EDITOR'S NOTE: My good friend and fellow Mayfieldian Judy Tuggle is not in a union. But organized labor has no better friend in Kentucky than this octogenarian activist. Her letter to the editor of the Mayfield Messenger is one of the best rebuttals of right to work for less we've ever seen. I had to write a reply," she said. "I was so outraged."
As the Labor Day holiday weekend began Friday, I was surprised and disappointed to see my hometown newspaper give the most prominent position on its editorial page to an opinion piece by the President of the National “Right to Work” Committee. Since Labor Day was originally and traditionally a holiday to celebrate the achievements of the labor movement, this seemed almost disrespectful. I was reminded of Edmund Burke’s warning: “ Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”
Labor Day became a federal holiday in 1894 to recognize and honor thirteen workers who had been killed during the Pullman strike that year. At that time working Americans toiled 12 hours a day, 7 days a week in physically demanding , low paying and dangerous jobs. Children worked too, on farms, in factories, and in mines, where there were no safety standards or environmental concerns.
For over 100 years the union movement has worked to bring about the changes that we take for granted today—and in so doing it has been largely responsible for the creation of the middle class. Collective bargaining has brought about the 8-hour day, paid overtime, workers compensation, unemployment insurance, health and safety standards—too many benefits to list. None of these could have been achieved by individual workers standing alone against the powerful self-interests of their employers.
Is it any wonder that the erosion of the middle class has coincided with the passage of RTW in 27 states and the decline of labor union membership nationwide?
“Right to Work” is a bit of Orwellian doublespeak which literally means “Right to Work for Less.” Under this fraud, workers can enjoy union-won benefits without joining or financially supporting a union which a majority of their co-workers have voted to be represented by. The goal is dilution of workers’ power and ultimate elimination of workers’ rights. At that point, does anyone really believe that employers will continue to honor the economic security and safety needs of their workers?
Martin Luther King warned against being fooled by “false slogans” such as “Right to Work." He was killed while supporting union workers in a sanitation workers strike in Memphis. The American labor movement has countless heroes and heroines like Dr. King who have died fighting for rights we now are so willing to see legislated away.
Kentucky’s Republican-majority legislature passed and Gov. Bevin signed RTW legislation in 2017. Since that time attacks on workers rights have been unrelenting. The minimum wage has not been raised. Prevailing wage laws have been repealed. Teachers and public employees have been insulted and their pensions assaulted. Medical care, black lung benefits and other miners’ rights have been abridged...again, the list could go on.
Before the next Labor Day, let us elect state officials who are friends of the labor movement, which is so much a part of our history and heritage.