From Progress Virginia on Labor Day 2021:
‘First Read’ is Progress Virginia’s weekly ‘news to watch’ memo featuring the scoop on the news each week. Have a tip or something we should cover? Shoot us an email at info@progressva.org. Know someone who should get this newsletter? Send them this link.
This Labor Day, we are celebrating all the great things unions have done for us. When workers join together in a union, what once seemed impossible becomes possible. Because of unions, we have weekends, the 40-hour workweek, and so much more. Through strength in numbers, working people have transformed our workplaces, our communities, our Commonwealth, and our nation.
But their work is not yet done. Sixty-eight percent of Virginians support unions, but only 4.4% of Virginians are represented by a union. That means that most Virginians are at risk of being taken advantage of by their employers who will work to drive down wages and prevent hardworking people from living a good life so that huge corporations can make more profits. In Virginia, our anti-union laws make it more difficult for people to come together to advocate for themselves in a union. Politicians like Glenn Youngkin, Winsome Sears, and Jason Miyares are committed to putting up barriers to prosperity for hardworking families in our community.
Today, unions and their members are working to increase the minimum wage so that all of us can raise our families with dignity and live a good life. They are lobbying legislators to pass paid family and medical leave and paid sick days tso that everyone can balance the needs of their families and employers. Unions and their members are working to ensure that essential workers on the front lines of the pandemic are compensated fairly for putting the health of themselves and their loved ones at risk.
On Labor Day, we are celebrating unions, thanking them for the work they do, and joining them in the fight to ensure that all of us have stable workplaces that allow us to provide for our families.
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