To the editor: A union path secures future for working Ohioans

During my 36 years with Teamsters Local 20 and UPS, I have seen how a union contract can impact a family. Strong unions give working people the security of knowing that hard work can provide a living wage, good benefits, and a better future for the next generation. Union membership gave me the wages and benefits I needed to provide for my five children. Throughout my career, no matter what the financial climate was, I knew that I would be protected thanks to my union contract. Read more letters to the editor Advertisement Labor unions remain one of the strongest forces for workers' rights in our country. Members covered by a collective bargaining agreement earn, on average, 12.8 percent more than nonunion workers. Union members are also more likely to have secure pension plans, better health and retirement benefits, more paid time off, and representation when employers violate labor laws. Unions do more than improve individual workplaces — they help raise standards for entire industries. This dedication to working people is why the Teamsters are championing the Faster Labor Contracts Act, or FLCA, legislation that could become one of the most significant victories for American workers in generations. The need for this reform is not hypothetical. Advertisement Workers with Teamsters Local 20 at Reworld, formerly Covanta, voted to unionize in March, 2024. More than two years later, they are still waiting for their first contract. I know first-hand just how life-changing securing a union job is. Under the FLCA, workers in situations like theirs would finally have a fair and timely path to securing the contract they unionized for. Union representation has proven increasingly more important as employers become greedier and affordability seems out of reach. Today, for far too many families, working hard no longer guarantees financial stability. A report released by the Brookings Institution this past May found that 40.6 percent of Ohio households do not earn enough to meet their basic needs. That figure alone is alarming, but it doesn't capture the thousands more who are technically getting by but are living paycheck to paycheck, one unexpected expense away from financial crisis. This is an unsustainable reality for working families across our state and is a trend that extends well beyond Ohio. Throughout the country, American workers are struggling while companies continue to make record profits. Even the Washington Post criticized its billionaire owner over the poor standard of living endured by many Amazon workers. In 2025, the shipping giant earned an average of $1.364 million every minute, yet the number of Amazon workers relying on federal assistance had tripled over the previous five years. Amazon is also the poster company for failing to come to the table to bargain with their organized workers. The FLCA would force Amazon to negotiate a fair agreement, something that would be life-changing to the thousands of hard-working Amazon employees trying to make ends meet. Making unions further accessible to folks in our state through legislation like the Faster Labor Contracts Act is a meaningful step toward restoring the belief that hard work can provide a better future for the next generation. Every working family deserves that opportunity. Mr. Cleveland is a 36-year UPS Teamster and a father of five. He grew up in Toledo and resides in the Old West End.