Labor unions are critical for the workers they represent, as well as their families, other workers, and the community as a whole.
Why?
Because we need basic things for our security and well-being, like a minimum wage, a weekend, paid sick leave, vacations, health insurance, child labor laws, and safety regulations. Union members are the ones who won these and other benefits and protections for the working class, through protracted struggles over many decades. None of it was freely given by employers or elected officials. Unions give us a voice on the job and a way to ensure fair treatment in the workplace, and in public life in general. Unions are a force for democracy and against fascism.
Learn below what you can do to support local union power, or scroll further to learn more about how unions are key to the power of the people.
How You Can Support Local Labor Unions
If you are lucky enough to have a union where you work, join it!
Pay your dues, proudly wear your union colors, go to meetings and events, and invite your coworkers. Wear your union insignia to community events too. Get involved in bargaining, organizing and other union activities. Find out what your union is doing to prepare for a general strike in 2028.
If you don’t have a union in your workplace, talk to your coworkers about starting one!
Check out these guides:
Support unions in the area.
Check out some of the ways you can support local unions and increase our people power:
Honor labor boycotts.
View and bookmark this list: AFL-CIO Boycott List.
Also, commit to the following boycotts happening locally:
Never cross a strike picket line.
Workers who do that are class traitors called scabs. The term applies to any union-represented employee who undermines a strike by going to work, as well as to replacement workers hired to break the strike.
If you are a customer of, or a supplier for a struck business, you should also honor a picket line.
Join the picket line!
Union members should sign up for a daily picketing shift. Community members can picket, attend rallies, donate to the strike fund, and help in other ways. Donuts, pizza and other refreshments are always welcome on a picket line.
Help feed local strikers.
Donate to food banks such as Food for Lane County to help feed striking workers and their families,
OR work with others to organize a food drive!
Why Are Unions Important?The “regular people” win better wages, benefits and working conditions by acting TOGETHER.
Bargaining labor agreements with their employers is the main way that union workers join together to get what they need.
Workers’ strength comes from their unity and collective action. This can be demonstrated in many ways including wearing union buttons, signing petitions, holding “unity breaks” as well as rallies, marches, and other disruptive actions. The important thing is that the workers themselves decide on the tactics that are appropriate for their workplace.
Sometimes the members will vote to exercise the most powerful collective action of all, the strike. Striking involves risk and pain, but if they are unified behind clear demands, have sufficient support and are organized and prepared, a strike can create better wages, benefits and working conditions, and prevent existing benefits from being taken away.
The Power of a General Strike
Just as a strike is the ultimate tool for workers bargaining their employment contract, a General Strike is THE most powerful nonviolent weapon for workers and communities engaging in civil resistance against fascist regimes.
In successful general strikes, workers across multiple industries, unions and workplaces unify around some top demands and simultaneously withhold their labor, while receiving widespread community support from mutual aid groups, faith groups, and other organizations and individuals.
To have a successful general strike, we need unions to be as strong as possible.
Keep in mind, unions are restricted by no-strike clauses in their collective bargaining agreements, which don’t allow them to strike at times other than following contract expiration. This is a resule of enemies of the working class (most employers, most politicians, and the 1%) systematically attacking and undermining unions for decades. So, engaging in a general strike is risky, both for the individual workers and their unions, and requires much solidarity, preparation, and community support.
Locally, we are fortunate to have the Eugene Springfield Solidarity Network (ESSN) [https://solidaritynetwork.org/], which brings together labor unions, grassroots organizations, student groups, faith communities and others in support of economic justice, workers’ rights and mutual aid. ESSN holds monthly virtual meetings to prepare people in our area for a general strike. For more on ESSN and their strike preparation work: