Amidst the pandemic, organized labor is more important than ever

Happy Labor Day!

This year, working people — union, non-union and never-heard-of-union — have reminded all of us across Alaska, as businesses have closed and thousands of people have lost work, how important we are to each other.

Working people in Alaska have kept us going through a once-in-a-century health and economic crisis. Through the work of our hands, we fed our families, cared for each others’ health, kept the lights on, and delivered the mail.

We are in a crisis like no other.

At no point in my lifetime have workers, our jobs and our public health been so deeply tied together. The American economy hasn’t seen so many jobs lost so fast since the Great Depression. At no time since the flu of 1918 have so many lives been lost to a raging pandemic. Yet, as we look to the past, we see that working people can once again offer hope for the future.

During the Great Depression, a growing number of people came to understand that collective bargaining in the workplace was key to job growth, better lives, social equality and political stability. A new federal law, The Wagner Act of 1935, commonly referred to as the National Labor Relations Act, encouraged workers and employers to sit down together to negotiate mutually agreeable working conditions, pay and benefits.

Over the decades that followed, collective bargaining helped America to increase broadly shared prosperity and to grow the largest middle class the world has ever known.

Thanks to the advocacy of unions and workers, 50 years ago this year, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which benefits all workers. For the first time a national standard of health and safety in the workplace was enforceable by law. On-the-job deaths and injuries plummeted.

In recent years, those safety guidelines from OSHA have been attacked as needless regulations, even as the coronavirus has made work deadlier. Today, political appointees engage regularly in efforts to undermine OSHA and the National Labor Relations Board, despite the ever-growing support from the public of unions and the work they do.

In this uncertain time, public approval of labor unions has grown stronger. Two of every three adults — 64% of Americans — approve of labor unions, a popularity matching the highest approval ratings for labor unions in 50 years, according to Gallup.

Together, we can come out of this crisis stronger and better positioned for the years ahead.

Democracy is an amazing political philosophy, when you stop and think about it. It’s the idea that, together, we can best care for ourselves and each other.

Working people, when we form labor unions, draw upon that same noble principle.

That’s why it should come as no surprise that unions of nurses put nurse-to-patient ratios on par with pay and benefits during negotiations, because nurses care about patients and want a caseload that allows them to deliver that care. Unions of state workers, grocery workers, hotel workers and other essential workers advocate for safety standards to protect themselves and the public. Likewise, teachers consistently advocate for students and communities.

You see, when working people speak up, we all benefit.

Almost a century ago, the growth of worker organizations remade America for the better. We can do it again. It’s time.

This Labor Day, we may not be able to hold picnics together to recognize the contributions of working people, but we can resolve to work together towards better pay, healthier communities, and a stronger and more inclusive democracy.

Vince Beltrami is the Executive President of the Alaska AFL-CIO, Alaska’s largest and oldest federation of labor unions.

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