Debra Ness, President
On Monday, the country will celebrate Labor Day – a national holiday established to honor the strength of America’s workers and its unions. All workers who are in unions benefit from higher wages, better benefits, retirement security and more – but the union difference for today’s women is especially striking, particularly when it comes to fair pay.
Women now make up half of America’s workforce, and we’re the primary or co-breadwinners in two-thirds of families. When women are paid unfairly, entire families and the national economy suffer. Yet today, women in this country are still paid, on average, only 77 cents for every dollar paid to men. For African American and Latina women, the gap is even worse.
But women in unions experience a much smaller gap. In fact, collective bargaining rights have helped union women to earn almost 34 percent more than nonunion women. That’s a union difference of $217 per week – or more than $11,000 a year! And the difference is greatest for women and people of color. Overall, African American and Latino union workers are paid 31 percent and almost 51 percent more, respectively, than their nonunion counterparts.
Unfortunately, just 11 percent of working women are in unions. And unions nationwide are struggling mightily in the face of shifting industries, a changing economy and unprecedented political attacks. As we all saw in Wisconsin – a state with a long history of advancing rights for workers and women – the governor eliminated collective bargaining rights for a majority of the state’s public employees. The positions most affected were dominated by women and included teachers, nurses and child care providers. Sadly, hostile lawmakers have launched similar attacks on workers and the unions they count on around the nation.
The attempts to weaken unions in this country are attacks on all working people. These attacks cause grave harm to women and families by making it harder for us to win fair wages and the level playing field that we need in the workplace.
As advocates for women continue to push for federal legislation like the Paycheck Fairness Act, we will not forget about the union difference and the role that unions play in establishing standards and protections for America’s workers.
This Labor Day, I hope all women will join me in showing support and solidarity for America’s workers and its unions. A vibrant labor movement in this country helps to promote the fair pay and economic security that America’s working women and our families need and deserve.
No doubt that unions have benefited workers in so many ways and that the work to unionize more workers will only help to improve conditions for everyone. Our work continues to be an uphill battle.
Dear Debra:
When your note arrived I was just googling an amazing documentary film I saw in college, which was over 30 years-ago now, called With Babies and Banners about the essential role of women in the Great Flint sit down strike of 1936/37. I remember the film blowing me away. It was moving, inspiring, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1977. Growing up in Michigan I remember seeing several powerfully moving documentaries about the atrocious conditions of factories that resulted in the development of unions. I never realized the impact these films had on me or how deeply I believe in unions, despite their problems with corruption, until all of this union-bashing activity started erupting around our country.
It appears this film is only available from Newday.com in VHS for institutions. If not already considered, it seems this is a very good time for some organization to gather the great documentaries about unions and the conditions that gave rise to them, restore them, or at least get them on to DVD, for mass distributing. I would love to see this film again and show it to a group of friends.
My two-cents, Christine Kline
Yes Christine your two cents makes a lot of sense to me it would be an awsome idea to get all the Union information and documentaries out that would be a great project that I would be very interested in joining with you and getting your idea off the ground . email me . Maryam
thank you for taking the time to inform the public how to make their voice heard!!!!! I’m 74 yrs young and it’s about time to SCREAM at the GOVERNMENT to get their SHIT TOGETHER!!!!! Big business has SCREWED the working people for the LAST TIME!!!!!!!!!! Good luck,all of the SENIORS ARE BEHIND YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for your time,Marge
When Cities and States are losing Labor Union rights in 2011, something went terribly wrong! Today is a day when we should remember the ONLY thing that keeps this country together is not banks, corporations and lobbyists its WORKERS, UNION WORKERS! The Founding Fathers knew this, but greed is ignorant.
Yes, Unions do make a Differences
Unions are the only way people, especially women get paid equally for their hard work. I have enjoyed being in a union, more importantly, I enjoyed knowing I earned the same rate of pay as my male co-workers. Every company should have a union and practice equal pay for equal work!!!!
A union makes a great difference. The National Association of Social Workers would be powerless without this political arm.
Thanks to the teacher’s union, disorganized as I am, I came out with a decent retirement and made good money while teaching, which I loved! Vive les unions!
While I applaud your championing for women’s rights by putting more women in unions,I have to say that today, in a dying economy, unions can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip. Many manufacturing jobs are suffering and asking for higher pay at this moment in time is going to backfire on them. Big corporations have extra money, but we all know the outcome of asking them to pay fair wages. The rest of the business community can’t afford to pay high wages, and in fact, are systematically getting rid of the people making higher income by giving them only part time hours. They aren’t being mean…they just don’t make enough money to do any better than that. It’s less money, but still a job. This double digit economy is going to get worse before it gets better. Right now, people need to be grateful for the jobs they have when you hear of companies laying off 1,500 to 3,000 people. It’s a self perpetuating recession. People fear getting laid off so don’t spend their money. Thus places have to lay off people to weather this recession. There is a time and a place to ask for a raise…but now is not the time nor the place.
The problem is that so many jobs now no longer have access to unions, and huge numbers of jobs are part-time, temporary, or (like I have), only sporatic and only under short-term contracts. The anti-worker forces have been very effective in the past 30 years at diminishing worker power, and it’s not clear at all what we can do to get back on our feet. The history is pretty frightening, when you hear about the incredible violence that corporations are very willing to inflict on their workers, so we need to learn how to hold together and support each other.
I wish people would understand that taking care of children (or parents or the disabled) IS work and should be fairly compensated! I want unions to get stronger and have more of them so we can fight the corporate greed that has taken over our global economy. As my husband said: “profits are just unpaid wages”.
THANK YOU!.. Erika
It is hard work. I have worked in both areas and it is very hard work so it sure does[ "needs to be well compensated"] ” being a noble cause ” doing it, yes! of course…! “But then again we are not charity cases .I am a full time undergraduate student now majoring in Pre- Law Track and Women Studies. So I have been out of the field for sometime but my credentials are still active with the State . however when I touch base with my Ex Co -Worker I still hear them complain of how low their wages have forced them to work 3 jobs. some of this co-workers are mainly womem. Maryam
You will NEVER post this.
Unions for all? Really and who will pay for that? I would like to ask union women to give up some of their pay and contribute to my pension. Oh wait, i have to pay sky high taxes for union women to get a pension while i get zip. Bust the public sector unions and as Maxine Waters says: the unions can go straight to hell.