Any of you who know me are aware that I have mixed sentiments about Unions. If you know the history of Labor in the U.S. you understand that without them our places of employment would not offer the benefits they do. As the bumper stickers says: “Enjoying the Weekend? Thank a Union.” They are necessary. But they have also failed in numerous ways developing their own issues with corruption and hierarchies that can prevent people and the organizations they work in from achieving their potential. The bullying that occurs at some sites is of epic proportions. Unions have to become more equitable and inclusive. The “rising tide must lift all boats” not just selected ones. This cannot occur unless employees become united. History has shown us this is not an easy task. At present close to 11% of employees in the U.S. are Union members. An interesting development is the unionization of a Starbucks. This occurred due to the employee shortages. As employees you now have leverage. Companies are competing for you. Now is the time to use that leverage to obtain a real living wage not the one the state calculates which is abysmally low and inaccurate. For those of us who are “doing well” we can’t just take the money and run. We have to be genuinely concerned about the fate of each other no matter what our Union status is. From FDR’s Second Bill of Rights: “We had learned that economic security was essential to political freedom and to peace. “Necessitous men are not free men,” Roosevelt taught. “People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” True individual freedom cannot exist, Roosevelt argued, without “economic security and independence.”