Texas State Employees Union March
Contributed by: Keith Daniels, UHCL ILL Associate
Just several days after International Workers Day or May Day as it’s called and it seems that the labor unions are running full speed ahead. It was also a few weeks ago the Texas State Employees Union marched at the state capital for the April 12 Lobby Day. I was fortunate enough to actually take part and witness the TSEU march and felt compelled to share my experience.
It was truly interesting especially during this current time of change and turmoil to see so many state employees marching for various causes that the TSEU is promoting. There were people protesting the state hiring freeze, the possibility of converting of TRS and ERS to 401K, and marching for much needed pay raises for all state employees. There were many union members all convening on this day in solidarity for Family and Protective Services, universities, Health and Human Services, Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Parole division, state retirees, and various other state agencies.
In order for all the TSEU members to get to Austin buses were hired from all over Texas leaving before dawn just to arrive in time for the march. Some of the state employees even brought their kids to witness and take part in the democratic process of peaceful protests. Not only did the union members get to fill the streets of Austin, but they also got to voice their opinions to state representatives in the hopes of working together to get through this time of transition.
Another interesting sight was when the union members were marching through Austin. People were waving, giving union members high fives, and honking in support of the march as we made our way towards the capital building in time to hear speeches from some of the brightest minds in the labor movement. When we arrived at the capitol building we heard speeches from Judy Lugo (current TSEU president), Claude Cummings (Vice president of Communication Workers of America), Brooks Sunkett (Communication Workers of America), and Rick Levy (AFL-CIO secretary- treasurer). It was inspiring to hear the union leaders’ stories and speeches that only a few privileged people ever get to witness.
After the speeches we broke up into groups and continued our mission to voice our support for all state employees and their families by taking our issues to the state representatives’ offices. The ability of a person to go and voice their opinions in a respectful way to their state representative is paramount to a functional democracy. In a functional democracy we need many voices in order to get a consensus instead of just one person making all of the decisions for the majority.
I hope that in the future people who work in “right to work” states can see and realize the benefits of representation of labor unions in relation to our work places and communities. This country was founded on strong labor unions and it is disconcerting in this day and age we have to keep reminding people of the advances afforded to workers by labor unions. Be aware that unions consist of a multitude of people behind the scenes doing their best to make sure that their co-workers achieve a better quality of life without them even knowing it. Union members do this because it needs to be done, like taking out the trash. If nobody ever takes out the trash it will build up and create problems in the future. If we ignore the fact that co-workers are struggling to pay bills, having their cars repossessed, marriages ruined, and houses being foreclosed the problems will keep piling up and destroy families along with communities as business struggle to bring in income.
Instead of watching problems unfold in front of us we need to work together to sort out a positive and sustainable future where we the people are properly represented both on the job site and off.
Also published on Medium.
