American labor is winning, and we are all the better for it. This year, our nation saw the importance and power of collective action thanks to the United Auto Workers (UAW) and their historic deal with Ford, Stellantis and General Motors.
This deal grants a 25% increase in wages and serves as a testament to the positive momentum pushing the American labor movement forward. Here on Chicago’s South Side, this contract will support 4,600 auto workers at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant and 1,000 workers at Ford’s Stamping Plant in Chicago Heights.
I was proud to join the UAW on the picket line because I believe when companies do well, workers should see that in their paychecks.
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This is not the first time the South Side has been at the very heart of our nation’s proud labor history.
The Pullman Strike of 1894 was the spark for a nationwide push for worker’s rights and led to the creation of Labor Day. The creation of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, one of the first major Black labor unions, demonstrated that worker’s rights and civil rights are inextricably linked.
In Congress, I have been a firm advocate for the historic preservation of the Pullman community, working with President Barack Obama to declare it a national monument in 2015.
I am proud to say this year we celebrated the official elevation and inclusion of Pullman in the community of national historic parks. It’s a testament to the triumph of unions, which have given our middle class a voice and created better working conditions for all.
Like the unions that cemented the communities’ legacy, the Pullman park has brought jobs, industry and resources to support Pullman’s strong community ties.
Unions give workers power through collective organization and have played a pivotal role in shaping the American workplace with rights such as the five-day work week, child labor laws and workplace protections for women and marginalized communities.
While preserving our shared history is critical, it is not enough to simply remember the importance of unions from our past. Workers today deserve the same protection, dignity and economic security that strengthens families and builds up our communities.
Congress must recognize its moral obligation to safeguard unions and the American middle class. Republicans should work with Democrats to invest in middle-class jobs in manufacturing, technology, health care and much more. Workers deserve representatives who are unequivocally committed to their well-being.
U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, 2nd District
Burke verdict a win
Former Ald. Ed Burke’s guilty verdicts are a win for all of the “nobody, nobody sent” people who don’t have any connections, sponsors or juice to make big salaries or get things connected people get from corrupt politicians.
Walter Brzeski, Dunning
No shift in Catholic church
The claim that the pope’s approval of blessings for same-sex couples is a huge shift is not really true. Anyone attending a Catholic Mass receives a blessing from the priest. There is no approval of the lifestyle implied.
To say that “Chicago Catholics praise Pope Francis’ approval of blessings” does not speak for many who do not. Recognizing the humanity of all people, including LGBTQ people and the unborn, has always been taught in the church, so there is no shift.
Donald Nauyokas, Brighton Park
Pope’s stance on blessing gay couples is ‘tiny’ step
The pope’s same-sex couples blessing sounds a tad like Plessy v. Ferguson.
Back in 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court enshrined second-class citizenship for Blacks by ruling it was cool for the South to practice racial segregation with separate racial facilities. The only requirement was those separate facilities had to be equal, particularly in the crucial institution of education.
The white South replied “Sure will” to the seven justices who green-lighted the suppression of full citizenship for Blacks. They then did just the opposite, spending a pittance on rundown Black schools while lavishing white schools with the finest. This went on for 58 years until Brown v. Board of Education began the decades-long dismantling of legal segregation.
The Plessy ruling came to mind when hearing of Pope Francis’ widely applauded break with Catholic teaching by authorizing priestly blessing of same-sex couples. But like Plessy, he inserted some onerous caveats.
Gay couples can now sigh with relief they will no longer be subject to “an exhaustive moral analysis” by priests who choose to comply with Pope Francis. But many will still get that analysis from priests worldwide horrified by Francis’ break with enshrined homophobia.
Francis cautioned priests not to confuse blessing gay couples with sanctioning gay marriage, not even civil unions. Blessings must not allow any gestures or clothing pertaining to marriage. During the blessing, the word “marriage” dare not speak its name.
Blessing couples without bestowing the full benefits of marriage and still considering them disordered and sinful sure is a strange way to practice inclusiveness.
Francis’ blessing decree will meet much resistance from conservative clergy tied to archaic religious beliefs. But it is a tiny step toward eventual first-class citizenship for gay Catholics. Alas, at the glacial pace at which the Catholic church modernizes, it’s possible none of the present-day gay couples will be around by the time married gay priests, and men and women, can perform their gay marriages.
Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn
