Union members rally for workers rights on Labor Day

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) – Multiple labor unions and supporters gathered in Fawick Park on Monday to highlight the power of the working class and criticize the administration’s rollback of union support. 

“If you go to work every day and depend on a paycheck to survive, whether you’re carrying mail, teaching kids, answering phones, writing software, serving tables at a restaurant, working retail and even working a desk job, you are not middle class. You are the working class,” said Justin Clausen with the National Association of Letter Carriers. 

Union representatives from Letter Carriers, Teamsters, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and others addressed the crowd of over 100 people. 

Speakers like community activist Jordan Deffenbaugh, Sioux Falls mayoral candidate Jamie Smith and South Dakota Senate candidate Julian Beaudion encouraged people to take action in local government, vote for pro-union candidates and start a union at their workplace.

“Let’s fight with courage. Let’s fight with dignity. Let’s fight with unity, and let’s fight to make sure that we’re putting the power right back into the hands of you, the people who matter, the people who really make America great, union workers, labor workers, the working class,” Beaudion said.

Multiple members from the AFGE union were present at the protest and expressed frustration with the recent executive order to terminate the union contract for federal workers. 

“Our contract isn’t recognized,” Melaney Sohm, an AFGE union member, told KELOLAND News. “I feel terrible because for one thing, it’s a contract. Both parties agreed to it, and then all of a sudden, with the executive order, they threw it out the window. They agreed to it and we agreed to it, you know, and a lot of our protections that we had in the contract are gone now.”

Protections including payroll deductions for union dues, grievance processes, the right to union representation and collective bargaining. 

Ariel Ness, a Midwest representative for AFGE, said the director of Veterans Affairs terminated their union contract on August 6. 

“When the administration undermines federal unions, it undermines democracy,” Ness said. “What we’re witnessing right now isn’t just policy disagreement. It’s not just business as usual. It’s a deliberate effort to silence the voices of working people in government, people who dedicated their lives to serving the public.”