Are Unions Still Relevant Today?

According to economist Paul Krugman, today’s wealth disparity hasn’t been seen since the days of the “robber barons,” who were flourishing as America celebrated its first Labor Day in 1894.  

Peruse a recent Repository:

-pollution limits for drilling but not fracking

-Kasich seeks to privatize the lottery and turnpike, as done with some prisons and the liquor agency

-Sec. of State attempting to ban Cuyahoga Co. from mailing ballots to registered voters

-Team NEO/JobsOhio excited about business recruitment

What do these news items have in common? They are evidence of practices that benefit the few, often at the expense and detriment of the many. How does not having pollution limits on fracking help us? What’s the benefit to the state in privatizing lottery profits?  Why should we disenfranchise voters in one county just because we’re disenfranchising them in others? And please tell me why Team NEO/JobsOhio, who simply tell corporations “come and get it!” can siphon off millions of our tax dollars for themselves—with little to no “sunshine”? Again, these all benefit the elite few at the expense of the majority.

It’s no coincidence that that the wealth gap has widened over the last 30 years as some have sought to chip away at the very things that benefit most of us, things like access to higher education and affordable healthcare, a fair wage, and safe food and clean water. Unions are one of the few things left between us and today’s robber barons.

Like many of you, my family is stretching its dollars at the grocery store, and, of course, we want the butcher’s thumb off the scale when we buy our groundchuck. And we should expect the same from our newspapers when it comes to unionism. Are unions relevant today? Lord help us if they’re not.

*a version of this piece appeared in The Canton Repository in response to the question: "Are unions still relevant today?"