NYSUT: A Union of ProfessionaIs

We are a proud part

of the American
labor movement.
!"
Local & Retiree Council President's Conference
ApriI 10-11, 2013
In the Beginning.
Workers had NO VOCE and NO RGHTS:
As industrialization moved workers from farms and home
workshops into urban areas and factory work, children
were often preferred, because factory owners viewed them
as more manageable, cheaper, and less likely to strike.
In the Beginning.
On March 25, 1911, the
Triangle Shirtwaist
Company factory in New
York City burned, killing
145 workers. t is
remembered as one of
the most infamous
incidents in American
industrial history, as the
deaths were largely
preventable most of
the victims died as a
resuIt of negIected
safety features and
Iocked doors within the
factory buiIding.
Courageous men and
women fought for
Collective Bargaining so
that their voices would be
heard.
In the Beginning . . .


As the Labor movement grew, it had
widespread pubIic and poIiticaI
support:
:

Labor was SUPPORTED by EIected
OfficiaIs:
"f went to work in a factory, the first thing 'd do
is join a union
-Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Only a fool would try to deprive working men
and women of the right to join the union of their
choice.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower

n 1936 . . .
n 1936, during the United Auto Worker's historic two
week sit-down strike at a General Motors' production
complex, the governor of Michigan, with the support of
President Roosevelt, sent the National Guard to the
complex, not to break the strike, but to protect the
strikers from state police and General Motors' strike
breakers.

GM Strike

Montgomery Ward Strike
n 1944, four months
into a nationwide strike
by 12,000 workers, U.S.
Army troops seized the
Chicago offices of
Montgomery Ward &
Company because the
Montgomery Ward
president refused to settle
the strike, as requested
by the Roosevelt
administration.

UNIONS ACHIEVE!
t was the labor movement that helped
secure so much of what we take for
granted today. The 40-hour work week,
the minimum wage, family leave, health
insurance, Social Security, Medicare,
retirement plans. The cornerstones of
the middIe-cIass security aII bear the
union IabeI.
- President Barack Obama
What Have Unions
AccompIished?
The minimum wage and 40 hour work
week?
Yup, that was unions.

The end of Child labor and sweatshops?
Mmmmm hmmmmmm. Unions too.

Social Security Act?
You got it. Unions.



The Civil Rights Act of 1964?
BNGO! Unions

The Occupational Safety Health Act?
Corporations.
Just Kidding! Unions too

The Family Medical Leave Act?
Unions
What Have Unions
AccompIished?
Before Teachers Were
Unionized in New York:
In 1953:
$50/week pay, which was about what
unionized garment factory workers were paid;
No paid sick time;
Many teachers were forced to work as full-time
substitutes; without any benefits;
No prep periods;
40+ students per class;
Pregnant teachers had to resign
THE BIGGER PICTURE:

Unions are all about creating
a better society for
EVERYONE.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yw2xrZtyWU


YOU ARE PART OF A MOVEMENT


THAT HAS FOUGHT TRELESSLY
FOR WORKNG PEOPLE
MLK: The Dignity of Labor
WE NEED UNIONS TO REMAIN
STRONG






PeopIe need unions

GeraIdine BIankenship, who was present
during the 1936 GM sit-down strike almost 80
years ago, says it best:

"People need a union..you can't
survive too long without a union
UNIONS ARE UNDER ATTACK!
PRIVATE SECTOR ATTACKS
Pension Loss
Between 1980 and 2005, the percentage of
empIoyees participating in defined benefit
pension pIans feII from 62% to 10%.

For the same time period, the percentage of
empIoyees participating in defined
contribution pIans (i.e., 401(k)) increased
from 16% to 63%.
OFFSHORING JOBS AND SWEAT-
SHOP LABOR:
MosL of whaL we buy from developlng counLrles ls
grown or !"#$%"&'$()* ,- ./(0)(1 .2/1) (342'1
"() 34#/()* 3# 3!5/('"#' ."-1. Cell-phone
componenLs from Chlna, frulL grown ln Mexlco, and
Lhe lndlan coLLon ln your shlrL are commonly
processed by ./(0)(1 .2/ .)() #/' 5"3* !3#3!$!
."4), who were )65/1)* '/ 2"7"(*/$1 &2)!3&"81
or *"#4)(/$1 !"&23#)(-, who were %/(&)* '/ ./(0
/9)('3!), or who were 5()9)#')* %(/! /(4"#373#4
Lo negoLlaLe changes ln such condlLlons.

(Business Week: Overseas Sweatshops Are a U.S. Responsibility)

UNIONS ARE UNDER ATTACK!
PUBLIC SECTOR ATTACKS
Since September 2008, the pubIic
sector has shed 464,000 jobs, whiIe the
private sector has been steadiIy adding
jobs to the tune of 120,000-140,000 per
month since 2011.






The AssauIt on Workers in New York
Passage of Tier VI
Tax Cuts for the Wealthy and Property Tax
Caps for School Districts

MicheIIe Rhee: "Students First"
Eliminate teacher seniority
ncrease standardized testing and the value
placed on student scores in teacher
evaluations
"Docu-movie: Waiting for Superman

Working PeopIe are Under Attack
Too
Voter Suppression Laws have been passed in
severaI states and attempted in others:

Georgia; ndiana; Kansas; Tennessee; Mississippi;
Texas; South Carolina; and Florida have all passed
voter D Laws.
The Courts of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin blocked
such laws from going into effect.

These Iaws are aimed at the working poor;
minorities; eIderIy; and peopIe who tend to support
Democrats and Unions.




!"#$%&&' )* +%,"--./0 123 4*5* 1671
82993: 8;<,-'$ =>?-.@%% 5?%%$A:
!!
changed the landscape of public
employee free speech:

The EFFECT:
Speech that results from public employment duties
no longer receives First Amendment protection.

The IMPLICATION:
is a serious hit to First Amendment
protection for Whistle-Blowing public employees.
COMMON MYTHS ABOUT UNIONS
HURT UNIONS TOO
FACT OR FICTION?
Bargaining rights for pubIic empIoyees cause
state deficits to expIode!

Fiction. There is no relationship between
collective bargaining and inflated state deficits. "On
average states with collective bargaining rights for
public employees have 2.5% less debt than states
without those rights. National Association of
State Retirement Administrators (2011)
FACT OR FICTION?
Unionized Iabor costs non-unionized
Americans jobs!

FICTION. Just the opposite: Unions raise wages;
higher wages increase purchasing power;
purchasing power increases demand; and higher
demand means a need to hire and more jobs for
ALL Americans.
FACT OR FICTION?
Unions are onIy needed by workers who get
in troubIe?

Fiction. Any employee could, at some point, be
confronted with a problem arising from a wide
range of issues . . .

:;< =::=>? @A BAC@AD ;=D D<EC@BD
DCF<G<HH<>:D
EFFECT OF THE ATTACKS
The percentage of America's
workforce that is unionized is Iower
than it has been in aImost 100 years.

In 2013, onIy 11.5% of workers in the
pubIic and private sector beIong to a
Union, a 97 year Iow.



AS union membership rates decrease, the
middle class share of income shrinks.
nteresting. THE GAP BETWEEN THE RCH AND POOR S NOT AS GREAT AS WE
THOUGHT.
Wealth nequity in America