Unions promote social justice
Unions have been essential to narrowing the wage gaps between women and men, fighting workplace discrimination, and promoting community justice. For example, the civil rights movement aligned itself with unions because of the central role collective action plays in the struggle for social justice. In fact, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated while taking part in the Memphis sanitation-workers strike, just as he was entering into a broader social justice strategy that engaged the working class on every level. Without strong unions, social justice will remain unattainable.