Just Work: This is What a Union Victory Looks Like

Last weekend, I joined with 1500 of my colleagues to sign the first ever union contract for private security officers in Washington, D.C. It was a big deal. Even the Washington Post wrote about our win -- how we secured a significant hourly pay increase, minimum annual raises, paid sick leave, extensive employer-paid healthcare, and other job benefits.

But for a single working mom like me and for my colleagues -- working parents, part-time college students, recent immigrants, and native Washingtonians (born and raised on the other side of the Capitol)--the news coverage doesn't begin to explain what this union victory really means.

For those of us who work, sometimes late into the night, guarding some of D.C.'s most famous buildings -- like Watergate, the National Press Club, National Geographic, and NPR Headquarters -- this union victory is life transforming.

Over the past year, I've worked an average of 70-plus hours a week to provide for myself, my mom, and my three-year old son. Before the contract, I received no employer-paid health insurance, but at $12 per hour, I earned too much for government benefits. As a result, I had to work a second job at K-Mart during the evenings and weekends just so that I could cover my family's medical bills.

Barely afloat, I was beginning to see my dreams slip away. I had to put my college classes and my goals of becoming a social worker on hold because I didn't have the money or the time. Despite all the hustle to pay the bills, I was still racking up debt -- spending more time worrying about how to pay off my interest than on saving up for college classes or even a down payment. And the worst for me was that despite sacrificing all this time and effort to provide for my son TJ, I was lucky if I spent more than an hour a day with him.

A couple months ago, when these union contract negotiations kept getting delayed, I really felt like I was hitting a brick wall. I had no idea how I was going to break out of survival mode and my daily worries over breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Then we won this union contract.

The contract's 50-cent hourly raise increase is a movement in the right direction, but it's the healthcare benefits and paid sick leave that are really going to change our lives. From my rough calculations, I think the new healthcare benefits are going to save me around $200 per month. This means I can drop the second job. And the sick pay means I can take my son to the doctor without risking my job. It means I can finally focus on being the mom that my son needs, the mom I want to be.

But it's more than the numbers that makes this victory valuable. The assurance that someone has got my back on the job and that I've got a voice in my future compensation is priceless. It's restored my sense of hope. Now, with one victory under my belt, I feel confident that if I keep working hard, I'll be able to build a better future, give my son a better education, move into a nicer part of town, and end this cycle of debt and poverty. Maybe next contract, we'll get family paid health insurance. Maybe I'll find time to go back to school. And maybe I'll be able to start saving for a down payment on a house.

My colleagues and I have been changed forever by this experience. Of course, we know there's a lot more work to do to fix the economic and social problems that keep workers like me stuck in "survival mode." At the same time we were settling our contract, I heard that hundreds of security officers who protect Kaiser Permanente facilities in the Bay area were striking against their employer Inter-Con Security Systems. Despite their peaceful attempts to form a union, Inter-Con has met every effort with fierce opposition and job site harassment.

I know first hand that the road to justice is long, but let our success in Washington, D.C. serve as a model for what can happen when a united group of workers come together to stand up for their rights. This weekend, 1500 of us caught a glimpse of the America we can create if we keep working together, from the bottom to the top, to build a better future for all.

Comments

[squeakyf]

Congratulations!! It is good to hear that there are still people out there willing to fight for all that is right in America. With my husband being a Union Committeeperson in the auto industry it is always refreshing to hear of a group fighting and winning for the right to organize. It has been an up-hill battle ever since the "good ol days" of the Reagan era. It has once again gotten to the point that unless we elect someone who truly understands the "working man", there will be more need for Unions. We are once again seeing the "strong arm" tactics of big business trying to break Unions by the threat of "shipping jobs overseas". Until everyone stands up for "a fair days pay for a fair days work" will we continue to see our "middle-class" jobs either go to China, Korea (North or South), Bangladesh and other low paying parts of the world (with no health or safety regulations for their work environment). What the US really needs, are more strong willed people, such as yourself and your fellow workers. Once again, congratulations and may you all see much more success in your future fight for what is right!!

[rlc41]

I'm curious, really. Has homeland security, or what ever it is called now, reared it's ugly head during this whole process? Is there a chance they could say this job has become a matter of national security? I do know this has been done very quitely before.

I do hope this isn't the case and good luck! I'm a firm believer it is going to take strong unions to take working families out of poverty!

[95flhtcu]

Congratulations! I'm sincerely happy for you, after your struggle, to be able to both work and be a mom. It shouldn't have been so hard for you and your coworkers to get decent benefits.

[dadw5boys]

SO NOW THE COMPANY WILL SHUT DOWN TO REORGANIZE OR GO BANKRUPT AND FIRE ALL EMPLOYEES.

THEY WILL THEN REOPEN UNDER A NEW NAME AND HIRE ALL NON UNION PEOPLE.

SEEN IT HAPPEN HERE 15 TO 20 TIMES GOOD LUCK.

[Mike169]

Seriously! Employers sign contracts with everyone they do business with. Those contracts outline the terms and conditions of the deal the two parties are making. The only ones contracts that employers are reluctant to sign are those with their employees. Why is that? Use your little pea brain for just a second, figure it out and then get back to me.

[swift goat pet for truth]

Good for you.

I do not think the American economy is coming back until working people get healthcare and a little more disposible income to spend on some of life's extras. This translates in to topline growth (sales) for America's companies. And America's companies are not going to grow by continually squeezing money from their workers. Unions are a big part of this. Unions have a role to play in the economic health of America.

[peaceandfreedom]

Raquel, I can't tell you how important your work is for every single working person in the country! Unions are all that keep us from being the People's Republic of America.

I saw this elsewhere, but felt it applicable here and wanted to pass it along: "It wasn't until Martin Luther King went to assist the striking workers that he was targeted for assassination. He could agitate for civil rights--sit where you want on the bus, drink from any old fountain, heck, even go to school with white kids; but when he put his muscle behind labor and Really challenged the powers that be in this country--the people with all the money--he became a threat to their entire system, and he paid with his life.

It is not by accident that Unions in this country are an endangered species. Ameri-Corp, the unholy alliance of Big Business and our so called representative government, have had Unions in their sights from day one. My Dad was an organizer in Chicago in the thirties, and I know the stop at nothing, entitled attitude of the Oligarchy and their hand maidens, the Police and the Military. The plan has been in the works since day one, and was even put into a paper for the Trilateral Commission in 1975 that outlines the step they felt necessary to maintain control of workers and wages."

[Rule Of Law]

I just want to add that it wasn't until Martin Luther King went to assist the striking workers that he was targeted for assassination. He could agitate for civil rights--sit where you want on the bus, drink from any old fountain, heck, even go to school with white kids; but when he put his muscle behind labor and Really challenged the powers that be in this country--the people with all the money--he became a threat to their entire system, and he paid with his life.

It is not by accident that Unions in this country are an endangered species. Ameri-Corp, the unholy alliance of Big Business and our so called representative government, have had Unions in their sights from day one. My Dad was an organizer in Chicago in the thirties, and I know the stop at nothing, entitled attitude of the Oligarchy and their hand maidens, the Police and the Military. The plan has been in the works since day one, and was even put into a paper for the Trilateral Commission in 1975 that outlines the step they felt necessary to maintain control of workers and wages.

So hearty Congratulations to you and your brothers and sisters! Yours is truly a life and death struggle.

[Shortyfuse]

This is the best news I heard today. Congratulations you to you brave Americans. Now we need price caps so that corporate greed will not pass the cost on to the tax payer so that it does not eat into their plush profits.

[Mike169]

Congratulations! This is particularly satisfying as organizing private security officers has been denied by the NLRB in the past. The strength of the workers has overcome this obstacle.

[jvarga]

This is good to hear and I'm happy for you and your coworkers (and for people like your son who will indirectly benefit).