Mike Williquette 4/1/2008 Press Gazette
Ever since the employees of the Oneida casino contacted Teamsters Local 662 about forming a union at the casino, a virtual horde of people have come out of the woodwork to offer their opinions on unions. The employers have hired advisers to come in and try to convince the workers that unionizing would be bad for them, and the Green Bay Press-Gazette printed anti-union columns by Mick Hager three weeks in a row.
I wonder where all these people were when the workers' wages were frozen by the employers for the last 10 years. Why is it that there is so much concern for the workers at the casinos now? Could it be that with a union, the employers now will be forced to bargain with their workers collectively over wages, working conditions and benefits?
Organized labor has fought hard for generations to bring us the Fair Labor Standards Act, child labor laws, Workers Compensation, minimum wage laws, the 40-hour work week, paid holidays, Social Security, civil rights and Medicare benefits. None of these were voluntarily given up without a fight from corporate America.
Unions set a higher standard of living in America that the unorganized will never reach. When people are paid higher wages, it stimulates the economy. Ask anyone if they would rather have a union or a non-union job, and most will say union.
People who are represented by a union have many more rights than those who are not represented. The National Labor Relation Board protects union workers' rights. Individuals requesting help from the NLRB will first be asked if they have a union; if no union is present, there isn't much the Labor Board can do for them.
The bottom line is this: Employers who threaten their employees for organizing are breaking the law. Employees have rights afforded them under the National Labor Relations Act and are protected by such laws.
The history of organized labor's fight for workers' rights is not taught in today's classrooms, but it should be. Many men and women have died for these rights to bargain collectively with employers. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't have that right.
* "If I were a worker in a factory, the first thing I would do would be to join a union." President Franklin D. Roosevelt
* "The right to join the union of one's choice is unquestioned today, and is sanctioned and protected by law." President Harry S Truman
* "Today in America, unions have a secure place in our industrial life. ... I have no use for those regardless of their political party who hold some vain and foolish dream of spinning the clock back to days when organized labor was huddled, almost as a hapless mass. Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice." Dwight D. Eisenhower
* "All that harms labor is treason to America." Abraham Lincoln
Mike Williquette is business agent of Teamsters General Local 662 and public sector chairman of Joint Council 39. E-mail: teamsters662gb@new.rr.com.
