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.