2001 Labor Day Message By President, International Union, UAW

    DETROIT, Aug. 31 The following is the 2001 Labor Day
message by Stephen P. Yokich, President, International Union, UAW:

    At first glance, you may not think that autoworkers at Nissan's assembly
plant in Smyrna, Tennessee and graduate teaching assistants at Brown
University in Providence, Rhode Island have anything in common when it comes
to their jobs.  Yet Nissan workers and Brown T.A.'s have at least one very
important thing in common on Labor Day 2001:  they are among the thousands of
workers across America, in virtually every sector of the economy, who are
organizing.  And while they probably don't see themselves as heroes, they are
in my eyes because I know the kind of resistance workers face when they
exercise their legal right to form a union.

    Back in the 1930s when the UAW was born, most employers didn't make any
bones about seeing their workers as second-class citizens worth less than the
machinery they operated.  Not even the most anti-worker employer would openly
admit to that attitude today.  Instead, they call their workers "associates"
or "partners," and use touchy-feely slogans like "our people are our most
important resource."  But let a few of their most important resources start
talking about forming a union, and suddenly it's back to the '30s.  In the
vast majority of workplaces, workers who try to organize face intimidation,
threats, harassment, and protracted legal maneuvering -- all designed to break
their spirit and shatter their solidarity.

    Think I'm exaggerating?  Consider this:  A study conducted by Professor
Paul Weiler of Harvard Law School found that one in 20 union supporters were
illegally fired during union organizing campaigns.  And in a study by Kate
Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University, over 60 percent of the employers
surveyed admitted to threatening to close plants in order to derail their
workers' organizing efforts.  Such tactics violate federal labor law, but the
enforcement process is slow and penalties amount to a mere slap on the wrist.
The bottom line is that many employers are willing to spend millions on anti-
union lawyers and consultants -- and willing to violate federal law -- to
prevent their workers from exercising their right to organize and bargain
collectively.

    Why?  Money is one factor, of course.  Although employers often tell their
workers that they could actually lose wages and benefits at the bargaining
table, employers are well aware that unionized workers' wages are, on average,
one-third higher than their non-union counterparts, and benefits are better as
well.

    But money isn't the biggest issue in most union organizing campaigns --
for employers or workers.  In fact, hourly wages at Nissan and other foreign-
owned non-union auto assembly plants are comparable to wages at GM, Ford, and
DaimlerChrysler, because the Japanese and German automakers are willing to pay
union-level wages to prevent wages from becoming an issue in organizing
campaigns.

    What could be more important than money?  Control.  It doesn't matter
whether we're talking about auto companies or universities, most employers
simply don't want their workers to have a seat at the decision-making table;
they want to dictate, not negotiate.  And while wages, benefits, and working
conditions are obviously important to all workers, what inspires them to stand
up for themselves and organize in the face of fierce employer resistance is
their determination to have a voice in the decisions that affect their lives
instead of letting a powerful few call all the shots.

    So, make no mistake, when employers violate workers' rights to organize
and bargain collectively -- and when political leaders look the other way --
they're not just holding workers back economically, they're chipping away at
democratic rights that are essential to the economic and political health of
our society.  It's no coincidence that social and economic fairness in America
expanded dramatically during and after the rapid growth of union membership in
the 1940s and 1950s -- or that inequality has worsened in our country over the
last two decades as the proportion of workers represented by unions has
declined.  Nor is it any coincidence that workers' rights and independent
trade union movements don't exist in non-democratic countries like China,
while democracy has taken root in countries formerly run by repressive
regimes, like Poland, Brazil, Korea, and South Africa, through the efforts of
vibrant independent trade union movements.

    That's why I get mad as hell when President Bush and other politicians
claim to care about working families and democratic values while promoting
free trade deals and other policies that undermine workers' rights and living
standards -- and concentrate more and more economic and political power into
the hands of fewer and fewer people.

    But getting mad as hell won't change things; only our collective action
will.   This Labor Day, let's make a commitment to ourselves, our families,
and our communities to stay in the forefront of public efforts and campaigns
to keep and expand workers' rights and progressive policies that help all of
America's working men and women build brighter futures through their own
active participation in making the decisions that affect their lives.
Building unions is the way to build that future.