Celebrating workers’ freedom to join
On Labor Day, we recognize and honor the achievements of America’s working people. In 2017, this annual celebration comes at a critical time for our nation. Collective action is on the rise — yet so are the attacks on our pay, health care, retirement security and rights on the job.
As we enjoy the fellowship of our loved ones at a barbecue, fireworks or other community event, it also is important to reflect on the best ways working people can come together to build an economy that works for all of us.
In growing numbers, working families across the country are taking action to win the freedom to negotiate a fair return on our work so we can provide for our families. Working people are organizing unions in traditional manufacturing, higher education and the digital economy. A strong majority of Americans have a positive view of unions. We also are continuing to stand up to the corporate-backed politicians who for decades have tried to take away the freedoms unions have won for all of us.
Whether it’s the expansion of misleading “right-to-work” laws, rollbacks on workplace safety or the assault on our pay and benefits by Congress and the White House, it is critical that we continue to organize and mobilize around an agenda that gives working people the freedom to join together.
This is the third year in a row in which New Mexico working families helped defeat a deceptive “right-to-work” law during the legislative session. Instead of picking divisive fights over unfair and unnecessary proposals like “right to work,” our leaders should be working together to create 21st-century jobs, strengthen public education, improve our economy and raise wages so that all working families can live good lives in our state.
For the 8.2 percent of New Mexico workers represented by unions (up from 7.9 percent in 2015), having the freedom to negotiate a fair return on their work has meant better wages, better benefits, better safety standards and a better life for their families. This also raises the bar for pay and benefits for non-union workers in the same sectors. Increasing unionization and modernizing labor laws to better protect workers’ freedom to come together in unions are key to improving wages, benefits and quality of life for New Mexico working families.
Today, even as we ride a wave of proworker momentum, our economy remains badly out of balance. The CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 2016 was an obscene 347-to-1. Meanwhile, many corporations are shipping our jobs overseas and stashing profits offshore to avoid paying taxes. To add insult to injury, corporate-backed politicians continue to try to take away the freedoms unions have won for all of us.
Yet inequality is not inevitable. Our economy is nothing more than a set of rules. We can, and we must, elect leaders who will rewrite those rules so wages are high, benefits are strong, work is safe, retirement is secure and the freedom to negotiate is universal.
As we celebrate the contributions of working families, let’s also pledge to do the hard work of transforming our economy so every single American can work for a better life. The New Mexico labor movement is ready to keep moving forward to continue to organize and mobilize with all workers around an agenda that gives working people the freedom to join together. This Labor Day, it’s time to build on the incredible achievements of America’s working people — everything we’ve done and everything we will do.