On Labor Day, Georgia workers should continue fighting for fair wages
People in Georgia and around the country are working longer and harder than ever but getting less in return.
Families are on edge, stressing over every purchase and paycheck, despite working 40-hour weeks and often juggling multiple jobs at one time.
Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO’s 2026 Executive Paywatch report found that the average S&P 500 company CEO makes 312 times their average worker (that number jumps up to 5,387 times the average worker when you factor in Elon Musk).
Workers make this country run, yet every day we seem to matter less and less to the wealthy elites in power. It doesn’t have to be this way.
Fair wages gave us middle class upbringings
As the elected leaders of the Georgia AFL-CIO — the largest coalition of labor unions in the state — we observe Labor Day by honoring working people’s contributions and demanding a better world for us all.
We were both raised in union households where we saw first-hand how a strong contract can change lives.
Union-negotiated healthcare meant that neither of our families had to worry that a broken arm would force us into bankruptcy.
Fair wages with regular cost-of-living adjustments gave us both middle-class childhoods where our parents weren’t forced to hustle and work seven days a week just to keep up with inflation.
And when we saw our family members take their union meetings seriously and stand up for their coworkers, it showed us early on that being part of a union means never having to fight your battles alone.
We believe that every worker deserves respect and dignity. Our movement fights so that a hard day’s work receives a hard day’s pay. We believe that working families shouldn’t just have enough to make ends meet.
Let’s fight for working families
You deserve to go on vacation, eat out at restaurants and take time off to spend with your children without having to go into debt! This isn’t a radical or new idea. It’s the type of financial freedom that so many of our parents and grandparents enjoyed, but it has been stolen from working people so that some of the richest people on the planet can hoard even more money.
We can fight back because we have strength in numbers on our side. When we form unions, show up to vote for pro-worker candidates, and hold the Georgia General Assembly accountable, working people can stand up to corporate greed.
There’s a lot at stake. We must elect lawmakers who support our right to organize for the wages, benefits and respect all of us are owed.
A better world is possible. And while the unions that are part of the Georgia AFL-CIO may represent union members, our movement fights for all working families.
Yvonne Brooks is president and James Williams is secretary-treasurer of the Georgia AFL-CIO, one of 500 state and labor councils of the AFL-CIO representing the interests of working people and advocating for social and economic justice.
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