AFL-CIO aims to bring young people into unions

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09263/999063-28.stm

Sunday, September 20, 2009
By Ann Belser, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


Lake Fong/Post-Gazette
AFL-CIO delegates cheer for President Barack Obama at the AFL-CIO convention at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

They came to Pittsburgh, heard a host of speeches, elected new officers and passed a raft of resolutions. But did the AFL-CIO convention really accomplish anything?

William Samuel, the director of government affairs for the AFL-CIO, said resolutions passed by the delegates every four years at the national convention lay down the federation's priorities.

While one huge goal is reaching out to young, potential union members, the delegates also waved signs in support of the Employee Free Choice Act and universal health care, and passed resolutions in favor of growing a "green economy," pushing the Federal Aviation Administration to enhance the minimum safety standards for helicopters and repealing U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba. They also called for high-quality public education.

The delegates also voted to increase diversity in their ranks -- including people who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered and people with disabilities. On the first day of the convention, Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers and head of the credentials committee, reported 46 percent of the delegates were women or people of color.

But as nice as that statistic was, there also was a very real sense in the room of the aging of the labor movement. A vast majority of the people in the convention center either had gray hair, thinning hair or a good hairdresser.

Therefore, much of the talk was about reaching out to young people and getting them to join organized labor.

FULL story at link.

A few months ago, there was some kind of labor dispute with the local grocery workers. I was buying a lotto & asked the very young woman at the counter how the negotiations were going. "I don't know & I don't really care. I would never join the union." (I guess it's optional?) I responded by asking if she got vacation time, overtime pay, paid sick days, & benefits. "Of course," she answered. "You can thank a union for that," I replied. Then I had to walk away or I would have screamed.

I put myself through college (mid-70s, early 80s) with a good paying union job. It took me 7 years, but I got my degree, lived on my own & had no debt when I graduated.

in high schools though out the country so the young people know what benefits workers (union or not) have because of the union movement 100 years ago.

is too overlooked in high school history. There is always so much influence on the big money makers and shakers and their exorbitant wealth, but there is never any real mention about unions.