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What Politics Mean To Labor

Labor unions have always been under constant attack from business and industrial organizations, and often from state and national legislatures and political leaders.

Every time the U.S. Congress or a State Legislature opens a new session, a flood of bills intended to restrict the rights of workers and their unions is introduced. If working people can help elect candidates that support labor, then the passage of these bills becomes less likely. Workers have learned through bitter experience that there is a powerful link between the breadbox and the ballot box.

Gains won at the bargaining table or through sacrifice on the picket line can be wiped out by unwise actions of state or national legislatures and political leaders. Today’s wage increase can be erased by taxes or inflation, or your job can vanish in a wave of unemployment caused by NAFTA. Therefore unions are in politics to protect the welfare and security of their members.

Beyond this is the UAW’s fundamental belief that Democracy can flourish only with the full participation of its citizens in its political life.

So, register to vote, go to the polls and vote for the candidate that supports labor, because the job you save could be your own.

Maureen Files
UAW Local 10 Retiree
Doraville, Georgia