When you’re young, you never think you’ll grow old. When you’re healthy, you never think you’ll get sick. In some ways, that’s how it should be. We can’t live in fear of aging or illness. But we can plan for them. We can be prepared.

As union members and advocates, it’s important for us to realize that knowledge is the great equalizer, and knowledge supported by advocacy is what unions are all about.

Those of us who are longtime union leaders have a responsibility to spur the growth of our organization. But to do that, we have to teach the younger members of our workforce why we do what we do; why we fight the battles we fight. We have to give them that knowledge and understanding in everyday terms.

The contracts we have fought for and achieved are in place so we are all treated equally and so our working conditions on Monday are the same as they were on Friday. And, just as important, those contracts ensure that the people we serve are the beneficiaries of our best practices.

It seems basic, but unless you have lived through the fight for these rights you might not understand. And what you don’t understand, you might not value. One of our most important duties as committed union members is to educate those who come after us so they will continue to protect our accomplishments.

I’m going to speak of my experiences as a nurse in the private sector, but these ideas also apply to the work of UFT members in schools, family day care and other sectors of the workforce.

The day I was hired, I started work with two other nurses. We all had different backgrounds but the same education. It wasn’t until we had a union that I learned we were all earning a different amount. That’s what contracts are meant to prevent. Whatever culture you come from, whatever skin color you have, whether you are 20 or 60, you need to be treated the same.

Before the union, our employee handbooks told us we were not whistleblowers and we could be fired for telling patients what they needed to know. If a patient was planning to see a certain doctor, we were not allowed to point out how many surgeries that doctor had performed or what that doctor’s rate of infection was. The hospital wanted control; we wanted to help people. With a union, we can do that.

Why did we fight to eliminate mandatory overtime for hospital nurses? Because studies show sleep deprivation is as bad as being impaired by drugs or alcohol. We can’t give our patients the care they deserve if we aren’t the best we can be. Why do we need lunch breaks? The reason is the same. If we don’t step back, we can’t think clearly and we’re not efficient. We need to decompress so we can focus. That’s the only way we can give 100 percent to the people who need us. We can’t be pushed around at the expense of the work we need to do. The union ensures that our patients are not denied proper care because we are unable to give it.

Success can’t be dictated from the top. Workers and their input must be valued. In nursing, we have a desire for a safe nurse-to-patient ratio. Studies put that at 1-to-6. If an employer says a nurse has to take on seven patients, would you want to be Patient No. 7, with a higher risk of infection or even mortality? Our union supports us as we put the patient before the bottom line.

If you are a visiting nurse who is scheduled to see five patients one day and you find the fourth has had a traumatic loss and needs extra time and attention, shouldn’t you be able to decide if he or she gets it? The union allows us the independence to use our skills to satisfy the needs of our patients because we all know there are no cookie-cutter solutions to the problems that arise each day.

I became involved in the union to make sure my hands are not tied and to win that right for all union members. Younger colleagues have to stand on our shoulders or they stand in a hole — a hole where working conditions, salary, benefits and pensions don’t measure up and don’t satisfy our needs.

Let’s make sure that when we leave our legacy, the next generation has a clear understanding of what’s important and why, so it can protect that legacy and build on it.