My Norma Rae Moment

Whether we are union members and whether we sympathize or clash with them, in most circles it goes without saying that unions have been a tremendous force in bargaining for, garnering, and guaranteeing the rights and privileges of workers of all industries across the country.

Whether you are a TA in a state university like ours, an auto worker in Michigan, or a coal miner in West Virginia, chances are at some point you have been part of a union or have wanted to be one. Regardless of our individual relationship with a union of which we are a member (I have beef with mine) or with one you might oppose (nowadays, it seems most do), there is much praise to be apportioned to unions on what they collectively guarantee their members. While I admit and deplore that this 'collective' defense on the part of unions may mean defending, along with excellent teachers (to take one near example), mediocre or poor-performing ones, no ill words should be said about the overall purpose, work, and results of the work of unions. No organization is or will ever be perfect. Nevertheless, unions can still focus and work harder in order to restructure themselves, find new ideas, embrace new causes to defend, demand greater accountability on the part of their individual members etc.. What certain state executives have proposed, however—that unions' rights for collective bargaining be abrogated—amounts to nothing less than hamstringing workers as they are stripped of solidarity and support and left as mere, disposable individuals facing the cold eyes of the state and the colder eyes of large corporations. It is for this reason that no individual presently in a union—regardless of how satisfied he or she is with his or her current union—ought to support such legislative initiatives and abandon the union in its time of need.

There is, in addition to this function vital to the individual, an even greater necessity for unions in this political climate. In the aftermath of the Citizens United case, whereby corporations are allowed to contribute to political elections as they please and how much they please, unions are left as the only force capable of countering the corporations' unavoidable intrusion and imminent control of our political system at all levels. And while the left and the right may each find almost-exclusive support in one or the other, I would rather have two opposing forces survive and influence our political system and politicians, rather than one money-hungry force hellbent on making a game of this country's politics and pawns of its citizens.