There’s a resurgence afoot in the American labor movement. If you saw this week’s Census Bureau report, you know why. Income is up, but wages are down. The former is “mainly a reflection of an increase in the number of family members entering the workplace or working longer hours. Average wages for men and women actually declined for the third consecutive year,� reports the New York Times. The number of uninsured Americans rose 2.2 million in one year. Not surprisingly, employer-sponsored health coverage is down.

Working people in the U.S. have known for too long now that they’re falling behind — working more hours for less pay, having to choose between ER care and no healthcare, feeling less and less certain about their prospects for retirement — and they’re saying “no thanksâ€? to the politics-as-usual that has gotten us here.

Recent polls show that an overwhelming majority of workers would choose to join a union if they could do so without fear of employer repercussion. And politicians are taking notice. For the first time ever, a majority of members of Congress voted to protect a worker’s voice on the job this year by supporting the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

In response to pressure from voters, presidential candidates are issuing detailed plans early on addressing the issues that matter most to working families. Many are even “walking a day in the shoes� of a low-wage worker and sharing a meal with his or her family.

America is getting over the misperception that unions only exist to benefit their members. It’s no coincidence that at times when union density is the highest, society-wide standards of living also peak. A robust American labor movement benefits all working people.

By providing workers with the space to come together and speak with one united voice, unions have historically acted as agents of social change. They lift up families and bind communities. Through individual initiative, hard work and the stability that the labor movement brings, each generation of American workers has given a better life to the next…until now.

Today, for the first time, a majority of Americans believe that their children will actually be worse off than they are. This is not the kind of country our ancestors came here to build. The American Dream is in jeopardy. Our long history and experience in the American labor movement has taught us that when ordinary people unite around common strategies, we can achieve our common goal of just rewards for honest work.

I’m excited to watch this presidential campaign play out. I’m excited about the new opportunities for America’s working people to shape the candidates’ agendas. I’m excited to see what we can achieve when we use our power to help each other.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 31st, 2007 at 1:17 pm and is filed under Labor, Politics .