Unions and communities are building a Southern economy for all. | Opinion
Gov. Brian Kemp and five other Southern governors recently sent a chilling statement to working people in this state: Don’t you dare join a union. While politicians in the South have a long and sordid history of thwarting workers’ legal right to stand together in a union, these brazen and highly inappropriate threats no longer carry the weight they once did.
Workers at the Blue Bird electric bus factory in Macon made history last year by voting to join the United Steelworkers and last month ratified their first contract, which included substantial wage gains, health and safety protections, and much more. These workers and many others in the South who choose to stand together in a union are sending a powerful message to anti-union governors like Kemp: We won’t be bullied.
Read the room, Gov. Kemp. Unions are more popular now than we’ve been in decades because, for far too long, corporate interests and the politicians they bankroll have exercised complete control over the economic futures of working folks. These profitable corporations and the politicians in their pockets have conspired to drive down wages, limit opportunity, create health and safety risks on the job, and exploit the vulnerable, especially Black and Brown workers.
The Economic Policy Institute detailed how the Southern economic model is failing workers while pushing all economic gains to the wealthy and well-connected.
“In fact, the Southern economic development strategy was never designed to help the vast majority of working Southerners; rather, it reflects efforts to ensure continued access to the cheap labor of Black people following emancipation,” the report states.
To be sure, corporate CEOs are doing everything they can to keep this economic model alive. Recently Mercedes ran a vicious anti-union campaign to coerce workers in its Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant to vote against joining the United Auto Workers (UAW), and while the vote was close, workers didn’t prevail.
But increasingly, workers of all races and backgrounds are fed up with this treatment. And, here in Georgia and across the South, they’re turning to unions to balance the scales. If the Blue Bird victory and other recent unionization wins by workers—including autoworkers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga joining the UAW, and assembly workers at New Flyer in Alabama joining the Communications Workers of America—are any indication of what’s to come, workers are about to break the generations-long stranglehold corporate interests and politicians have wielded over our economic fortunes.
Times are changing. And the South is, too. The failed economic model that generates wealth only for the rich and powerful is dying. Good riddance. To replace it, unions and communities are building a new model together that will empower working folks to pursue and achieve the American dream for decades to come. We can ensure that companies in Georgia and across the South are doing right by our communities, keeping our air and water free of pollution, lifting working people of all races, and creating a lasting revitalization that lives up to the promise of shared prosperity.
To achieve this, the AFL-CIO and community partners have joined together here in Georgia and across the South to fight for justice on all fronts—economic, environmental and racial. We’re redefining what it means to organize for the benefit of entire communities, which is critical given that our tax dollars are funding the expansion of these businesses in Georgia.
Through our collaborative efforts, we’re demanding that companies negotiate community benefits agreements, which address a broad range of issues, including workers’ rights and environmental concerns, to ensure that the community where a company locates shares in the gains.
That’s especially important now.
Thanks to the Biden administration and the efforts of unions and advocates for a clean environment, we’re on the cusp of a reindustrialization of America, sparking the creation of potentially millions of new jobs in the next generation in industries such as renewable energy, manufacturing and technology. And there’s a multiplier effect. As these new jobs come online, we’ll see more jobs in the service sector and other supporting industries. Many of the jobs are coming to our backyard. After decades of economic decline and low wages, we’re on the verge of a renaissance that could transform the South for generations to come.
But resistance from anti-union politicians like Kemp threatens our economic futures. Kemp is even punishing employers who want to do the right thing by recognizing their workers’ desire to join a union, signing legislation banning those companies from receiving economic incentives.
That’s not what workers want. It’s not what the people of Georgia want.
In our vision of the new Southern economy, we secure union jobs for building facilities and manufacturing. We lead with racial and gender equity, ensuring everyone has access to new jobs and prioritizing local hire with training and support. And, just as importantly, we safeguard our air and water so that our families can thrive.
On our own, we’re no match for the powerful multinational corporations and their political benefactors. But together, the future we can achieve is limitless.
Liz Shuler is the President of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, a federation of labor unions representing millions of people. Yvonne Brooks is President of the Georgia AFL-CIO
