Resolution No. 22: Supporting our Veterans

WHEREAS, in 2017 our union committed to establishing Veterans of Steel, a member-driven program to offer resources for the thousands of military veterans among our membership and retirees; and

WHEREAS, there are nearly 18.5 million military veterans in the United States and 462,000 in Canada; and

WHEREAS, through their military service, these veterans have earned the right to have family supporting employment, health care and retirement benefits, health and safety protection at work, protected leave language, and other benefits of a union-protected workplace; and

WHEREAS, on average, a worker covered by a union contract earns up to 20 percent more in wages and is much more likely to have health and retirement benefits than a peer with similar education, occupation, and experience in a nonunionized workplace in the same sector; and

WHEREAS, veterans in the workforce have unique needs and challenges that the union is well-positioned to help fight for: including protected leave from work, mental health and other health care, equal rights for the disabled and disenfranchised, and a culture of solidarity and family; and

WHEREAS, the union’s commitment to protecting retiree health care, pensions and other benefits include advocating for fully funded and functioning Veterans Affairs departments in both the United States and Canada; and

WHEREAS, the USW is a proud affiliate of the independent Union Veterans Council, an official constituency group of the AFL-CIO, which unites the voices of millions of working union veterans in the labor movement; and

WHEREAS, the USW and Union Veterans Council are leaders in bringing key labor issues to the veteran space, advocating for veterans’ issues to our elected officials at all levels, and fighting to improve socio-economic issues within the veteran community; and

WHEREAS, Veterans represent 13.4 percent of all U.S. suicides, and in Canada, male veterans die by suicide 1.4 times more than other men, while the rate for female veterans is 1.9 times higher.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that:

1. The USW continues to encourage the building of Veterans of Steel committees in every district and within every local union as described in the USW Constitution. The goal is to create a space where our veteran members can network with each other and help each other, build stronger local unions, and drive the Veterans of Steel committees at the grassroots level.
2. We continue to support the Union Veterans Council and its mission and work together with allied veterans’ groups and other unions that share our goals, chief among them organizing more veterans into our union movement.
3. The union aims to continually improve its focus on topics that specifically pertain to veterans such as contract language for veterans’ issues; increasing funding for the Departments of Veterans Affairs in both the United States and Canada; placing qualified veterans in good union jobs; helping veterans in both countries deal with mental health and other issues; and publishing an up-to-date resource guide for vets who are union members, to be housed at org/get-involved/veterans-of-steel/ in the United States and usw.ca/issues/our-veterans/ in Canada.
4. The Veterans of Steel program fosters a culture of activism, encouraging our veteran members to get engaged in local union work, organize, volunteer, run for political office, build stronger connections between the union and veterans in our communities, and more.