Union labor made those jobs great
For almost as long as I can remember, folks in Milwaukee have talked nostalgically about those long-gone manufacturing jobs that once were the backbone of our city. They reminisce about raising families on wages that paved the way for generations of children to get a fair shake at life with opportunities for their own children to do even better.
There’s just one problem with these memories. They leave out the heroes of the story completely. Those beloved manufacturing jobs weren’t always so good. They started out dirty and dangerous with 60- to 80-hour work weeks for wages that kept people in poverty and away from their families. Accidents on the job cost thousands of people — including children — their lives or limbs every year with no legal protections or compensation.
The real story is that manufacturing jobs didn’t become great until everyday heroes came together to make them that way. In the 1800s, workers started sticking together to flex their strength in numbers by forming unions. Wisconsin’s first unions started in Milwaukee and helped lead the way to some of the nation’s first workers’ compensation protections and unemployment compensation laws. Over time, union members negotiated contracts that transformed those terrible low-wage jobs into the ones we remember so fondly now.
This transformation came at a huge personal cost for some of those early activists. We must never forget those who died fighting for better jobs and working conditions for all of us. In 1886, seven men in Milwaukee died at the hands of troops under orders from the governor as they protested for an eight-hour workday in what became known as the Bay View Tragedy.
Who are today’s heroes? Take a look in the mirror. You are. We are. This Labor Day, SEIU members, workers in the Fight for $15, community leaders, allies and people earning a paycheck are coming together in a nationwide uprising. As a nurse, I’m especially excited that non-union hospital workers will be joining in, too, people such as Margie Brelove, who works in environmental services at Aurora Sinai for $12.64 an hour. During her recent great review, Margie’s supervisor said he couldn’t give her a raise, asking if more overtime would help. No one should have to work all those hours just to barely get by. As Margie puts it, she doesn’t want to be dead just trying to make ends meet.
On Labor Day, hospital workers and fast food workers will speak out for $15 an hour and union rights for the 64 million Americans trying to live at the wage floor. We’ll tell the whole country how unions can balance our rigged economy that disproportionately affects people of color, leaving more than half of black workers and nearly 60% of Latino workers with less than $15 per hour.
This Labor Day, we’re all linking arms with people leading the fights against racism and to protect immigrants, the environment and health care to become an unstoppable force.
This Labor Day, people from all walks of life are coming together to fight for social and economic justice and to turn today’s lowwage jobs into family-sustaining jobs we remember so fondly.
Dian Palmer is president of SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin.