Americans have invented dozens of antipoverty programs and policies over the years. We argue about the efficacy of welfare and job training, debate the value of tax cuts and education tax credits. On Labor Day it's appropriate to remember that the most effective antipoverty program in our nation's history has been the right to organize a union.
In 1935, Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act protecting the right of workers to join together in unions and bargain collectively with employers. Almost overnight millions of workers made the union choice - and collectively lifted themselves up into the nation's middle class. Untold numbers who had toiled away in factories, warehouses and packinghouses for poverty wages for years suddenly became homeowners and pillars of their communities.
This is no less true today. In my industry, construction, the union difference is crystal clear: nonunion construction laborers often earn $10, $9 and even as little as $8 per hour with no benefits. Construction Craft Laborers workers represented by my union, Laborers (LIUNA) Local 11, usually earn $12, $13, or more per hour and enjoy employer-paid health insurance, pension plans and job training.
And it's not just in construction. The story is the same for janitors, health care aides and hotel desk clerks: union membership is the ticket to a living wage. Union supermarket cashiers and stockers at Giant and Safeway earn a living wage and health care benefits while workers at Wal-Mart perform the same work for poverty-level wages and no benefits. The government's Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that nationwide, union members earn an average of 25% more than nonunion workers.
So why do less than 10% of our nation's private sector workers - and even fewer in so-called "right-to-work" Virginia - belong to unions today? It's not because they don't want one: polling data tells us that over 40% of nonunion workers would like a union at their workplace.
Tragically, a growing number of employers have resolved to ignore the law of the land in a desperate attempt to deny their workers the right to organize.
The facts are stark. Each year more than 10,000 workers are illegally fired by their bosses for trying to organize a union. And even when workers do choose a union, their company often continues to unlawfully fight and resist so long that their workers never get the benefits of a union contract.
This is why more than 230 legislators in both parties - including Rep. Jim Moran, but not Senators John Warner and George Allen - have endorsed an Employee Free Choice Act designed to stop these tactics of delay and harassment. The Act would provide real penalties for those who violate workers' rights, permit a speedy "card check" process so workers could organize a union without endless delays from a hostile boss, and mediation or arbitration when employer and union can't agree on a first contract.
And in the end, the right to organize isn't just important for the workers whose rights are violated. When a parent working full-time can't earn a living wage the community pays a price too. Companies that want to do the right thing and give their employees a fair shake have to face unfair competition from bad corporate citizens. And when the Wal-Marts of the world rake in the profits while their workers often need to fall back on public hospitals and food banks to survive, middle-class taxpayers wind up picking up the tab.
Virginia deserves better than that. Celebrate Labor Day with a call to your Senators and Representative - and tell them to get on board America's premier anti-poverty program!