You might be asking yourself, “Why does it seem as though every industry on the face of the planet is on strike right now?” But I think a better question is, “Why are unions fighting for basic human rights and fair compensation in the workplace in the 21st century, and how can the public help them?”
One would have to have lived under a rock this summer to have not been aware of the WGA strike that ended less than a month ago in addition to the SAG-AFTRA strike that is still ongoing. While both of these strikes are extremely important for workers within the entertainment industry, there are many American industries currently experiencing strikes: teachers, American auto workers (UAW), healthcare workers, Amazon workers, fast food workers, et al.
Regardless of how many industries are striving for better wages, benefits, and treatment, the moral dilemma I have been facing is this: how can I stand in solidarity with every union without boycotting each industry individually? Boycotting isn’t accessible for many of those who belong to lower socioeconomic classes and finding alternatives to these big corporations can be difficult without proper resources.
One mode of support we can offer to these unions is through the use of social media. Social media has become an efficient tool for unions to spread their agendas to the public without encountering interference from the corporations that they are challenging. Many of the CEOs that control these industries have connections to keep worker-related issues under wraps, but by using social media, these unions can speak directly to the public through their mobile devices. The internet and the mechanisms that are provided by it are free and accessible with as little as a Wi-Fi connection. While signing petitions, posting about issues, and sharing videos seem unaccommodating to these unions and their goals, they help more than one would think.
Helping these unions is extremely important for the advancement of workers’ rights and giving power back to the workers, workers who have created and carried these industries for decades. Public awareness and support for these issues is necessary for establishing the relevance of them to politicians that can implement them into legislative agendas. The importance of making a policy legitimate in the eyes of the people in power can have a humongous effect on the outcome of a strike. The use of legitimization as a method to bring a policy into light is pivotal to change, bearing in mind that the public isn’t always conscious of every issue that persists in the American geopolitical landscape, and through think tanks, the union leaders, and the mass media, legitimization makes the social policies relating to these striking workers visible to the public eye.
By pushing these issues far enough into the public eye, the unions are greatly advancing their chances of winning negotiations against these powerful governmental officials and CEOs. Speaking up about these issues only helps the workers earn the wages and benefits they rightly deserve, and we as everyday people, can help them by boosting their message and keeping their issues ingrained in our everyday conversations. Standing with unions means standing with your neighbor, with your best friend, with another human being. Unity is the strongest tool unions possess, and standing with these unions contributes to a more united front. Solidifying that unity can make a difference in the lives of these workers, and therefore we should all consider standing with them.