A Labor Day message from Phil Neuenfeldt, President Wisconsin AFL-CIO:
This Labor Day, working people in every corner of the country have good reason to be proud. Working people are rising together to rewrite the rules of our economy. We are saying loud and clear that all workers deserve the freedom to join together and stand together in union for a better life.
Workers are organizing rapidly, our neighbors in Missouri voted down Right to Work by a 2 to 1 margin, labor unions’ approval rating has risen to 62%, the highest it has been in nearly 15 years.
Despite political attacks, our movement is on the rise. We are marching and striking and organizing. We are refusing to accept business as usual.
For decades, corporations and corporate-backed politicians have tried to keep workers weak and divided. They have rigged the economy to work for the few at the expense of the many. They have tried to destroy our unions and pit us against each other. Governor Scott Walker and too many of America’s leaders have done the bidding of the billionaire class, waging an assault on our most fundamental freedoms as working people.
But we have never looked to corporations or politicians to validate our movement. The rights of working people have always been won and sustained by our own desire and passion for change. Our power lies in the hundreds of thousands of workers carrying new union cards this year—three-quarters of them younger than 35. It lies in the tens of millions more who would vote today to join a union if given the chance.
Our movement’s capacity for change lies in the workers across the country who are standing together, marching together and fighting together, arms locked in unflinching solidarity. We are marching for a fairer paycheck, a safer workplace, for dignity, respect and a voice on the job. We are fighting for better schools, better roads, a stronger middle class.
We, the people, have the power to create the fair economy and just society that we deserve. It takes making our voices heard loud and clear during the campaign trail. It means flooding the ballot box and exercising your right to vote. It means packing town halls and state capitols, making a call to your local representative.
The labor movement is mobilizing in Wisconsin to defeat politicians like Scott Walker and fill the halls of power with genuine allies of working families.
As you celebrate with your family this Labor Day, take care to remind them how much is at stake this year—from our paychecks and benefits to our basic dignity on the job. We remember all the achievements of workers before and pledge to keep striving towards safer workplaces, livable wages and fair economy for us all.
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