This is Democracy – Episode 55: Unions and Democracy

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This

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is Democracy,

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a podcast that explores the interracial intergenerational and intersection of unheard voices living in the world’s most

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influential democracy.

Jeremi Suri 0:17
Welcome to our new episode of This is Democracy. Today we’re going to talk about unions and we’ve just celebrated Labor Day, which is a very important moment in our history and in our society. And we live in a time when unions are present but not often understood or discussed enough and their role in our society. The role of unions have played will play and continue to play in the growth of our democracy is going to be our discussion today. We have with us some fantastic experts to talk about these issues. We have Yvonne Flores, who’s the president of the American Federation of State county in municipal employees. She’s the president of local 1624, which is for the city of Austin.

Travis County. Welcome, move on

Yvonne Flores 1:01
thank you so much for letting me be here with you today. I’m very excited, very happy to talk about union.

Jeremi Suri 1:07
Well, we’re delighted that you’re here. Thank you. And we also have my colleague and friend, Professor Jackie Jones. She’s a chair, the Chair of the Department of History here at University of Texas. She’s also the president elect of the American Historical Association. And among the many great books that Jackie has written. She’s written quite a lot about unions in American history. Jackie, welcome.

Jackie Jones 1:30
Thanks, Jeremy. It’s great to be here.

Jeremi Suri 1:32
wonderful to have you on. We have of course, our scene setting poem from Mr. Zachary Siri, Zachary. What’s the title of your poem?

Zachary Suri 1:39
images of Madison 2011. Let’s hear it. From the very beginning. I’ve been touched by unions five years old when I started kindergarten in Madison, Wisconsin, birthplace, Bethlehem for progressivism, and one of my earliest memories of walking the Capitol grounds holding my father’s hand watching my teachers strike strike with

Big handwritten signs against the cold locked doors. And from the very beginning, I have seen the look the faces of so many. And I have understood what it means to be united 100,000 people marching up State Street towards the center of my state, and staring from above so many years later, I can see myself my very facial expressions unfold, molded in wonderment at the familiar face of my teacher folded in a tight windbreaker against the winter wind. And it takes the kind of courage to stand in Wisconsin winter and scream about truth against someone who will not listen. And it takes a particular kind of certainty to close schools for days on end to change the course of 1000 Kids education, and it shows a special type of power. And I can still see that image today pizza boxes being passed deep into the gathering crowds, O city shut down for the sake of education, the cause of public sector unions publicly displayed in the union between the gathered people so many different sectors of industrial Wisconsin, beneath barren trees, and there are some early odds pop song

whose name I can’t remember, whose lyrics in my mind will always be the chanting interpretation of the unions in the Capitol ground.

Jeremi Suri 3:08
brings back a lot of memories.

Jackie Jones 3:09
Wow, that was great.

Great. So

Jeremi Suri 3:12
what is your poem about Zachary?

Zachary Suri 3:14
My tone was really about this personal experience I had when I was five years old, in Madison, Wisconsin. But more so it’s about how humans touch all of us in like our daily lives. Whether we see them as good or bad. It’s something that like very much influences our society and us as people.

Jeremi Suri 3:32
Excellent. And that’s a perfect place for us to turn to you, Yvonne. Many people might not have even heard of asked me, which is, I believe the largest union in the United States. Now, what what does your union do?

Yvonne Flores 3:46
My union here locally in Austin, we actually represent between 32 and 3300. union members, and that includes specifically city of Austin, and Travis County employees, I’ve been the president for about a year, what’s really what we do is we basically offer it’s basically a democracy where we come together, and we have elections. And the elections are very important on who serves on the board. We also have elections on who we’re going to be supporting and endorsing for local government elections, which is really important. And I think that’s one of the things that I’m very passionate about, because union has to have the political muscle, that sitting in the local offices that are going to be standing on our issues. And so whether it’s wages or increase in health insurance, or safety at the workplace, I mean, all of that does. All of that matters. Because if you have a political person with you, that’s going to be standing on those issues. It gives us a voice. But if we have somebody who’s not going to be standing with those issues, it we’re pretty much powerless. So I’m very proud to say that out of the five county commissioner positions, we have at least three that are asked me 1624 union members, and the City Council. I know for a fact that we have at least nine out of the 10 that are union members, but it’s basically all of us coming together and having an elective voice that is very important to our positions in our job.

Jeremi Suri 5:21
And you you made the connection to democracy, which is obviously crucial to us, all, as citizens, and particularly this podcast, how do you make sure that your union is representative of the voices of workers? Because one of the stereotypes is that unions sometimes in the past have not been as representative,

Yvonne Flores 5:38
right? Well, I think it’s very important because of the fact that the people that serve on our board, our city of Austin employees and Travis County employees, that’s first and foremost, I mean, in order to serve on the board, in order to be an active union member with six and 24, you have to be a year in good standing union member paying your dues. So it’s not like the general public. I mean, these are employees are actually working. I’m a rank and file officer, I mean, rank and file employee myself, I’ve been with Travis County for 19 years. I’m an administrative associate with Travis County Health and Human Services. And so that is important to me. Sure. You know, it’s something that’s just not like, of the mindset that, you know, in the political realm, it’s just so depressing, because you see all the money that has to be involved and how much has to be donated, and the election campaign and all that. And this is what’s really awesome is the fact that these are just working class people that are coming to the table together about issues that are important to them, and then we take it to the next level on how we can initiate and implement those.

Jeremi Suri 6:41
That’s a great description. Jackie, as a historian who’s studied unions, how do we understand their their place in American history?

Jackie Jones 6:50
Well, first of all, I think we should go back and look at the stereotype of the Union worker. Many people when they think of unions think of a factory worker, man, a white man. And that actually was true for many years. It’s over the last couple of decades, obviously, that the union movement in this country has been transformed. And now, it is a more diverse movement. Women, like Yvonne play a really important role as leaders, we can look at SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, the locus of union activity, to some extent is Nevada with service workers hotel, the hospitality industry. So the the face of the union movement has changed. Zachary’s poem was about teachers, and teachers throughout the country over the last few years have shown what power there is in collective action and work stoppages and political clout and bringing their issues to the public. So it is a more diverse movement. I mean, in a way, it’s a sad story about unions for much of American history, there were very discriminatory, right? They kept black people out, they kept white women out. And they tended to be fraternities in a certain way. So this, this is all very hopeful. On the other hand, the height of the you in movement terms of numbers, was around 1955, when 35% or so of all American workers belong to a union. Today, it’s about 10.5%. And I think public employees are more unionized than the employees of private companies today, the union movement is under assault, it really is under assault by the powers that be and its faces, it faces specific challenges. We’re in a gig economy where so many people are solo operator, and they don’t have the protection that a union would have for them. And there is I think a lot of there are a lot of misapprehensions about unions misunderstandings about what they do, but they’ve been a critical part of American history. And just one other thing between about 1945. In 1980, we had what was called the Great compression. And that was a time in American history when inequality was not as great as it had been. And it was not as great as it is today. And unions are a major factor in the great compression. It’s when we find President Reagan in the 1980s going after the air traffic controllers, that this public animosity almost toward unions really kicks in. So we should realize that you use our great anti poverty strategy, that they advocate for a higher minimum, minimum hourly wage, and really workers have have a very difficult time having their voices known and making their demands now without the backing of a union.

Jeremi Suri 10:10
Absolutely. And and it’s important to reaffirm Jackie, that the the data speaks for itself that the rise in union membership in United States after world war two correlates with decreasing inequality, it also correlates with American economic growth. So we have this period that you refer to in the 1940s and 50s. When the economy is growing, the average wage goes up. And the average worker or more workers work for unions and inequality decreases, right American society. Jackie, why why do so few people know that? Why Why do these facts that that you and I take for granted? Why do they not get talked about more?

Jackie Jones 10:47
I think there is a general idea that we’re all individuals, and that there’s something inherently on American about people joining together and engaging in collective action. That prejudice against unions is long standing, if we go back to the late 19th century, the effort to organize unions was a bloody one, a lot of resistance from corporate leaders who hired private security forces and could rely on local police forces. This notion that somehow all workers prosper or don’t because of their own individual effort, I think makes a lot of people suspicious of unions, which is so ironic because corporate power in this country has always been collective. Right, right. We’ve always seen corporations banding together, chambers of commerce exercising, yeah, bringing these companies together. And the idea that you should have an individual worker, standing alone against these vast forces, is is really quite striking, and not at all, conducive to equality or democracy.

Jeremi Suri 12:07
And Jackie is historian, what do you say in response to those who argue, well, unions reduce efficiency unions reduce innovation?

Jackie Jones 12:19
I just don’t see the logic of that argument. What happens obviously, is that employers feel they have an incentive to mechanized to automate, to use robotics, to increase efficiency and productivity and in the process to eliminate the jobs of working class people. So there is a tension, obviously, within capitalism, which seeks efficiency, which seeks stability and predictability on the one hand, and the well being of working class people in this country. So if we, but if we want to look at and say, Well, what, what, advantages workers, increases in wages, increases in benefits, better working conditions, safer working conditions, those things are only secured through union activity? Seems to me at least historically. Right.

Jeremi Suri 13:16
Right. Yvonne, do you find especially in a state like Texas, that you face a lot of resistance as a union organizer, and leader?

Yvonne Flores 13:24
I think locally, I don’t I love the fact fat with the central label council here in Austin asked me is actually the biggest one that represents that Council. And we just had our fish fry this past Friday, August 30. I heard about it. Yeah, August 31. And it was great. And we had an awesome turnout. But again, that’s what union means to me. It you walk out of there so rejuvenated, and with such high morale, because you see these union brothers and sisters coming together with public officials that know that they need us when it comes to election time. And everyone was given an opportunity to speak. And again, it’s like a morale booster. Because that is what matters is the fact that people are listening to us as workers and we have elections coming up. I think that’s why it’s really important that on my stance is that I try and get people involved with the voting initiative. You know, Texas, one of the states that has the lowest voter turnout, and that is sad. And so we try and connect the the union strength that we have, and connecting it with the initiative and getting people out to vote, because we can’t wait till after the damage is done, that we get somebody representing an office that’s going to be totally against our issues. But I think, locally, you know, the central Texas local government level, with unions, I feel very positive about it. I mean, I’ve been part of the Union since 2006. I served on the board as a Travis County representative, and then recording Secretary now president and I’ve seen the increase. And I think it’s very important to start right now that the younger generation are totally making an impact with labor unions, which gives me so much hope. Yes, absolutely. And I think that’s probably connected to the fact that Bernie Sanders in 2016 was, I mean, he’s been a social activist since the get go. So whatever anybody wants to say about him, the bottom line is, is like if you study unions, like, you know, the sanitation workers in 1968, with martin luther king asked me was there and you talk, you look and read and study about Cesar Chavez, you know, he had a great power in organizing the farm workers, which was something that was unheard of at the time. And so the history of unions where it’s just bringing the working class to the table, and having a voice, and it’s minorities, it’s females, it’s working class people. That’s what’s so important. And that’s what we need to focus on. Right.

Jeremi Suri 15:42
Right. Jackie, you referred, obviously, correctly to some of the discrimination within unions. But of course, unions have been central to the civil rights movement and too many other progressive movements, right? Yes.

Jackie Jones 15:53
Well, we can look at a Philip Randolph’s brotherhood of sleeping Car Porters. And in the 1920s, barred from all white unions and really concentrated in this job of sleeping Car Porters. These men created a really powerful and influential union, not only in the workplace, but also politically as well. And, of course, a Phillip Randolph was the person who led the marginal Washington movement in 1941, to make sure that defense industries were open and non discriminatory. So there’s a really close relationship between union activity on the part of African Americans and politics in this country. He

Jeremi Suri 16:41
was also one of the organizers of the 63 march on Washington, where Martin Luther King gives his famous I Have a Dream speech. Do you find Yvonne that, that young people really are getting more involved with that,

Yvonne Flores 16:54
I mean,

again, when we went to the Alec rally that happened here in Austin, a couple weeks, weeks ago, it was amazing to see all the young faces, and the thing that I find so like, invigorating, is that they’re connecting world, and national issues with unions, you know, having serious issues about taking care of our planet. And so the whole wind and solar energy, I mean, they’re connecting that, and that is connected to jobs. And so you have the new deal, right? The green New Deal, which is like really imperative, because you know, a lot of people are thinking, the negative thinking, Oh, that’s going to be a job killer, when in actuality, if you really look at some of the policies that they’re trying to push forward to, it’s actually going to be a job creator. So that, to me, is important. Because, for me, as a union president, it’s about taking care of our workers, you know, you have to make sure it’s going to be them being able to provide for their families. And so and you mean, all workers

Jeremi Suri 17:53
all work, even those who aren’t members of all workers? Absolutely.

Yvonne Flores 17:56
Because at the end of the day, you know, people can say that it’s about different things. But as a single mom, with two kids, you know, my job is important to having insurance for my children is very important. And so these are things that impact me. So outside of that realm, especially when you go to the capital, and you start hearing other things. And I’m like, that is not even applied to me and my family. And what’s connected to me and my family are union issues, which is jobs, which is benefits, and which is wages. I mean, those are the going to be the top three for me. And, you know, everybody should be able to, you know, work to live not live to work. Right?

Jeremi Suri 18:36
Right. Why is it that so many working class people don’t see this, I mean, there, there seem to be a lot of working class voters who vote for people who are anti union,

Jackie Jones 18:47
I think it’s very difficult in some workplaces to actually form a union and join one. I mean, there are a lot of employers who go out of their way to say to workers, you know, if you join a union, your benefits are going to disappear, your we’re going to take our production offshore, all sorts of awful things will happen, you’ll you’re not loyal to the country, we’re a company, we’re a family here, you, this is a really bad idea. I mean, these campaigns against unions within individual workplaces are quite powerful. And that’s, that’s one thing. And I think people think, oh, gee, if somehow I lose this job, there are a lot of people who are ready to take my job. And it’s we live in a culture that really does not promote the idea that you use are a great thing. I mean, look at all the states the past, Right to Work laws in Texas, the idea that, you know, you can get the benefits from a union, but you don’t have to pay the dues, for example. And that helps to erode the influence in the power of the unions, as you were saying, Yvonne, you know, one of the, one of the key points about unions is their political clout the ability to influence elections to say, workers want a voice in this particular election, that takes money, right. And if you don’t have the dues, you don’t have the money to make that. That statement. So, you know, I think for workers today, you know, those who are just getting by, you know, those who work in, say, the fast food industry, those who are in the gig economy, it’s, it’s hard, they’re just making ends meet. And, and I think they get a lot of pushback about this idea of joining together in a group in a union show.

Yvonne Flores 20:42
And I think the term itself right to work is deceitful as it can get, you know, like, anybody off the street when they hear right to work. And it’s like, that’s my right to work. Right? And Little do they know that it’s the complete opposite. It’s, it’s taken away your voice, and it’s taking away your work workers rights on things that should be an issue. And if you work in an environment where it’s the management, saying, you know, you keep your mouth shut, and just do your job, or you can get fired, at will, so to speak. I mean, it’s very, there is a group of people out there who are totally anti union. And I think it’s important, again, why we should have union history in our schools. And that’s why it’s important that the initiative that I just read, you know, ACLU has a high school coordinator position open, because they’re actually trying to get the high school people, you know, mobilized and energized, because it’s a very important in a very big deal to be able to do your civic duty and voting.

Jeremi Suri 21:41
Right. And and I think what’s clear in our history is, there have always been these conflicts, so reunions and unions like other institutions, they rise and fall and rise again. And it’s important for people to understand that history and understand perhaps the unnecessary tension between the business owners and union workers as such, there is there is perhaps a bad they’re that

Yvonne Flores 22:00
well, and people really need to see the facts. And that if you go back and you look at perhaps maybe the last 20 or 30 years, look at how SEO pay as skyrocketed, and look how stagnant the working pay is just like it’s just the same. And that right there. I mean, nobody should have to have a debate about anything, right? You’re looking at your paycheck, when you see numbers like that, just

Jeremi Suri 22:22
just to put a number on it in the last I think 30 years co pay is now reached, on average, 30 times that of a worker and worker pay is actually stagnated,

Yvonne Flores 22:31
adjusted for inflation. Also, what does it say that, you know, there is a rise in public, you know, and a public voice that they do support unions, because now recently in the news, you hear all the CEOs from I don’t know if you heard about that, but now they’re saying the shareholders not the priority. You know, they’re like, concerned about the workers and want to take care. I mean, there’s a reason why they’re saying and doing that. Now, you know, I think there really is an increase and the note ability of us. And that’s because we have people that are just really upset. They’re tired of having to do more than one job, right. I mean, I know people in my family and people in my neighborhood who have to do at least two jobs just to make ends meet. And that says something about our workforce.

Jackie Jones 23:18
And you know, Jeremy, we talk about democracy. Well, most workplaces are not democracies, right? I mean, it is ironic in this country, where we like to think that we can help shape our own environment that workplaces are often tyrannical places, you’re told where to be, at what time, how long to do this, in some cases, whether you can take a bathroom break, or not how much time you have for lunch. These are very difficult work sites, people spend a great deal of their working hours in these workplaces. And yet they have very little say over their own lives. And, you know, what is a good way to handle this job? What is a bad way? You know, most employers say, do it or will find someone else to do it. So I just think the workplace is, is kind of ironic place. If we talk about

democracy.

Jeremi Suri 24:20
Sure. And in a sense, attacks on unions are attacks on one of the the hinges for some kind of democracy in the world. Exactly.

Yvonne Flores 24:27
Because when it comes to unions, in our general membership meetings, and our candidate endorsement screenings, and even at our executive boards, I mean, no decision is made unless it’s done in a democratic process process where everyone raises their hands and say, it says either yay or nay, that’s democracy. It’s not one person calling the shots. It’s a group effort. It’s a team effort. You did that the

Jeremi Suri 24:53
electoral college put you in power.

Zachary Suri 24:57
And also, I think, I think I heard something on NPR the and that is that unions actually benefit people who are who are not even involving themselves in the democratic process of unions, because like unions, even though they represent about 10% of the workforce, still set the wages and the standards for everyone else in the workforce. And that’s something that that continues to influence everyone.

Jeremi Suri 25:21
So exactly, our young people like you interested in unions? Is this something you talk about at school? Do you learn about it at school?

Zachary Suri 25:28
I actually not to sound morbid, or anything. But I do think that there is a real, real lack of understanding of what unions do, I think, even young people who are were Bernie Sanders supporters are see themselves as very, very progressive, don’t really understand unions and see them as very archaic institutions. And I think that that’s like a real problem of our education system. Because Because when history is taught, it’s not necessarily taught. It’s not really the story of progressivism, and the birth of unions. And also, unions today aren’t really taught as much as it used to be. And I think, also, part of that is that less people are involved in you. And so they’re not passing on those values to

Jeremi Suri 26:07
the image, right. So for people who want to go into the gig economy, as Jackie said, right, unions don’t don’t look like conducive institutions. And no

Zachary Suri 26:15
one’s no one sees them anymore. As as, as I feel like they used to as, as idealistic institutions, they’re seeing more as sort of pragmatic ones that that often don’t work and are over bureaucratic.

Jeremi Suri 26:28
So Yvonne, how are you going to change that? How are you going to continue to attract young people by making your union appear more, more exciting more? Well, I can

Yvonne Flores 26:36
honestly say that like, since I’ve been part of asked me, and our general membership meetings and a lot of the events that we had, I’ve never seen, you know, more younger faith faces today than I have in the last 810 years. And I think that’s important. I think it’s important, like when you have somebody who’s in a leadership position, to send that elevator back down. And when somebody’s up with you, you have to have somebody that’s going to be able to carry that torch. And I think that’s one of the reasons why a lot of people are probably disgruntled with, with the politics going on. Because, you know, I keep hearing like changing of the guard, it’s, you know, you have the, especially from the democratic side of it, the Democratic Party side of it, you have like the progressive, but then you also have what people call the establishment. And I think it’s important that, you know, solidarity is everyone coming together? Yes. And so that’s what I try and make very important with our union is like, you know, we have all these different political beliefs. But at the end of the day, we have to come together and decide what’s best for us as workers. And so one of the things that we just started, this is our third time doing it, we have a vote pack conference, our first one we had was in 2015. And we had the honorable Nina Turner, she came in, she flew in from Ohio, and she just raise the roof, she was talking about the benefit of unions, that if you pay taxes, you you should be part of a union, because you can’t just say I don’t want to get involved in politics, but that’s not my cup of tea. But if you pay taxes, you should be caring about what’s going on with everyday politics. And so she was amazing. And then we also had to, we had, what we do is with our conferences, we haven’t every other year, so we haven’t close to win elections are happening. The one we had in 2017, we had representative Joaquin Castro come in. And he was very informative. And he was talking about the importance, the importance and the need for people to go to their neighborhoods and go to the communities and get people involved with the voting process. And so I think that’s what my stance is going to be coming up this election, because in 2018, we had some elections that were just so close. We had Gina Ortiz Jones, who almost beat you know, Representative hard, and now he just announced his retirement. I mean, she barely lost by 920 something votes. And so we had I mean, Bethel work and Ted Cruz, it was like less than 2.5 vote, percentage points that he lost. So we have those elections, that and the reason why I’m saying these names is because these are people that we’ve had in the past that are supportive of unions. And so again, it’s not you know, which party I’m going to go with, right? I’m not going there, because that’s not what I’m about. I’m about who’s the public official, that’s going to stand up in front of my union members and say, I stand with you on these issues. And that’s how we get your support, nothing else. And so November 2, we’re having our our third annual vote Pat conference, it’s going to be on a Saturday, November 2, from nine to three. And again, we are union members love Nina Turner. So we’re bringing her back. And then in the afternoon, we have a panel that’s going to be completely focused on battleground Texas 2020, because of the fact that you know, we’re so close, we’re right there to getting public officials that are going to be representing us. We have MJ Hagar, who’s going to be in attendance, she’s going to be on the panel. We also have Mike Siegel, who was running for district 10. And he was another one that was a very close race. So I wanted to make sure that we brought back those public officials, that one though that almost won those votes. And we want to see if we can put them over because they’re running again. And that’s important to us.

Jeremi Suri 30:10
That’s that’s really insightful about the political importance of unions. Jackie, what are your thoughts? You’ve seen over time as a historian, how unions have adjusted to different generations in terms of their diversity in terms of the workplace? What do you think?

Jackie Jones 30:23
Well, I am hopeful that we have a new economy now, right? I mean, we have a more service based economy. And we have more women in the workplace, the workplaces are more diverse now. And so that is reflected, I think, in the union movement. And that’s very hopeful. It is a concern about the forces arrayed against unions, they’re very powerful, they’re not democratic. And they really do worry about the bottom line and feel that as advocates for working people you ends are a problem for them. And I am aware of this recent statement by companies, you know, the shareholders should not be our only concern anymore. But that’s kind of baked in to corporations in this country. Cut production costs, what is the best way to do that? Usually, it’s either to take the factory or overseas or else mechanized get rid of workers cut their wages. So there is a kind of perverse logic to this degradation, this race to the bottom when it comes to workers. On the other hand, I think, you know, unions are really the key to democracy to the fight against poverty, to a truly democratic country.

Jeremi Suri 31:55
Exactly. Do you think that’s a that’s a message that that can get across to people?

Zachary Suri 31:59
I think so. And I think the way to do it is to make to make to show how innovative unions are as institutions, because I think part of the problem is that today unions are seeing is very stagnant. And and almost old institutions are filled with old people who are not like, who are not, who are not as vibrant as the populations that that are growing up in our country. And I think that’s something that that’s, that’s a stereotype that, that unions and educators need to try. And that’s why we need young leaders like Yvonne, right?

Yvonne Flores 32:32
I’m not young, but I appreciate that. You’re saying that, but I wanted to tell you real quick, one of the really energized organizations that are going on right now locally is called y’all.

Jeremi Suri 32:42
Okay, I don’t know if you’ve heard of them. But I’ve heard the statement.

Yvonne Flores 32:47
It’s young activists, labor leaders, oh, well, and it’s a great organization. They have a annual conference every February. The I attended it this past February, Greg Cousar was there, they had to ask them president from Colorado fly in and they had amazing workshops. But I’m telling you guys, it’s pretty powerful. There’s like a room of at least, you know, 200 300 attendees, and they’re all in the 30s. And it’s a great feeling. It’s a beautiful thing to see. But that’s what I’m pushing. I’m just like, people have to care about what’s going on. And I think that’s what I’m saying there has to be a connection with the the younger generation here and now and I see it, I see it at our meetings, and I see it at the rallies, and also at the marches that we go to and it’s it’s a positive for me, it’s definitely, because you hit it right on the nail. I want to connect with somebody that I see that looks like me. So yes, I want to see women. Yes, I want to see minorities. And yes, I want to see, you know, you know, the young, the young people showing up on the strategy, young

Jeremi Suri 33:48
people want control of their workplaces, whether they’re tech entrepreneurs or fast food workers, they need to go out and take ownership of these institutions. These unions are there their life raft, and

Yvonne Flores 33:58
I’ve seen them. They’re very vocal. And that’s the part to me that democracy is important because it brings everyone together. You know, we’re bigger numbers in solidarity, but it’s the fact that they’re holding the person in front of them with accountability. And that’s what democracy is all about. Really, you either do your job or elections have consequences, you know?

Jeremi Suri 34:22
Well, I think that’s a perfect note for us to close on before we close However, since we are discussing this week, in particular unions and respect for workers, Zachary and I want to make sure that we thank all of the people who make it possible each week for us to put on this podcast. So Zachary, do you want to kick us off? Maybe? Yeah, so names.

Zachary Suri 34:42
So here’s the our current audio engineering staff, Brittany Marsh, and Jared Mars, Mars swatch.

Jeremi Suri 34:51
And then we have a longer list of many other full time staff members, some of whom are also students who help us week and we certainly at the top of that list is Jacob Weiss. Jacob is actually the person who oversees a lot of what we do and trains a lot of people we couldn’t do this without Jacob also will Kirshner Wilkerson are also helps with my online course. Zachary, you want to name a few others? Yeah, we have Sofia Salter, Noah Keller, Kiah, Daniel Lydia for tuna. And then we have Evan Herrera and Ian Herrera, excuse me and Evan share. Thank you. We know how how important your work is to us. And even though you refuse to have your voices heard on the podcast, we want everyone to know that you are essential to everything we do. And we are grateful for all of your hard work. very appreciative. Thank you guys. Thank you.

Yvonne Flores 35:43
Great.

Jeremi Suri 35:45
Thank you for being with us and discussing unions and why they’re so important for our democracy today. This is Democracy power to the people. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 36:00
This podcast is produced by the liberal arts development studio and the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Austin. The music in this episode was written and recorded by Harrison Lemke and you can find his music at Harrison lemke.com.

Unknown Speaker 36:14
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Transcribed by https://otter.ai