How to change the world

The picture on the cover of Time magazine’s annual Person of the Year issue shows a woman whose head is wrapped in a bandana, with only a deathly serious pair of dark eyes visible.

The title identifies this year’s honoree as “The Protester.”

 From Cairo to Coronado, from Syria to Steubenville and from Mumbai to Madison, we are witnessing the phenomenon of ordinary people stepping forward to change the world for the better.

I find it heartening that, in an age of cynicism, tens of thousands of people are gathering in city squares around the world to demand justice and democracy.

In Ohio, a broad coalition of unions and allied community groups joined forces to defeat a law that denied collective bargaining rights for public workers.

And in Southern California, our grocery workers stood up and successfully defended their pension and health care benefits — proving the power and necessity of unions.

Down but never out

Not all such movements have succeeded in their goals — so far. For example, uprisings in Bahrain and Syria are being suppressed with brutal and deadly means. In the United States, Wisconsin’s anti-union legislation is still standing, although its principle architect, Gov.

Scott Walker, is the target of a massive recall effort. A few months ago, a similar effort succeeded in removing two anti-union members of the Wisconsin State Senate.

One of the most newsworthy developments of the past year has been the sudden rise of the “Occupy” movement in cities across the United States.

No matter what you may think about this movement and its goals, it has created a decisive shift in focus from the needs of the super-wealthy to those of the “99 percent” who aren’t extremely wealthy.

It’s been a long time since the world has risen up and demanded justice on such a massive scale. And unions and the middle class are most often leading the charge.

The success of these uprisings will depend, in large part, on the willingness of their participants to work together with their partners in broad coalitions.

They stood by us,

now stand by them

I can’t say often enough how proud I am of our union members past and present. I am also deeply grateful for the members of other unions who stood beside us in our struggle to defend affordable health care.

Members of the Machinists, Teamsters, IATSE, SEIU, the Interfaith Coalition, Construction Workers, Steelworkers, Pipefitters, Longshoremen (and women), dozens of other organizations and, of course, the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council stood with us.

But now what happens? Do we just say “thanks” and go back to work? No!

We need to stand by our San Diego union brothers and sisters as they face contract negotiations that are just as tough as anything our union experienced in 2011.

Please ask your union representative how you can help support our friends, just as they supported us. Volunteer to support our allies in political office by working on their campaigns. Keep informed on union news nationwide and be ready to lend a hand to the cause, if needed.

You know the John F. Kennedy quote. Well, I’m changing it a little:

“Ask not what your union can do for you, but what you can do for your union!”

If 2011 taught us nothing else, it taught us that ordinary people can make a tremendous difference in the world.