Laboring For Workers Rights

[Omaha Steve]

Laboring For Workers Rights

http://www.wowktv.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=13779

Laboring For Workers Rights
Posted Monday, September 4, 2006 ; 05:53 PM
Updated Tuesday, September 5, 2006 ; 12:03 AM

Local steelworker praises laborers who fight for better work conditions

Story by Jodi Juhl Email | Bio

Jason Queen says when his baby daughter Regan grows up, he'll make sure she understands what American workers sacrificed for Labor Day.

Queen has worked at Steel of West Virginia for 14 years. He says workers wouldn't have a voice without a union and unions wouldn't exist if workers in the early 1800's and 1900's hadn't fought for the right to organize.

Just last week, in the midst of a strike, United Steel Workers of America union leaders helped negotiate fair health benefits and wages into a new contract for Local 37. But Queen says unions help more than just workers; They keep local communities strong by ensuring workers have the purchasing power to keep the economy moving. Union jobs employ hundreds of local workers who invest their money in local institutions, spend their hard earned cash at local retailers and restaurants and often give back of their paychecks or their time volunteering in local organizations.

Despite the recent strike and settlement Queen says labor relations have improved over the years thanks to the millions of union workers before him who fought for workplace justice. He says companies are more willing to work with unions than in their infancy when companies fought them tooth and nail.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, union membership has has declined from a high of 20.1% in 1983 to 12.5% in 2005. Economists attribute some of the decline to the loss of manufacturing jobs nationwide and the change to a service economy.

Whatever the reason, the numbers don't sway Queen from believing unions will be around long after his daughter Regan heads off to work.