Union.
When you hear or see the word these days, some young people tend to think of greedy workers who want to hold companies hostage, demanding lucrative contracts. Imagine that. Do you wonder where the train of thought comes from?
In this rather long read, I hope to enlighten as well as share.
I work for a unionized steel mill in Georgetown, South Carolina.
After college, I got fed up with hearing from executive news directors who were only willing to offer a freshly schooled journalist (on average) $16,000 a year. So, after five interviews and a stint as a car salesman, I was offered a job at the same place that allowed me to work summers to pay for college.
I was a 20-something then. The first two years busted my ass. Going from waking up to sit in a classroom to getting up even earlier and getting face-to-face experiences with hot steel wire rod being molded into coils was a rude awakening for me.
At times, I wondered what the hell I was doing in this retched mill, listening to the high-pitch sounds of mill stands and loop layers.
Then I realized something... this was heritage. This was a privilege. This was an honor.
My father (James E. Sanderson, Jr.), before me, worked at the exact same mill as an electrician and became the USW 7898 union president in the late 80's. Since then, he's never left the position. Never been voted out.
Eleven years. I have been in the steel mill for eleven years. I support my family on the hard-earned wages I bring home. I count my lucky stars to have the great benefits I have, like employee healthcare where I contribute nothing monetarily to have it.
In those eleven years, I have seen the outside of the gates twice. Both times were extremely rough on me and my family. Not a day went by where I wasn't praying for the mill and the stars to align to allow for production to resume.
The union had our backs both times. Regardless of what people here locally say, the union did.
We started the mill back up, known as ArcelorMittal - Georgetown, after a almost two-year idling. Before the shutdown, the union president - my father - suggested we take the pay cut and keep working. The majority chose otherwise. We ended up going back to work with the pay cut.
However, the union fought tooth and nail to prove that once open the company would make money and have workers energized to produce.
Today, with union and corporate partnership, the mill runs.
Union.
The Republicans do a fine job telling people to fear such honorable and historical groups. Rather than work for a common purpose, they demean and demoralize unions. I suppose "thugs" is far better solutions to offer rather than giving up the huge corporate donations and buyoffs.
Republicans began framing the anti-union long before Ronald Reagan took on the air traffic controllers, however, he made it a foundation.
To this day, especially in the state of South Carolina, Republicans fear unions. They fear them a lot. Facts don't even comfort them. South Carolina boasts a single-digit union member percentage.
Republicans have even convinced some of my fellow workers to vote against themselves. It's a shame to know that. To see them work their asses off to support their families and then vote for a person who couldn't care less whether or not that family had Medicaid or unemployment benefits if they lost their jobs.
Why are we, the real workers, letting suit-and-tie Republicans tell us what unions are? Why are we letting the likes of Nikki Haley and Tim Scott - who have yet to step into or around our steel mill - craft messages of lies and deceit just so they can get in favor with the corporations that donate to them?
Union.
The power of a group to fight, support and achieve one or many causes, benefiting the whole and leaving no one behind in an effort to better lives and increase safety standards. The group may not agree on everything, but the group works the best it can for the best results possible.
That's how I see unions. I should know. I work with one.