The constitution of the International Labour Organization declares “universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice.”
In other words, our society can progress only when we push for equality, human rights, opportunity and sustainability. Considering most of us spend at least one-third of our lives at work, it only makes sense that we as a society should regard safety and health in the workplace as a basic human right to be unconditionally supported and protected. This support and protection is maintained by labor unions, who collectively bargain with employers on behalf of employees for better workplace conditions, fair wages, health care coverage and other benefits that ensure workers are safe, comfortable and productive in an environment that upholds human dignity.
During the Progressive Era at the turn of the 20th century, unions like the American Federation of Labor pushed for broad reform in the workplace, particularly by preventing the courts from intervening in labor disputes through injunctions and yellow-dog contracts, which stipulate that employees cannot unionize.
Since then, we’ve had the Progressive Movement and labor unions to thank for Social Security, employer-based health insurance, workplace safety regulations, child labor laws, sick leave, minimum wage, eight-hour work days, 40-hour work weeks, lunch breaks, weekends off, the right to strike, overtime pay, unemployment insurance, sexual harassment laws, workers’ compensation, the Family and Medical Leave Act and many other common sense standards, benefits and protections that nowadays are basic and expected.
On Wednesday, President Obama met with the heads of the nation’s most prominent labor unions and liberal think tanks to discuss the White House’s stance on upcoming negotiations over the so-called fiscal cliff, the potentially disastrous combination of sharp spending cuts and tax increases, which most economists claim will trigger another recession if not taken care of by the end of the year. After the meeting, labor leaders assured the press that President Obama is remaining firm in his position to only accept a deal with Republicans that includes an increase in tax rates for top earners. According to Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, “We are very, very committed to making sure that the middle class and workers don’t end up paying the tab for a party that we didn’t get to go to and the president is committed to that as well.”
Allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for the richest 2 percent of households earning more than $250,000 establishes progressivity in our tax code, which is necessary to stimulate economic growth, pay down our ballooning budget deficit and reduce income inequality. In turn, resources are freed up to ensure we can afford tax cuts for the middle class and vital investments in education, infrastructure development, research, health care, clean energy and other public services.
You don’t necessarily need to look to history to see how important workers’ rights are. If you saw the mob of people marching down University Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, or read the front page of yesterday’s Alligator, then you’re aware of the rally Graduate Assistants United held to protest increasing GA fees and call for a minimum wage increase, health insurance, family/medical leave and child care.
As a graduate teaching assistant in the Warrington College of Business Administration, I am a proud member of GAU. Also, I participated in both the march and the bargaining meeting, during which many GAs delivered moving testimonials about their daily struggles balancing graduate school, work, teaching, research and families on what is, in some cases, wages below poverty level.
Since graduate assistants are responsible for more than half of all teaching and research at the university, GAU and its supporters believe they should be guaranteed fair wages and stipends, relief from fees and basic insurance coverage.
This is social justice. If we want to expect a workplace that is fair, healthy, productive and safe, we need to value labor rights as human rights. Support unions!
Moisés Reyes is a journalism grad student at UF. His column appears on Fridays. You can contact him via opinions@alligator.org.
