My name is Jeff Lewis and I have spent my entire adult life fighting for workers rights in the telecommunications industry as part of a labor union. The unions of this country were dealt their greatest blow when former President Reagan fired all of the air traffic controllers that went on strike. At that time I was only 10 years old, so I don't think my voice would have made any difference. Not to the government that implemented this travesty of justice, or to the national AFL-CIO that did not have the balls to call for a national strike immediately to protect the strength of unions in this country.
Over the next 30 years, there has been more and more attacks on organized labor and the working men and women of this country. No more relevant then the passing of NAFTA-the North American Free Trade Agreement. Former President Clinton praised the passage of NAFTA, yet no piece of legislation had ever done more to take away millions of jobs from American workers in the history of this great nation. President Clinton did do many things to help the middle class, such as the creation of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), but nothing could make up for this action in the minds of the workers who lost their jobs to Mexico.
When former President George W. Bush took over as President, he immediately did everything in his power as President to destroy labor unions in this country. He expanded the free trade agreements with the passage of legislation such as the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) that got even more jobs outsourced overseas. He even went as far as to appoint a Labor Secretary was that completely anti-union and anti-worker, and placed members on the National Labor Relations Board that he was certain would always protect the interests of businesses over that of the workers.
For anybody that has been associated with organized labor for a number of years, you know that overall membership in labor unions have dropped from a high around 37% in the 1940's down to below 10% today. Unfortunately, it is not just the businesses that are screwing the workers over these days. Honestly, the leaders of the labor unions are too interested in their own self interests to worry about the workers they are supposed to represent. In the labor union that I have been involved with, the staff representatives that are supposed to handle worker grievances after they reach a certain point in the process, no longer do so. These representatives are still receiving at least $90,000 a year in a salary of the memberships money for representation, but now they only handle a grievance if it reaches the arbitration process. Even the arbitration hearings are no longer a guarantee for a worker who truly deserves it , because now the expense of the process to the union is now a primary concern. These representatives that no longer handle these grievances, are now supposed to be "political lobbyists"!
Political lobbyist?!? Really?!? These so called highly paid lobbyists have failed in their attempt to either pass legislation favorable to workers rights and to prevent unfavorable worker legislation in well over a decade! When the change to no longer handle grievances was attempted to be discussed by one of the local Presidents at the union's national convention, his microphone was turned off, and he was instructed he was "out of order!" This is strictly because this President was going to question this decision and tell the national officers that this was in direct conflict with what was best for the members that they represented. The officers wanted to avoid this discussion, because at the national convention is the only place where the members have the authority to overturn a decision of the national officers. So of course, they would not allow the topic to be approached at all.
The corporations are running rough shot over the hard working men and women of this country, and it used to be that at least this did not happen if the workers were unionized. Now, unfortunately, it is often hard to tell the difference between the company and the union! The leaders of these unions are more interested in collecting dues and huge paychecks then they are in representing the workers that pay those inflated salaries that are starting to remind us of the CEO salaries of the companies they are supposed to be fighting against!
I know that this is going to be read by too few of people to do much alone, but if we get enough people mad as hell that their interests are going unprotected, we can bring the strength of labor unions back in this country! The way we can do this is the same way that gives the poor their only real strength against the rich...the power of the vote! These officers are elected to their positions, and it is time to vote the ones who are focused on their own self interests out! Even though the staff representatives are not elected, they have to follow the direction of the officers that are elected. It is important to put an end to the hemorrhage of worker's rights in this country, both organized and unorganized. What is really important, however, is to at least be able to tell the difference again by the salaries and benefits that the workers receive which one is which!
