This Labor Day, I pause to reflect on how much we have gained from our unions in the past hundred years.

I can remember my grandmother telling me about her first day to vote in 1920. My father was born the next year. She soon became a teacher and was among the first women allowed to teach and be a mother at the same time.

Unions helped create the rights of teachers to have a lunch break, sick days and preparation time. I was always proud of my grandmother, who taught writing, Spanish and language arts. She was a pioneer in women’s right to work. Without our unions, she would never have had retirement pay.