This Labor Day, many Missouri workers are joining a national protest known as "Workers Over Billionaires."
They are holding rallies to push back against what organizers call a "billionaire takeover" of democracy at the expense of working families. Labor leaders said the holiday is more than just a chance to fire up the grill, especially in Missouri, where the average worker earns about $54,000 a year, while the state’s top 1% of earners make nearly 16 times that.
Patrick Kellett, president of the Greater St. Louis Labor Council, said the answer is for workers to get aggressive in organizing.
"When you strip away collective bargaining from Veterans Affairs workers and public employees, it negatively affects your numbers," Kellett pointed out. "We need to keep educating, keep organizing, and grow the protection for the workers, which is under the union umbrella."
A "May Day Strong" campaign launched May 1 and now spans all 50 states. Organizers said the Missouri rallies spotlight fair wages and health care, noting more than 230,000 Missourians remain uninsured.
Union membership in the Show Me State has fallen to about 8% of workers, down from double digits just a few decades ago.
Mackenzie Baris, deputy director of programs for workers' rights organization Jobs with Justice, stressed that unions are the most important tool workers have to fight for equality on the job.
"Unions are fundamentally a democratic vehicle that allow workers to come together and say as a group, we vote for what we want to do," Baris emphasized. "We name the conditions that we want – what we say that we need as workers, and we have to be listened to."
Union support is rising nationwide, especially among younger Americans, with nearly 80% of those under 35 backing unions, compared with 70% of people ages 35-54, and just over 65% of those 55 and older.
The Missouri Public News Service, a partner with KRCU Public Radio, originally published this story.
