Statement of Support for Maui’s Labor Unions
By Ben Wilson
Ratified by the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street-MAUI
11/30/2011
We of Occupy Wall Street-MAUI stand in solidarity with, and we support, the labor organizations
of our island. The Freedom of Association is a basic right of all people, enshrined in both the
United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations
1948). Without the right to freely form unions, workers must meet employers in the market at
a great disadvantage, and must exchange their livelihood for wages and working conditions that
employers see fit to provide. Economic laws dictate that this will always tend toward the
minimum possible to keep workers alive and working. Without unions, child exploitation, long
hours and poverty wages would be as common as they were before the rise of the labor
movement. One hundred years ago, it was common for young children to work twelve or more
hours a day under horrific, dangerous, and toxic conditions around dangerous machinery, with
no thought to safety on the part of the bosses. Lives were wasted in slaving away dying early
instead of going to school. These are still the facts of life in nations without strong labor
movements.
It was the action of workers, organizing into unions and fighting back, which largely put an end
to this extreme exploitation in the first world, not politicians, whom mostly sought to legislate
minor and toothless reforms. Organized labor has given us the eight hour day, child labor laws,
OSHA, and much, much more.
Over the last thirty years wages have stagnated or declined while productivity and corporate ‘
profits have sky rocketed. Employers groups have used their influence on government to
weaken or repeal labor laws, environmental regulations, and trade rules; allowing them to
relentlessly pursue profit without regard for the lives of the majority of the people. They have
subverted our Democratic Republic with a system of lobbying and campaign finance that amounts to
legalized bribery. lt is time for We the People to take our country back from the top one percent of
wealth holders! We of Occupy Wall Street Maui recognize that without workers not a single
product would be produced or a single share be traded. We appreciate and support the work of
unions, which benefits not only union members but the entire community. In locales with high
union density prevailing wages are higher and working conditions better for all workers. We
stand in solidarity with all workers and unions, and strongly support the right to freely organize
and form unions.
