A historian just told me that when our small town was pre-union, if a new employer came into the area offering better wages than were standard, he or she was met by a contingent of current local employers telling them that higher wages were not allowed in our town.
Yet, already, Labor Day goes unnoticed here and all I hear is that unions are horrible.
Labor author Philip Dine recently recounted this story in the Washington Times:
"Coal- company executives strode into the small West Virginia mining town in 1920 and informed the mayor they were now in charge. If boosting company profits meant paying workers in scrips redeemable only at company stores, then that was just smart management. ... If scaring workers into submission necessitated kidnapping a miner here and there and brutally murdering him in ways that would make a jihadist proud, then that was a part of doing business."
These thing happened within the lifetimes of Americans still walking around. People tell me that all our rights are now guaranteed. If that is true why are wages actually going steadily backward and health and retirement benefits being lost -- while CEO's salaries reach obscene heights?
A manual for Wrong-Mart supervisors stereotyped workers who might be union sympathizers. An employee who was easy going and lived with his or her parents would have the money to go on strike. Another threat would be someone who was educated and made more money before.
It is becoming commonplace for employers to illegally harass and fire people for union activity. It can take three years for employees to even get back pay after being canned. If the workers had that kind of money they would not need to work.
Kate Bronfenbrenner, a researcher on labor law, concludes,"If recent trends continue, there will no longer be a functioning legal mechanism to effectively protect the right of private-sector workers to organize and bargain collectively."
We need to not only celebrate labor heroes on Labor Day -- the generations who suffered, some even giving their lives -- we should be issuing a new call to arms!
In the meantime, thank you labor heroes, for all you do and have done!
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that is not happening, and looks like it never will.
My only problem with unions (and technically, I'm still represented by one) is that they over-reached themselves, going far beyond their original mandate.
Have a good holiday weekend.
As for employers mistreating employees through work scheduel and abrupt and un warned policy change, or making employees work in a manner that breaks labor laws, employees and people within workforce parties do have ways to make things right without retribution, reporting to the local fair bussiness officals and BBB or labor office is an option, and they do maintain annonimity.
Marvelous. A great post for Labor Day.
I think that the average American is fairly ignorant of the struggle for the improvements in working conditions that the unions have fostered: child labor laws, safety regulations, 8-hour day, 40-hour week, sick leave, maternity leave, cost of living increases, life and health insurance, minimum wage, etc.
Since the early 1980's (read Reagan Administration) union avoidance has become an industry in itself. At 35 percent, the unionization rate in 1945 was the highest in American history. By the 1990's the unionization rate in the United States fell to under 14%. Unions now have minimal impact on wages or working conditions. (Economic History Association, Feburary 1, 2010)
@Joseph Timmons. Are you saying that "union dues and fees" cost you between $125 and $175 a week? The following is a list of my payroll deductions circ 1990 (before retirement). I was not a union member, but as a "professional" I enjoyed a semi-annual cost-of-living increase that was hard won by the union members of the factory that I worked in. If the union had not won the increase, you can bet that the "professionals" never would have obtained it. Check the list to see if you might have confused some taxes and voluntary deductions with your "union dues and fees". I recognize that if your union was responsible for your pension and insurance, then the "union dues and fees" might have been higher.
Deduction Percent of Salary
Federal Withholding Tax 25.5
Social Security Tax 7.6
California State Tax 7.0
Employee Medical 0.4
Dependent Medical 0.2
Supplemental Pension 2.4
Accident Insurance
Sorry, I hit the wrong key.
My point in the (incomplete) listing was that a total of 51.6 percent of my salary was deducted before I got my check. If Mr. Timmons union was responsible for his pension and other benefits, then his "union dues and fees" would be high -- but they would cover many of the items listed independently on my pay stub. [Anybody know what I'm talking about?]
I have to address Joe Timmons claim chat the union took that much out of his paycheck. To him I have to say bull_ _ _ _! I worked for some time as a Teamster member and shop steward, with a major bank courier company. I have never known "union dues" to be taken out of a paycheck. You had a booklet, and you paid your dues in person. It was never deducted. That amount sounds phony to me! Dues were never that high.
Theres more to this story. While working for that company, they decided to go non union. It was put up to a vote. They promised that all existing employees would be kept on at the salary they were currently making. New hires would be called "junior couriers". Benefits would remain the same. I warned my co-workers, that they were up to something. They didn't believe me. Within a year everyone at that meeting, had been fired, and the new hires were making less than half the amount they were being paid! I walked off the job, the minute the vote came in. Mr Timmons is fooling himself, if he thinks he is better off without the union.
Good post for Labor day! We need to remind people what this holiday is all about. Rated!
I have never been in a union, having worked as either an insurance underwriter or an oil and gas landman all my life. Yet I believe unions are necessary to the health of the country now more than ever. The workplace is NOT democratic, it is autocratic by nature. For workers to enjoy democracy in the workplace we must have a healthy labor movement or even better, do what the Germans do (and they have a healthy economy now) require that 1/2 of the board of directors of any corporation be workplace representatives.
nice to see you Peter
Fusun, Americans some how do have an antiquated idea about the work place. I appreciate your thoughts.
Tim, thanks for sharing your thoughts.
We have seen the pendulum swing wildly and erratically, but both sides serve a purpose and help to control the faults of the other. Too much power on the side of the union and the business retaliates. Too little union power and the business retaliates.
However, in cities like Philadelphia and NYC, I see lots of Union Corruption and graft, too. Lots of lazy folks in my own family join unions and never do anything on the job. The Left needs to purge these types from labor as well.
My opinion is this: Corporate America allowed organized crime, lax standards and a poor work ethic to pervade the labor movement in order to discredit it among middle class, suburban America. This has worked. Labor must shirk off the parasites and go commando, so to speak, if it is to survive.
Oh yeah. I forgot. America is #1 in everything. not