Why
Unions Matter
One of my favorite
movies of all time is called “The Straight Story,” based on the true events
of an 80 year old man from Iowa who drives his John Deer riding mover over 100
miles to Wisconsin to visit his dying brother. I won’t tell you how the movie
ends, so that you will go out and rent it if you have not already; but there is
one scene in the movie that always sticks out in my mind and helps me answer the
question, “Why do Unions Matter?”
During his journey, the hero of the story,
Alvin Straight, meets a runaway teenage girl while he is camping out on the side
of the highway. While roasting hot dogs on a stick over a fire, Alvin tells the
girl about how important family is, especially through rough times. He gives an
example of family by first describing how easy it is to pick up a twig and snap
it between your fingers. However, if you hold a bunch of twigs together in your
hands and try to break the entire bunch in half, you will find yourself with a
much more difficult task.
Alvin’s example of family also shows why
Unions matter. The twigs demonstrate how an individual, acting alone, can easily
be broken. A group of workers acting together, however, has much more strength.
This is what allows collective bargaining to work in our individual shops, and
why our Local sends delegates to the Milwaukee County Labor Council, AFL-CIO, an
affiliation of some 125 different Union Locals in the Milwaukee area. It is why
I believe the work of the Wisconsin Legalization Coalition is so critical to the
labor movement. Coalitions, which at times can be difficult to keep together due
to different points of view of it various members, nonetheless allow people to
pool their power and resources around an issue that affects all the members. By
acting collectively, the many can together accomplish what one voice alone could
not.
So as we head into the most critical months of this most critical election year, let us keep I mind that the bundle of small twigs, when held tightly together, is impossible to break.