Last week the World Health Organization officially classified the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services and local County Health agencies keep reporting increases in the number of individuals testing positive for the disease. 

There’s a phrase I used to hear fairly often. “I vote for the person, not the party.” I usually heard it whenever someone needed to avoid a conversation moving too uncomfortably close to politics. I don’t hear that much anymore. Perhaps our politics have become so polarized the personal qualities of a candidate no longer seem to matter. Or maybe it’s because over time our local has taken a less active role engaging members on policy issues that impact our union and our working lives

An end of the year fundraising appeal from The Century Foundation* displays a spread of magazine covers featuring a wish list of future headlines the organization would one day like to see. Those headlines include “One-third of the workers in the United States are Union members” and “Wealth and Wage Gap Closed.”

Members of OPEIU Local 39 would probably like to see those same headlines too, someday. I mean, there’s a clear correlation between the decline in union membership and earning power for most Americans, and the dramatic increase in wage disparity that is having a devastating effect on people in local communities.