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"Only a fool would try to deprive working men
and women of the right to join a union of their choice."
President Dwight D. Eisenhower

At a time when the displacements and rigors of the much talked about "New Economy" make union organizing more critical for working people throughout the world, the power of unaccountable corporations - with their unchecked control over politicians, the media, and the law - looms so large as to make such organizing increasingly difficult. We, in the labor movement, should not be too despondent as we have made some significant gains over the last few years - but not enough to stop a frightening attrition rate that has left us with only about 12% of the workforce organized.

There is little doubt that more and more workers are expressing interest in joining with their co-workers to form unions, and there is even less doubt that employers are committed to doing anything (legal or illegal) to prevent workers from exercising their legal right to organize. 

The typical employer response to workers' attempts at organizing, is to rent sleazy high-priced "union-busting" lawyers (who innocently call themselves "management consultants") to wage vicious (and frequently illegal) anti-union and anti-worker campaigns that target and destroy entire families and communities.

Union organizing is legally protected activity, yet you wouldn't think so if you listened to politicians, employers, and the media. 

The FACT is:

• People join unions for protection against greedy and unscrupulous employers that ruin their lives;
• People join unions for a "fair day's pay for a fair day's work"; 
• People join unions for a fair share of the ever increasing profits that their labor has generated; 
• People join unions to be treated as human beings - not unfeeling automatons;
• People join unions to create a safe and prosperous future for their children, and
• People join unions because they deserve to be treated with respect and dignity at work.

Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University has produced the following startling statistics about labor organizing:

• Ninety-one percent of employers, when faced with employees who want to join together in a union, force employees to attend closed-door ("captive audience") meetings to hear anti-union propaganda; 80% require supervisors to attend training sessions on how to attack unions; and 79% have supervisors deliver anti-union messages to workers they oversee. The sad fact is, that what passes for anti-union rhetoric is usually a pack of lies designed to frighten workers, and more often than not these tactics are successful.
  
• Eighty percent of employers hire outside consultants to run anti-union campaigns, often based on intimidation and distorting the law.
  
• Half of employers (illegally) threaten to close down if employees join together in a union.
  
• In 31 percent of organizing campaigns, employers illegally fire workers just because they want to form a union.
  
• Even after workers go through all this and win a National Labor Relations Board election to form a union, one-third of the time their employer (illegally) will not negotiate a contract with them.

  (Source: Kate Bronfenbrenner c/o http://www.aflcio.org/voiceatwork/threat.htm)

Fewer and fewer workers in unions is bad for all of us: it weakens working people everywhere. In order to defend ourselves and our families we must proliferate at a rate greater than ever before. Such proliferation is not going to be achieved by a few union organizers - it is the joint responsibility of organizers, union members, community groups, churches et al. Recent organizing successes have taught us that without such broad community support, organizing is rarely successful. So, as you read this, ask yourself:

What can I do to help? A union that has an inactive membership is a weak union, and weak unions are easily attacked. If you want to get actively involved in organizing call us at (860) 344-0311 or email: rmclellan@ceui.org

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