What have unions done for us lately? Other than give us Labor Day, and a three-day weekend to start football season.

The answers may surprise you.

Unions have long been part of our nation’s history, fighting for better pay, safer working conditions, health care and retirement benefits, education and civic participation. Unions have brought diverse voices together, and their struggles have elevated the working conditions, the standard of living and the recognition of not just their members, but of all who labor.

Unions played a major role in ending the sweatshops and child labor so common at the beginning of the 20th century. The International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, or ILGWU, was one of the first unions to have a primarily female membership. And in the aftermath of the tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, in which more than 100 mostly young immigrant women were killed, the ILGWU was at the forefront of reforming working conditions and pushing for comprehensive safety and workers’ compensation laws. Continue reading “Brazile: What have unions done for us?”