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By

Gerry Niskern

My Mom  was a coal miner’s daughter and my Dad was a times-study engineer in the administration of a large glass factory back East. As you can imagine I overheard many debates on the pro and con of unions when I was growing up.

President Biden’s words in his State of the Union speech about unions creating the middle America brought back some of my memories.

I remember seeing men covered in black coal  dust, especially their black faces, trudging up the street after their shift at the local mine. My mom used to talk about her job as a child of helping her mother drag out the two big tubs and filling them with hot water for my grandfather’s bath after work.

But when  I was a teen and we visited back to our little home town, one simple thing, among many big vital issues, like wages and safety codes, had changed. The mining companies had to provide showers for the miners to use after their shift. The men coming home were freshly showered and had on clean clothes. My grandmother would have loved that!

Progress was made after the formation of the UMWA. But only after long strikes and bitter fights. My grandmother always said, “ The men went out on strike for three or four months every year and ran up huge household bills. Then we spend the rest of the year paying off our debts.”  But each time the union  made a little more progress. The same was true of the other unions fighting for better wages and working conditions in the United States.

The definition of unions changed over the history of our country. Early on the guild-like associations formed to protect their tradesman with special skills. Much like unions today who demand specific skills of their members and joining fees of thousands of dollars.

But the ordinary workers in many industries need wage and safety protection and the desire for unions is growing.  The right to organize has had much legislation passed over the history of our country and there are hard struggles to come.

So yes, the major unions, and smaller ones too, made the American Middle class, but it was a long hard battle. It wasn’t easy and it won’t be again.