Labor unions have been the driving force for all positive change for workers, friends. Right now, we are seeing the biggest resurgence of progressive organizing and movement building in decades.
As a former union member who had fair wages and good benefits thanks to my union, I know firsthand the difference an organized workplace can make for workers. I will always stand in solidarity with unions and defend workers’ right to organize and collectively bargain.
Here are just a few of the wins we’ve seen for the labor movement this year:
- Workers across the country are realizing their power. In the first half of the year, union election petitions increased 57% over the same period last year.
- A new Gallup poll reports that the American public’s support for unions is at a 57-year high of 71%.
- Workers in my office led a movement to unionize the staff in the U.S. Congress. Already, workers have raised their voices and secured a historic $45,000 pay floor in the House.
- Workers are demanding better pay, working conditions, and more from large corporations like Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s, and Chipotle by unionizing stores and locations across the country.
- I joined educators in Minnesota’s Fifth District on the picket lines in their strike for better schools and higher wages — and they won!
- Unionized nurses in my district are overworked, underpaid, and understaffed — all while hospital CEOs make millions. They are ready to strike later this month in what will be the largest nursing strike in the history of our country. I’m standing with them in this fight.
Whether it’s working to pass legislation to protect the right to organize or standing alongside workers on the picket lines, I will always fight to support workers and unions. Thanks for joining me in this fight.
In radical solidarity,
Ilhan Omar
