A Workers’ Lion

As the Presidential election draws closer and closer, we tend to focus our attention on the daily horse race between the candidates and lose sight of one key question recently raised in the Washington Post: What can our elected officials actually do for us?

As a union leader, I hear that question from my members quite often.  For us, that question becomes even more specific: What can elected officials do to help working families and union members?  With the recent news of Senator Ted Kennedy’s illness, I thought is was worth reminding ourselves of exactly what a passionate and dedicated elected official really can do and why it is so important that we stay engaged in the political arena and work to elect strong and uncompromising advocates of workers’ rights.

Senator Kennedy’s brother, President John F. Kennedy, is most famous for encouraging Americans to “ask what you can do for your country.” However, I am particularly fond of his own answer to the question “What can unions do for our country?”   In August of 1960, he said, “Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups.  They have raised wages, shortened hours and provided supplemental benefits.  Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor.  But their work goes beyond their own jobs, and even beyond our borders. Our unions have fought for aid to education, for better housing, for development of our national resources, and for saving the family-sized farms.  They have spoken, not for narrow self-interest, but for the public interest and for the people.”

Serving in the U.S. Senate since 1962, Ted Kennedy continued this pro-union tradition and remains one of labor’s staunchest allies, relentlessly devoted to championing causes of the voiceless, including children, and to protecting and improving the lives of all workers in this country.  For nearly five decades, Ted Kenney has succeeded where many others failed by always recalling his duty as a public servant on behalf of the public good.

In his own words, “The best way to see that employees receive their fair share of America’s prosperity is to give them a stronger voice in the workplace.  Unions were fundamental in building America’s middle class, and they have a vital role today in preserving the American dream for working families.  Unions can make all the difference between an economy that’s fair, and an economy where working people are left behind.”

As Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has led an extraordinary number of fights to move pro-worker legislation, including the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, which raises the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 over a two year period. Kennedy was quoted as saying, "Passing this wage hike represents a small, but necessary step to help lift America's working poor out of the ditches of poverty and onto the road toward economic prosperity".  He also helped lower the voting age to 18, which has encouraged young people to become engaged in politics--a phenomenon that continues to grow in this year’s presidential election.

My union, CWA, and many others have fought long and hard for the federal Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which we believe will ultimately be signed into law and will give workers the freedom to decide whether or not they want to unionize without fear of being punished or fired. When introducing EFCA to the Senate, Ted Kennedy said it right: “In 2005 alone, more than 30,000 workers were illegally fired or retaliated against for attempting to exercise their right to have a union in their workplace. Every 17 minutes, a worker is fired or punished in some illegal way for supporting a union.  Unscrupulous employers routinely break the law to keep unions out—they intimidate employees, harass them, and discriminate against them.  They shut down whole departments—or even entire plants—to avoid negotiating a union contract. It’s illegal and unacceptable, but it happens every day.”

The Senator’s unfortunate illness will most likely mean setbacks in a variety of important legislative efforts that he has been spearheading including one that will enable police, firefighters and other first responders to unionize. Like many politicians, he certainly had his faults and we may not agree with everything he said or did, but Senator Kennedy’s forty-six-year long Senate career clearly shows that a dedicated, demanding politician with strong core beliefs can generate real and enduring change. 

Many people have referred to Ted Kennedy as a “lion” in the Senate, meaning both his liberal politics and his aggressive political style.  His career has made it clear that he is indeed a working people’s “lion”.  As we move closer to Election Day, we hope that our Senate and presidential candidates will have the same belief in the power of working people and unions that drives Senator Kennedy. We wish him the best and know he will recover from his recent surgery and battle his illness with the same stubborn passion and amazing energy with which he has fought for our rights for so many years.