(Adam Studzinski/WJBC)
By Camille Taylor
How are unions, black history, and Governor Rauner related? Both my husband and I had grandfathers who worked for the railroad. My husband’s grandfather was a Pullman Porter from 1942-1968.
All Pullman porters were black, referred to as “George,”(after founder, George Pullman), and worked as personal attendants for passengersin the Pullman sleeper cars. My grandfather was a Sky Cap, carrying passengers’ luggage for the Illinois Central Railroad. Asa Phillip Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in 1925.
It took 12 years, an amended Railroad Labor Act from President Franklin Roosevelt, and gaining membership in the American Federation of Labor, before the Pullman Company would negotiate the first contract with the porters. During those 12 years, thecompany used its power and money to perpetrate fear by firings and violence to deter organizing efforts. Their union fought to get a fair wage, benefits, and better working conditions. As a result of the contract, wages for porters increased, their work week was shortened, and they got overtime pay.
The lives of our parents improved due to increased wages for our grandfathers. Education and the value of hard work was stressed and this was passed on to me and my husband. A. Phillip Randolph was the mastermind behind the March on Washington Movement in the 1940’s that sought to end discrimination in the military, war industries, government agencies, and in labor unions.
He also organized the famous March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 where Dr. Martin Luther King made his “I Have a Dream Speech.” Governor Rauner has announced new measures attacking unions almost weekly since taking office. Ironically, Rauner defends the higher salaries of his new staff by saying you have to pay competitive salaries if you want the “best” while at the same time saying State workers make too much money. He scorns the insider politics of hiring “cronies and friends”, but hires the sister of one of his top campaign staffers. He flip flopped on his support of an increase in the minimum wage, and during the State of the State address announced he would increase it to $10 over the next seven years.
Unions help move people from poverty into middle class, the same class that spends money on buying homes, cars, clothes, and dishwashers. When Rauner attempts to erode unions, he’s declaring war on laborers, public safety workers, teachers, etc. Union members aren’t billionaires, but where would our communities be without them?
Camille Taylor, a retired Counselor from Normal Community High School, has been an educator in this community for 34 years. She is active in the community currently serving as a church elder and board member for both the Baby Fold and the YWCA. She has been recognized by the YWCA as a Woman of Distinction for education, a Martin Luther King Jr. award winner for the City of Bloomington, a Distinguished Alumni by the College of Education at Illinois State University, a Human and Civil Rights award winner for the Illinois Education Association, and the H.Councill Trenholm Award recipient from the National Education Association for her work with diversity. She lives in Bloomington with her husband, Arthur, and is a mother and grandmother.
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