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Perspective: Workers deserve more

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I lost one of the friends of my youth recently, Patrick Cronin. We met in late Spring 1978 as organizers trying to unionize the 1,000 workers at the Caron International yarn mill in Rochelle and Oregon. Pat came to NIU but had to drop out, took a factory job in Chicago and became involved in the union. A few years older, he became a mentor and friend. I eagerly sought his advice.

 

A vivid memory that summer was taking my new Chevy Camaro up to Clare with Pat after dinner, taking turns racing it up and down the blacktop trying to get the needle to reach the 120 on the speedometer. Heading back to the Vagabond Inn in Rochelle Pat said “You know if you own a car like this, you’re going to have to drive it fast. Speeding tickets, high insurance.” Sold the car to my sister that fall.

 

We lost that close union election. Pat persisted and took it in stride like the lifelong White Sox/Bears fan he was. “Next time.”

 

Pat had one guiding principle: Workers Deserve More. Through 50 years of deindustrialization, stagnating workers’ incomes, declining workers’ bargaining power, and now billionaires at the zenith of their supremacy, Pat never wavered. He was a union organizer and worker advocate his entire life understanding no leader on high would deliver a better life for workers. Workers had to organize and take it. We had a memorial for Patrick, but the real memorial is keeping Pat’s commitment: Workers Deserve More.