A Few Thoughts on Thanksgiving
by | November 22, 2006
Thanksgiving marks a time of appreciation. While most AFSCME members will be enjoying a well-deserved holiday or getting paid overtime for working the holiday, we might want to think about the numerous nonunion workers who don’t get paid holidays, sick leave or other decent benefits. Whereas the median earnings for a union worker average $801 a week, nonunion employees make an average $622 per week. More working people than ever want to join a union, but employers routinely harass, intimidate and coerce their employees who want to exercise such a right. Resolutions are usually reserved for New Years, but perhaps this Thanksgiving in addition to being grateful, we can each resolve to think about what we can do to help those without the rights, benefits and protections of a union. Maybe it’s as simple as speaking out the next time you hear someone disparaging unions. Maybe it’s taking action online in support for the Employee Free Choice Act. Or maybe it’s becoming an AFSCME Volunteer Member Organizer to support other public service workers who are trying to form a union with AFSCME (often in the face of stiff opposition from management.) After all, things like paid holidays and employer-paid health care do not happen spontaneously. As the old saying goes, union members are the folks who brought you the weekend. With that in mind, have a happy holiday. You deserve it because of your hard work (AFSCME Members Proudly Serving America video) and so do your fellow workers, unionized or not.
