13 Apr Roxanne D. Brown – Welcome to the New Era of Worker Power
Eight hundred delegates to the United Steelworkers (USW) Women of Steel conference last week in Canada celebrated our solidarity and sent a message to greedy corporations on both sides of the border:
We’re kicking butt and taking names.
My fellow USW members and I used the conference to double down on our union organizing and bargaining skills. We shared rousing stories of breaking down barriers and getting our fair share on the job. We rallied in Downtown Toronto to make sure that greedy CEOs, do-nothing shareholders and anti-worker politicians understand that the new era of worker power starts now.
The evidence is all around us.
Nearly half a million Americans from all walks of life joined unions last year, even as billionaires and their cronies threw up roadblocks and tried to hold us down.
Working people are fed up and fighting back against the employers who plot to exploit us and the corporations that gouge us on gas, groceries, health care, home energy, rent and other basics. In recent weeks alone:
- Thousands of unionized workers at an Amazon warehouse in New York won an order from the National Labor Relations Board requiring the company, one of the richest and stingiest in the world, to stop its foot-dragging and begin contract negotiations.
- Hundreds more workers at two auto parts manufacturers in Michigan voted to unionize to secure fair wages and a seat at the table.
- Supporters showed up at picket lines across Indiana in a show of solidarity with USW members locked out by BP and Northern Indiana Public Service Co. (NIPSCO), a pair of companies reviled for amassing huge profits on the backs of consumers and workers.
- USW members in Canada just won a legal decision against the global conglomerate Rio Tinto, which rakes in billions but tried to cheat union miners out of pay owed to them during sick leave.
The activists who turned out for the Women of Steel conference don’t just understand the union difference. We live it.
We use our collective power to win contracts that deliver equitable treatment for all, helping to the close gender- and race-based pay gaps that employers use to marginalize and divide us.
We help to negotiate affordable health care, paid sick leave and other essentials that deliver security, stability and work-life balance to working families.
Wins like these mean the difference between eking out survival and truly living—between getting what’s ours and letting corporations use us up and cast us aside in their race to the bottom.
And we aren’t just in this for ourselves. We’re helping other workers form unions, secure a voice and hold bosses accountable.
This commitment played a key role in our conference last week.
Even while we took the opportunity to celebrate our successes, we also used our time together to ensure we have the infrastructure and tools in place to support other workers looking for victories of their own.
And that’s just what we’re doing.
We’re all stronger together. We know it. And the billionaires know it too. That’s why we’re standing together, ushering in a new era, using our power to promote our values: safety, security, the time and resources to take care of our families – not just for some but for everyone.