OESPA - Orange Education Support Professionals Association

Poverty seemed an inevitable part of life; it was considered normal to struggle day to day, paycheck to paycheck… that was, until the employee started asking themselves why? First, the fact is that when unions are stronger the economy as a whole does better. Unions restore demand to an economy by raising wages for their members and putting more purchasing power to work, enabling more hiring. On th

e flip side, when labor is weak and capital unconstrained, educational institution hoard, hiring slows, and inequality deepens. Thus we have today both record highs in corporate profits and record lows in wages. Second, unions lift wages for non-union members too by creating a higher prevailing wage. Even if you aren’t a member your pay is influenced by the strength or weakness of organized labor. Their absence sets off a race to the bottom. We must now look to ourselves, our existing OCPS, and situations to change what is wrong from the bottom up. Workers must join together as they have so many times before. To organize your workplace – or to become an active member if you are already part of a union – is not something to fear, but something to strive for. It is an amazing thing to make the impossible not only possible, but a standard of living. Imagine a world where you could pay your bills and buy groceries in the same week, where everyone was insured, where pensions weren’t something of the past.

- See more at: http://oespa.fea.aft.org/news/oespa-standard-living .eVDGAU2o.dpuf