Cover story:

Theme: Labor

Taking a stand — taking a chance — isn’t always easy. So, it’s not surprising that working men and women often need the support of others to stand up and demand better working conditions, safer workplaces and economic justice. They need a little nudge and, sometimes, a comforting embrace before they take that first step toward their right to unionize.

This month’s Voice takes a look at several innovative efforts by the AFL-CIO — of which UUP is a member through its affiliation with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) — to provide support for new and would-be unionists. Union Summer and Seminary Summer are creative responses to the challenges of organizing. Both programs, featured on these pages, include an educational component for the college and seminary students who participate, as well as coalition-building efforts that have a positive impact on the entire communities in which they exist.

In fact, Union Summer and Seminary Summer have been so successful, the AFL-CIO is launching a new initiative: Lawyer Summer, which gives law students a chance to hone their skills in the context of organizing workers and negotiating contracts. Retirees are also using their experiences to build union activism.

But, whether they are seminarians, law students, college kids or retirees, their goal is the same — to improve the working conditions of others.

“That’s what’s important about solidarity,” said Thomas Hoey of SUNY Albany, chair of UUP’s statewide Solidarity Committee. “Even though we’re our own entities, we’re all working for the same thing.”

Hoey recalls how he heard a speaker at the AFT’s Higher Education Issues Conference in San Francisco last spring; the next week, they were picketing side by side in Boston on behalf of Harvard’s janitors.

“It just shows,” said Hoey, “one thing ties into another.”