When Workers Stand Together, We All Win

Labor Day – cookouts, family time, and a time to celebrate the working people who built this country and won hard-fought gains for the rest of us.

Jerise, In 1886, workers around the country launched a general strike, with a simple demand: "Eight Hours for work. Eight hours for rest. Eight hours for what we will." In 1894, Pullman railroad workers organized a nationwide railroad strike in response to wage cuts. President Grover Cleveland used federal troops to break it. In 1902, 140,000 coal miners in Pennsylvania struck for higher pay and shorter hours. President Theodore Roosevelt intervened as a mediator rather than backing the mine owners, resulting in a victory for the union. In 1914, striking coal miners and their families set up a tent colony outside a Rockefeller-owned mine in Ludlow, Colorado, with very different results. The Colorado National Guard and private security forces set the tents on fire, killing 25 people. In 1919, Black sharecroppers in Elaine, Arkansas joined the Progressive Farmers and Household Union of America,  gathered for a meeting only to be attacked by armed men and, later, by soldiers. In 1921, the West Virginia Coal Wars saw armed confrontations between 10,000 miners and 3,000 strikebreakers and, eventually, the U.S. Army. In 1936, auto workers in Flint, Michigan occupied their factories, forcing General Motors to recognize the union. Most of these, and many more attempts to organize, were met with deadly violence. And yet, workers continued to organize. And they won. The eight-hour day. The weekend. The minimum wage. Child labor laws. Workplace safety rules. Social Security. Medicare. The right to bargain collectively. The 40-hour workweek. So many things that we now take for granted, every single one was won because working people stood together and demanded it. And every single one was opposed, often with violence, by the wealthy and elite of their time. Today’s war on workers still rages on from the shop floor to the Senate floor. According to a recent report by the Economic Policy Institute, U.S. employers spend roughly $1.7 billion a year on union-avoidance consultants and law firms to keep workers from organizing and bargaining for better pay and working conditions.1 SpaceX, Trader Joe's, and Starbucks corporations have all filed lawsuits asking the Supreme Court to declare the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, which protects the right to organize, unconstitutional.2 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the most powerful business lobby in Washington, spends tens of millions of dollars every year opposing every effort to increase the minimum wage, paid-family leave bill, and other pro-worker reform that comes before Congress.3 Recent reporting shows that the 20 largest donors in the midterm elections have already spent over $1.2 billion in federal races, overwhelmingly backing anti-union, anti-worker candidates.4 But workers are fighting back - and winning. Today, 7 in 10 Americans approve of unions, the highest public approval in six decades.5 16.5 million American workers were represented by a union in 2025 - the highest number in 16 years.6 Every gain working people have ever made in this country has been won by struggle. By people whose names we do not know, in places we have never heard of, fighting battles they did not always win. Despite a long history of corporate campaigns trying to undo those gains, workers in red states and blue states, from factories to fast food restaurants and across party lines, are organizing and winning. The collective effort will not be easy, and we are not going to win overnight. But if we continue to stand together, we can honor those who paved the way before us and once again show that the labor movement is the most powerful force for ordinary people in the history of this country. That is what – and who – we celebrate this weekend. In solidarity, David Driscoll, Co-Founder/Executive Director The Sanders Institute If you or someone you know is thinking about organizing, here are some resources that can help: The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC): a worker-to-worker organizing project that has trained more than 600 volunteer organizers and helped workers across the country file for union elections. Your Right to Form a Union: the National Labor Relations Board's official guide to the steps. Worker.gov: Form a Union: a federal-government resource that walks you through the process in plain language. WorkCenter.gov: Step-by-Step Guide: another federal resource with practical templates and timelines. If you want to show up to support workers action this weekend, the AFL-CIO's Workers' Labor Day lists actions and events in your area. 1 EPI: U.S. employers spend roughly $1.7 billion annually on union avoidance 2 The Guardian: Trader Joe’s and Starbucks are helping Elon Musk undermine the US government 3 Open Secrets: US Chamber of Commerce 4 New York Times: Meet the Megadonors Who Have Poured $1.2 Billion Into the Midterms 5: Gallup: Labor Union Approval Relatively Steady 6: EPI: Workers’ resolve drives increase in unionization in 2025 Paid for by the Sanders Institute 131 Church St., Burlington, VT 05401 The Sanders Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.   Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from The Sanders Institute, please click here.