AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler recently appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to discuss the disappointing findings of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
“People are continuing to lose ground because workers don’t have the power they need to negotiate better conditions and wages on their own,” Shuler said. “You can do that better when you come together, strength in numbers, collectively.”
And then in a surprising show of candor, Shuler said with union membership, “the law [is] on your side” because employees can negotiate wages and working conditions “without fear of retaliation or being fired.”
When asked about the railroad strike last year, Shuler blasted railroad companies for “making billions of dollars [in] historic profits, but yet couldn’t give their workers a single sick day.”
Ultimately, Shuler said unionization is “about equity” and “having a voice at the table.”
Although Shuler pitched the positives about union membership, she did not elaborate further on declining union membership rates among American workers.