My name is Bob Chianelli and I am a proud 40 year LiUNA Local 1001 member.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about why we pay union dues.
I have to admit the response and sheer number of members who read it amazed and invigorated me.
Please don’t take it the wrong way, I was very happy that the message was getting out there and even happier that what I said might have made a difference.
Now we are at the day of reckoning with the Janus decision, and I once again cannot sit idly by and be a spectator when our lives and our family’s way of life are at stake.
You may have been hearing recently that we have to fight for what we have and to keep on fighting. But who are we fighting? The Supreme Court? The President? The Government?
The only reason any of us would need to fight the Janus decision is if we let everyone around us give up, if we let our fellow Union brothers and sisters walk away.
NO ONE can take away what we have, what this Union has worked so hard to get for each and every one of us unless WE, that’s right WE, voluntarily give it up.
If you want to keep your wages, your health care, your pension, your seniority, you job security, then it’s simple, don’t you or your fellow Union brothers and sisters give it up.
There is NO ONE to fight but you.
If we stand together, keep doing exactly what we were doing yesterday, last month, last decade, then we win. If WE let our ill advised and ill informed Union brothers and sisters walk away from our great Union then and only then, do we lose.
It’s up to each and every one of us, now more than ever, to stand together and demand that each and every member of our Union stay strong and stand united.
Union has never been about standing alone, and like families we have our differences but in the end, we must realize that together we can and we will win.
There is NO fight unless we give up, unless we let our brothers and sisters get swept up in the anti-union propaganda and leave behind what they have come to expect and enjoy as being part of our family, our Union family.
I have said this before but this chapter in our Union’s history is not for the faint of heart, none of us, and I mean none of us can or will be able to get through this alone.
Don’t let one of our Union brothers or sisters walk away just because they are angry or hurt or ill informed, it’s up to you, it’s up to us, to keep our family together.
Letting our Union brothers and sisters walk away will force us into a fight for everything we have worked decades and decades for.
It’s time to step up and stop the race to the bottom before it begins, and quite frankly it’s easy and it’s up to you.
If our membership sticks together, stays intact as it is today, the only changes that will be guaranteed are continued pay increases, pensions, health care, seniority, representation and the stability and job security this Union has brought to our members since it was founded in 1937.
Please stand with me, stand united, and stand proud. Feel the Power LiUNA Local 1001.
