues to undercut wages, demand more hours and ship thousands of jobs overseas — all to selfishly pile onto their already obscene wealth. Democracy has been bought off via misnamed “free enterprise.” The Labor Movement has become a convenient scapegoat for the 1 percent to mislead about job loss and rising taxes.
Without a strong Labor Movement to give voice to the aspirations of working people, our democracy will continue to diminish. Hope means working people coming together to amplify our voice and stand strong.
We must not squander our opportunities to defend democracy and economic fairness. Vote. Participate in your union. Advocate for your co-workers and the millions of American people just like them. Help keep the American Dream alive. — Emily Cote
January 2016
The Work Force 5