Here we go again.

In the past few months, the winds of change have swept over the Middle East and parts of Europe in ways never before seen. The storm moved across lands ruled by tyrants for generations; the sounds were thunderous with despair, yet somehow peaceful with the hope of a new tomorrow.

People from all over these lands came together and shouted that enough was enough. Dictators were removed, and troubled people tasted freedom for the first time. The movement spread like wildfire, and most of these revolutions were done with almost no violence and with very little opposition. That is, until it reached Libya.

The people of Libya want the same thing as the Egyptians: freedom. They’ll get it. That tired, crazy dictator will eventually lose. He seems to be putting up a fight for whatever reason, but he’ll lose. When people truly set aside their differences and join together for one cause, their demands become unstoppable. Kings have been dethroned, governments toppled and tyrants overrun—all because the people have had enough and have come together. They started off as individuals with needs and hopes; they formed a union against oppression. People learned to fight back.

With all of this in the Middle East, a different type of movement is sweeping over the United States, a movement that’s doing the opposite. It was quiet; it snuck right in behind us. This one was an attempt to rid America of its organized labor, more commonly known as union busting.

Over a hundred years ago, Americans were tired of being poor. They were tired of horrible working conditions. They were tired of being mistreated. The fight was between the rich and the working poor, or as Upton Sinclair called them, “the wage slaves.” Finally, those on the bottom demanded change. It wasn’t easy in the beginning. Some were blacklisted because they wanted benefits and child labor laws. The despised businesses tricked immigrants to work 12-hour shifts, six days a week, just to replace workers who had thought about unionizing. Then there were workers who were killed because they couldn’t take the horrible working conditions in coal mines anymore. Big businesses weren’t very nice in those days; they sometimes broke up union meetings with hired thugs, labeling unionizers as “socialists” or “un-American.”

Eventually the government had to step in. Events like the Ludlow Massacre and World War I forced big business to finally accept the labor movement.

Fast-forward to a few years ago, and you’ll begin to see history repeating itself. The economy has been in bad shape since 2007, and there’s little relief in sight. People were fired, homes were lost and the booming economy crashed like a glass smashing against the floor. People were scared, and they had the right to be.

And while everyone pointed fingers, big business sat in the back of the room and laughed. Their time had returned; this new economy would allow them to outsource any job that paid well. They could finally stop paying benefits for insurance and pensions. The government would bail them out if they needed; they were too big to fail. All the while, they sat and plotted against organized labor.

Whether you believe in unions or not is your opinion, but we need them. We would be lost without them. Lower wages, fewer paid holidays and no benefits or worker’s rights. Unions, like everything, need to evolve and become more flexible to help both workers and companies. I feel like I can understand why they’re so leery on negotiating, however: If unions give in to help a company survive in these hard economic times, that company might not give back when the times get better.

Don’t believe me? Follow what’s happening in Wisconsin. Watch what they lose because the state is broke. See if in a few years, when the state recovers, they get anything back. I doubt they will. The strange thing is, there will be another bad economy some day, and they’ll ask for us to give back. If we stand up now for what we’ve worked for, then hopefully in the future we won’t look around and think, “Here we go again.”