By Pat Eiding, President of The Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO
– One of the great privileges of serving as President of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO is leading the annual Labor Day parade up Columbus Avenue. Rain or shine, I’m always proud to look back from the head of the parade and see so many groups of union members marching with their brothers and sisters, celebrating the achievements of America’s working people.
The fact is, though, that the majority of working people in our area are not members of unions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, approximately 14% of Pennsylvania’s workers are represented by unions. Even though Philadelphia’s workers are more likely to be union members than workers in most parts of the commonwealth, most working people in our city don’t belong to a union.
But does that mean that Philadelphia’s unions are only interested in the 1/5 of workers here whom we represent? Nothing could be further from the truth.
Unions have fought for overtime laws, workplace safety laws, and Social Security. We’ve fought for family leave and expanded access to healthcare. We’ve fought for fair trade deals, and opposed the so-called “free trade” schemes like NAFTA that have undermined America’s manufacturing base and cost hundreds of thousands of American jobs. We’ve called on government to invest in public schools and public infrastructure.
Today, the most-pressing problem facing America’s workers is simple: Working people in America are no longer being paid a fair wage for a fair day’s work. Over the last 50 years, American workers’ wages have stagnated, barely rising above the inflation rate. Meanwhile, the wealthy have seen their wages skyrocket. 50 years ago, the average CEO of an American company made 20 times what his average worker made. Today, that CEO earns 300 times more. According to the Pew Research Center, over the last 15 years, pay for 9 out of 10 Americans has continued to stagnate, or even shrunk. For the top 10%, wages have risen by nearly 10%.
This situation isn’t just unjust. It’s terrible for the n0ation as a whole. For generations, the American economy has been driven by consumer spending. We can’t have an economy that works for all of us by consistently depriving 90% of the nation’s consumers of the fruits of their labor.
So while organized labor continues to help workers organize unions at their workplaces so they can access the proven power of collective action and collective bargaining to win what they deserve, the AFL-CIO has also launched a national Raising Wages campaign. I’m proud that Philadelphia is one of 15 cities that have taken on this campaign. America’s unions are fighting to raise the minimum wage, and to win laws guaranteeing workers the right to paid sick time. We’re also fighting for implementation of new Department of Labor rules that will expand access to overtime pay for salaried workers.
In Philadelphia, after helping to win the landmark Paid Sick Leave bill in City Council, the AFL-CIO is fighting to win higher wages for workers across the board. Dozens of unions – some bringing members from as far as Ontario, Canada – have turned out to support Philadelphia’s fast food workers going on strike for a $15/hour wage and a union contract from huge corporations like McDonalds. We’ve stood on the picket line with non-union, minimum-wage workers at the Philadelphia International Airport, demanding that their employers respect the city’s Living Wage ordinance. We’ve organized rallies to raise our state’s minimum wage, and met with legislators about bills to raise that minimum and to improve enforcement of it. We even recently organized a forum, moderated by the AFL-CIO’s national President, Richard Trumka, and myself where workers described their experiences of having been cheated of their wages by unscrupulous employers – a problem that a Temple University study estimated costs Pennsylvania’s workers between $19 million and $32 million every week.
I’m confident that we’re going to prevail in the Raise the Wage campaign. And when we win, most of the workers who benefit won’t be union members. Why would organized labor dedicate so much time and energy and money to a campaign that’s not only about our members?
The answer is simple, and it’s the whole reason for organized labor in the first place: Solidarity. Union members are members of this community. Every single day, union members and workers who aren’t in unions are together in the workplace. We’re together on buses, and in restaurants, and at the movies, and at ball games and the doctor’s office.
Working people, union and non-union, really are in the same boat. Organized labor is dedicated to raising the standard of living and protecting the rights of all working people. That’s what we’ve done for generations, and we intend to keep doing it for generations to come. And that solidarity among all workers is the greatest thing we’ll be celebrating as we march up Columbus Boulevard on Labor Day.
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Source – http://www.phillyrecord.com/2015/09/a-day-and-a-movement-for-all-working-people/
