The year 1937 was a benchmark for unions. The Republic Steel massacre galvanized working people into a common bond with a clarion call of solidarity and exposed Republic Steel's Tom Girdler and his kind for what they were. Those workers who marched in peace died for you and me.

The obstructionists then: uniformed police with axe handles and guns, Pinkerton guards armed and dangerous. Today's obstructionists: Yuppies with law degrees, young and old, wearing suits and ties and with a tunneled, stilted vision of history and no compassion.

Then: greed and corruption. Today: greed and corruption.

The worker in 1937 as well as 2009 lives with the very real threat of being killed or seriously hurt on the job, and this cloud hangs over every worker and workplace in the nation. On an average day, 15 workers die to workplace injuries and disease; another 11,000 are injured.

For eight years, the Bush administration failed to take action. Safety rules were withdrawn or blocked; voluntary efforts were favored over strong enforcement. But today is a new day. The new Obama administration holds promise for new and stronger workplace safety standards.

Now, the U.S. Department of Labor will fight for working people. But that fight has only begun.

2009, again, is a benchmark year for unions. The stakes in the Employee Free Choice Act are such that to accommodate the Chamber of Commerce, the Manufacturers Association and politicians whose loyalty to the American worker is questionable is not an option. The EFCA is first and foremost the direct route to re-establishing our rightful place in society.

We understand that corporate greed has thrown this economy so far off-balance that the fundamental stability and existence of a middle class is now at stake. Working people have been living in an economic crisis for years, taking on longer hours, second jobs, credit cards and toxic loans just to stay afloat. This debt-driven, feed-the-rich economic policy has finally come home to roost. We need unions now more than ever.

When A. Phillip Randolph confronted FDR with the evils of segregation, his response was: I agree with everything you say, now go out and make me do the right thing.

When we confront President Barack Obama with single payer health care, which 79 percent of the American people want, and the Employee Free Choice Act, which all working people want, he must say: I agree with everything you say; now go out and make me do the right thing. And this we must do! Which side are you on?

Joe Gutierrez is a retired union official, with USWA Local 1010 in East Chicago. The opinion expressed in this column is the writer's and not necessarily that of The Times.