36 Great Things Labor Unions Have Done for Americans – Happy Labor Day

I places where lots of workers belong to labor unions thrive, the number of people in the middle class increases

In areas where a high number of workers belong to labor unions, the number of people in the middle class increases. In places like Mesa County where there are few and weak unions, wages stay low and more people live in poverty.

 

Re-posting in honor of Labor Day, 2022. Join a union. Unions have achieved great things for workers, and there’s much more strength in numbers:

Did you know that labor unions made the following 36 things possible?

  1. Weekends off work
  2. All of your breaks at work, including your lunch breaks
  3. Paid vacation
  4. Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
  5. Sick leave
  6. Social Security
  7. Minimum wage
  8. Civil Rights Act, Title VII, which prohibits employer discrimination
  9. 8-hour work day
  10. Overtime pay
  11. Child labor laws
  12. Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
  13. The 40-hour work week
  14. Workers’ compensation (workers’ comp)
  15. Unemployment insurance
  16. Pensions
  17. Workplace safety standards and regulations
  18. Employer health care insurance
  19. Collective bargaining rights for employees
  20. Wrongful termination laws
  21. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
  22. Whistleblower protection laws
  23. Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA), which prohibits employers from using a lie detector test on an employee
  24. Veteran’s Employment and Training Services (VETS)
  25. Compensation increases and evaluations (raises)
  26. Sexual harassment laws
  27. Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life, including jobs, schools, transportation, and all public and private places that are open to the general public.
  28. Holiday pay
  29. Employer dental, life, and vision insurance
  30. Privacy rights
  31. Pregnancy and parental leave
  32. Military leave
  33. The right to strike
  34. Public education for children
  35. Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011, which require employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work
  36. Laws ending sweatshops in the United States

 

If you like all these things, then thank American labor unions and consider joining one to help boost local Mesa County’s dismal wages and benefits.

[Credit for the list goes to the ALF-CIO website, Union Plus]

  1 comment for “36 Great Things Labor Unions Have Done for Americans – Happy Labor Day

  1. SS was brought about by FDR. The Unions had nothing to do with bringing it into existence. It was the brainchild of FDR. Senator Tom Harkin and Senator Lowell Weicker came up with the bill for the ADA. Not the Union.

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