Our nation’s veterans, who bravely and proudly served our country in uniform, deserve family-supporting jobs with good wages, economic opportunity and fair treatment at work. This is the least we can do to support them upon discharge from active duty, given the sacrifices they’ve made for our country.
More than 1.6 million union members and thousands of retired trade unionists are veterans of military service.
The Union Veterans Council, AFL-CIO, (UVC), a project of the AFL-CIO, was established by the federation pursuant to the resolution having been adopted by the AFL-CIO Executive Council (EC) in March 2009 and officially recognized as an AFL-CIO constituency group in March of this year.
The mission of the UVC is to bring together union leaders and union members who are veterans to advocate on veterans’ issues and drive policy solutions to challenges in areas such as employment, fair wages, the right to join a union, and accessible, affordable health care. The EC has been actively supporting veterans since its inception and proudly continues its important mission, growing every year.
As a movement, we must do everything we can to not only honor veterans’ service, but actively pursue an agenda that prioritizes their needs. With so many veterans facing serious challenges, ranging from homelessness and post-traumatic stress disorder to unemployment and low wages, this Veterans Day we commit to doubling down on our support to ensure all veterans receive the care, opportunities and job training they need to thrive.
In advance of Veterans Day 2022, the AFL-CIO and your affiliate unions fully support our nation’s veterans and will continue to prioritize, through the Union Veterans Council, the issues that matter most to veterans and their families to ensure that all veterans receive the respect, dignity and fair treatment they so richly deserve.