Nearly 100 years ago, my great-grandfather entered the union work force as an electrician, initiating a family trend of proud union membership that currently resides with my father, a City of Seattle firefighter. I am asked to define organized union labor and comment on the ways it has enriched my life, and as I have explored these questions, it becomes ever more apparent that the answers lie in the daily things I take for granted- a roof overhead, food on the table and the opportunities afforded by a fair and protected income.

My great-grandfather began his career in 1912, just three years before the City of Seattle would see a four-hundred percent increase in union membership over the next few years. Perhaps due to the uncertainty of steady income or influenced by his staunch support of the labor movement and his admiration for influential pro-labor figures, Frank Wagner joined the organized labor force and became a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. To his family, and my young grandmother, this brought a measure of stability due to the opportunity for employment where none may have existed before. Union membership meant wages unaffected by corporate greed, political maneuvering or managerial conflict. It meant having the support of a brotherhood, thousands strong, ready and willing to join in a fight against inequity on behalf of any of their members. This support extended to the other unions as well as evidenced by the Seattle General Strike of 1919. During the Great Depression of 1929, as men across the nation were unable to find work, my great-grandfather found employment with the Love Electrical Company in Tacoma, Washington- something that would not have been possible without union backing and which paved the way for my grandmother’s education and subsequent employment with the Tacoma Central Labor Council.

My paternal grandfather too, was a staunch union supporter, always sympathetic to the working class. As a teacher and former clergyman, he railed against the corrupt Chicago government and its anti-union stand, and he was an avid champion of the labor movement. In 1937 he found himself, coincidently, in the midst of Chicago’s Republic Steel strike, armed with a camera and an activists concern. His film and testimony were ultimately heard in Washington D.C. before a senate committee investigating the strike where 10 steel workers were shot and killed by police in “The Memorial Day Massacre.”

Stories like these have been shared among my family for as long as I can remember. Preparing for this essay I discover that almost without exception, my entire family, have been union members- nurses, teachers, a pilot, carpenter and logger, a firefighter. So what is organized labor and what does it mean to me? I realize it is everything the names suggest: a fraternity, a brotherhood, a loyal legion. It is the power of ordinary, everyday men coordinating their efforts in the pursuit of equitable, honest and fair working conditions and compensation. It is perhaps the ultimate team, and a team that matters more than almost any other. The benefit to the community at large is tangible. A content and productive work force supports the economy and promotes education and personal advancement. Ultimately, every member of a union family is enriched, not only by the obvious material rewards, but by the subtler intangible benefits provided by union membership like stability, trust and confidence, and the feeling that one does not enter the battle alone.

As I listen to my father speak with pride about his job and enjoy the wealth of opportunities union support has afforded my family, I am reminded of my heritage, steeped in organized labor, that began with my great-grandfather many years ago. My future, though undefined, will be ever mindful of the ranks of laborers who have set a foundation of proud tradition before me, and it will be with little surprise should I someday sign my name to a union card of my own.