A day without a union member...

In the last 2o years or so, the term union has come to be associated with many negative images. However that was not always the case, much of what we have come to expect in a workplace, such as safe conditions, fair pay all came as a result of collective bargaining and later codified into law at the Federal level. While companies like McDonald's and WalMart do everything in their power to prevent unionization, it is not because it is bad for the worker, but it would not allow the employer to mistreat their employees, and would force them to provide a living wage and decent package of benefits such as insurance. Truth is we encounter union members in our daily lives more often than we care to admit.

Turn on the TV, just about anyone involved with a program on television, from the actors, camera men, to the electricians all union or guild members. The police and firemen that protect us are all members of a union. The athletes we see play baseball and football, all union members.

These workers did not form these unions to get rich, they formed them to democratize their workplace. To enjoy the same voice in the place of employment that they have in government. The ethos of unions, according to labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein, is to give workers an equity stake in their workplace. The mantra of a fair days wage for a fair day's work. It is about creating a system that gives the employee a say in the workplace, it establishes a list of seniority, and ensures that if both the good times and bad times are shared in a fair manner.

Is the bitterness we see amongst the masses, founded in truth, or is it found in jealousy, that some workers had courage to stand up for themselves and demand fair treatment, while they cowered and meekly took what their employer had to offer, not willing to risk the pittance to achieve something better. It was the strong unions that ushered in an age where our middle class grew strong, and the American dream became a reality. It was organized labor that dealt the fatal blow to the Soviet Union when Lech Walesa and his fellow shipyard workers in Gdansk came together and demanded more and Soviet Union did not roll their tanks in and crush this uprising as they had done in Hungary in the 1950s.

Get involved and tell your elected representatives to support the Employee Free Choice Act and make it easier for the American workers to organize and rekindle the American Dream for all.