As workers, we have a lot to celebrate on Labor Day. Through unions and collective bargaining, we won workplace protections, higher wages, weekends and an eight-hour workday. And we’re still working to build a stronger, fairer America.
A new wave of organizing and collective action in response to the inequities of the COVID-19 pandemic tells us that from tech to transportation to public service, working people are speaking up and taking risks to create real change. Our brothers, sisters and siblings are on strike across the country, demanding fair contracts. This is a moment of tremendous change.
Public approval of unions is at a 50-year high—68% and rising, including 77% of young people—as more Americans see unions as the solution to our broken economic rules.
And because of the labor movement's activists and allies, we have the most pro-worker administration in history and a working majority in Congress. We must meet this moment by building a modern labor movement. A movement that is open and accessible and diverse.
A movement in every sector and every community, with women and people of color at the center, where every worker has the right to a good, sustainable union job.
All of that depends on putting working people where we belong: at the center of policy and the national conversation. America's democracy is under threat today—from decades of inequality, the dismantling of workers’ rights, a scourge of attacks on voting rights, and the failure to adequately invest in our families and communities.
To save American democracy, we need democracy in the U.S. Senate.
And that means passing public and private sector labor law reform, voter protection legislation and the Build Back Better investment agenda with a simple 50-vote majority.
So take this day to spend time with your family and friends. We have a lot of work to do in the days to come. And if you want to do something now, sign this petition to say you support working people and the PRO Act. The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act will ensure the right to organize in the workplace—and we need to pass this legislation.
In Solidarity,
Liz Shuler
President, AFL-CIO