Seven out of 10 Americans — precisely 70% — have positive views about labor unions, Gallup reports in its annual pre-Labor Day poll. Last year, the same poll found 67% approval; the previous year hit a modern high of 71%. 

The numbers show that Americans — yes, even Texans — understand it’s “better in a union.” Texas may be a right-to-work (for less) state now, but the Lone Star State has a rich history of organized labor activism and advocacy, from East Texas to the Panhandle.  

Texas was the home of Emma Tenayuca and Isabel and Manuela Hernández, as much as we are now the home of so many anti-worker, regressive policies. The latter, in fact, produced folks like the former.  

This Labor Day, we ask you to remember that Texas is not an anti-union state; it is an under-organized state. And the only way we win the future we want — one in which every Texan is given the opportunity to thrive — is if we stand together, fight together, and organize together.  

So, have you asked a colleague to join your union today?  

Earlier this month, Houston ISD’s state-installed Board of Managers approved putting a $4.4 billion bond, the largest in state history, before voters this November. HISD leadership, all appointed as part of the Texas Education Agency’s takeover of the district, says the bond will be used to fund campus rebuilds, fix faulty air systems, implement more school security upgrades, and other improvements.  

Then again, TEA’s hand-picked superintendent, Mike Miles, has said a lot of things in his yearlong tenure. They do not always match what he does, as mentioned in the resolution of no confidence ratified by Houston Federation of Teachers members in May.  

It should be of little surprise that HISD voters lack confidence that the district will use taxpayer funds properly, especially as lingering questions remain about Miles’ financial dealings with the charter school network he founded. 

New polling data commissioned by our union bears out this voter distrust.