Labor Day is a time when we in the labor movement reflect on the sacrifices working people have made for workers’ rights and reaffirm our pledge to fight for dignity, economic security, safe working conditions and more democracy in the workplace.

Maine workers have been under tremendous stress during the past year as this pandemic has infected nearly 46,000 and killed nearly 1,000 of our friends, family, coworkers and neighbors in this state. Health care workers, emergency responders, retail and food service employees, nursing home workers, cleaners and others have put themselves at risk of contracting COVID-19 by working on the frontlines of the pandemic to keep us safe and healthy. Mental health professionals have observed a dramatic spike in anxiety and depression related to the pandemic, which is exacerbating existing cases of work-related post-traumatic stress disorder and trauma that are common in many occupations.

Amid this crisis, there has been a wave of union organizing in the state as Maine Medical Center nurses, Portland Museum of Art workers, Biddeford Saco Old Orchard Beach Transit drivers and mechanics, water district employees, Waterville KVCAP drivers and others have formed unions to fight for workplace safety, fair wages and a seat at the table in management decisions that affect them.

At the same time, there have been pockets of resistance among non-union workers in Maine as restaurant workers, lifeguards, and retail employees have carried out wild cat actions and walk outs to demand better treatment. A combination of the pandemic and economic conditions have emboldened low-wage workers to take action after years of suffering low wages and mistreatment. This year we have seen a phenomenon known as the “great resignation” as a record number of workers have reevaluated their life goals and left their jobs to seek more meaningful employment, better wages and schedules that allow them to spend more time with their families.

Many of these workers might have stayed in their jobs if they were more freely allowed to exercise their right to collective bargaining to improve their circumstances. In fact, an MIT study found that about half of nonunion workers in the US would form a union today if they could. Unfortunately, our labor laws are stacked against workers.

Currently, companies can openly undermine union elections and coerce, harass and intimidate workers from joining unions. Even when employers blatantly break labor laws – as they do in nearly 42 percent of all union election campaigns, including at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Alabama last spring — there are no monetary penalties to discourage this behavior. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s National Labor Relations Act of 1935 was actually meant to encourage collective bargaining, but now our government is doing the exact opposite due to 70 years of anti-worker laws and bad legal decisions.

For example, Maine Med management hired an expensive anti-union consultant to spread misinformation and sow distrust among the nurses in order to break the union. Fortunately, while these union busting tactics had been successful in previous union drives at the hospital for the last 45 years, this time they failed due to exceptional organizing, strong community support and the inspiring solidarity of the nurses. However, way too often the union avoidance playbook works and declining union membership, despite millions of workers wanting a union, is proof of that.

The US Senate is considering the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), which would strengthen and modernize our nearly century-old labor laws so that workers have a right to speak out and form unions without employer interference. The PRO Act would empower workers to more effectively negotiate with their employers so our collective power can raise the bar for all workers.

The fact that the world’s billionaires have amassed an astonishing $5.5 trillion during the pandemic while there’s not a single county in Maine where a full-time, minimum-wage earner can afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment, shows just how little bargaining power workers have today. When Maine passed an increase to our minimum wage in 2016, nearly one third of the workforce was earning wages so low that they stood to get a raise from the gradual increase.

We urge Congress to immediately pass the PRO Act because it’s way past time to give working people a fair shake.

— Special to the Press Herald