Bill Ruiz's name was misspelled in an earlier version of this story.
Labor Day 2022 arrived in a job market COVID changed in a big way. KGUN9 visited a Labor Day event dedicated to the power of unions—the Labor Day Picnic for the Pima Area Labor Federation.
Labor Day is not a generic holiday for people who are actually in Labor Unions and those people say there’s been a surge in interest in organized labor.
Monday was the first Labor Day picnic for the Pima Area Labor Federation since 2019—the COVID pandemic led to that three-year break.
Union members here say COVID made more people think more about how they work and how they’re paid for it—- and more people like the idea of a union being their advocate for better pay and working conditions.
Maria Velasco leads Local 449 for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.
“So we're paying attention to how many new unions are coming into the arena. We're delighted with Starbucks unionizing with there's an effort to see that Amazon also unionized, you know, and it didn't happen in the east coast.”
Bill Ruiz says Southwest Carpenters Local 1912 has gained 2200 members over the last five years. He says the pandemic made younger workers more interested in unions that will train them in a skill and look out for them long term.
“They're recognizing the value of starting early and investing the time so that as they get older, they have something besides a Social Security or 401k. But they have a pension that's theirs that they can have until the day they die.”
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Bivian Contreras is a real-time editor for KGUN 9. Bivian graduated from the University of Arizona School of Journalism with a Bachelor's degree in Journalism with an emphasis in Broadcast and is currently pursuing a degree in Broadcast Operational Meteorology. Share your story ideas and important issues with Bivian by emailing bivian.contreras@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
