No doubt you’ve heard about Delta Airlines union busting tactics. How unbelievably irresponsible to be encouraging their employees to buy video games or tickets to sporting events rather than using that money to secure their future and their family's future by joining a union.
Here’s what companies like Delta don’t want you to know. Yes, union membership may cost about $700 a year. Compare that with the fact that according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the union membership rate of public-sector workers, in 2018, was more than five times higher than that of private-sector workers and nonunion workers have median weekly earnings that are 82 percent the earnings of union workers. On average union workers earn about 25% more than non-union workers.[1] That’s a lot of video games. What’s more, union workers are more likely to receive healthcare benefits and a pension so they can look forward to a dignified retirement.
Unions are working people standing together. When working people stand together, we can bargain with our bosses for better pay, safer working conditions and decent benefits. When workers stand together, we have power. And that power makes the American Dream more possible for everyone. The decline of Unions can be directly traced to the decline of the middle class (see graph below).
In addition, when wages and benefits go up due to Union negotiations, those wages and benefits go up for everyone. Studies have shown that if organized labor were at the strength today it was in the late 1970’s, nonunion men without a high school diploma would be earning 9% more.[2]
It is entirely because of Unions that we have the benefits and protections we have now that so many take for granted. Those protections and benefits include:
- Family & Medical Leave ACT
- Pregnancy & Parental LEAVE
- All Breaks at Work (including Lunch Breaks)
- Weekends & Paid Vacation
- Sick Leave
- Minimum Wage
- Social Security
- Overtime & Holiday Pay
- Child Labor Laws
- Privacy Rights
- Civil Rights
- Homeowners’ Bill of Rights
- 40 Hour Work Week
- Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
- 8-Hour Work Day
- Military Leave
- Protections for immigrant workers
- Workers’ Compensation
- Unemployment Insurance
- Wrongful Termination Laws
- Sexual Harassment Laws
- Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Employer Dental, Life, & Vision Insurance
- Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 AND MORE!
How many of you would give up these rights, earn less on the job and have fewer protections…to play a video game?
The reality is that when we’re done playing games and the baseball game is over, we still need to pay bills and put food on the table. As a member of a Union you will get much more than your $700 worth. Corporate bosses don’t want you to know that. They want you to be beholden to them. They want you to believe you’re lucky just to have a job. They want you to work for them for as little as possible.
These corporate bosses are counting on your attraction to fun and games being greater than your desire to earn a decent wage, send your kids to college, and to enjoy a healthy retirement.
Shame on Delta Airlines and other companies who underestimate your ability to discern the facts. Shame on them for not knowing how important it is to you to be treated with dignity on the job, to earn a living wage, and take care of your family.
Don’t let these bosses play games with your livelihood. Unions aren’t playing games. Unions are serious about helping you take care of yourself. Unions know what matters. And it’s not playing video games.