What We Owe To Unions

(I don't have any pictures of striking workers or union-members so this is a picture of my sweet pup, Haley, used here only as a placeholder not a symbol.)

The Employee Free Choice Act (more about it here) is before Congress (call your senators to voice your support). In honor of long hard fights waged by unions to ensure rights for workers that should be self-evident, here is a very brief list of why I appreciate unions:

1. The 40-hour work week and the very idea of weekends- As the owner of my company, my weekends look distressingly like my weekdays, but I don't begrudge employees who feel entitled to weekends off. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was responsible for setting the standard for the number of hours in a work week. It was initially a 44-hour work week.
2. Minimum Wage- I still don't know how anyone can survive on the current minimum wage, but given that there needs to be a law to establish the floor for wages, this right to survive seems lost on those that routinely fight against minimum wage increases. (That there is a huge difference between the minimum wage and a living wage is telling.) Again, the Fair Labor Standards Act established the minimum wage. It was initially set at 25cents per hour.
3. Workplace Safety- This one would seem to be another no-brainer, but it took the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) of 1970 to establish workplace safety standards. Go figure.
4. Health Care Benefits- Okay, so I'd really prefer universal healthcare, but unions have a higher rate of health coverage (80%) than non-union workers (49%). Unions are the ones that fought for this benefit that is now an expected component of any pay package for a 'good' job.
5. Social Security- In a perfect world, we would all have planned for and set-aside emergency funds for every sort of contingency imaginable in one's life. This is an insurance policy that we all deserve.
6. If I worked for a company (not my own) and I got knocked-up- I wouldn't get fired. The Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 meant that it became illegal to discriminated against women for being pregnant, for childbirth or for any other pregnancy-related issue. Women are also not supposed to get fired for taking maternity leave.
7. Everything else- I'm not suggesting that unions have always done the right thing (they haven't) or that they are incorruptible (they aren't), but unions have often been on the forefront of fighting for issues and rights that now seem so customary that we take them for granted. And given that unions have been so crucial to the formation of our middle-class, it seems worthwhile to support workers who want to form a union.

(sources: American Rights at Work , The Fair Labor Standards Act , The Employee Free Choice Act )