Over a century ago, with the Labor Movement in full swing, working clamoring to be treated fairly – a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work – the forces of the status quo fought back.
We’re taught about events like the Pullman Strike in 1894, when the President of the United States, Grove Cleveland, ordered the military to end the strike. Thirteen workers were murdered and fifty-seven were wounded, all because they wanted a fair shake. We learn of the Pinkertons, employed by companies to make sure unionists stayed in line.
Later, in the McCarthy era, unions, a product of socialism, were seen as allies of the Communism that our government, in its paranoia, propagandized against. Yet another era of victimization and demonization set in for organized labor.
Many still remember Reagan and the Air Traffic Controllers. He simply brushed them off and destroyed them in one fell swoop, refusing to negotiate in good faith and dealing a major blow to all unions.
Many may know, and many may not, that workers died for their rights in the early days of the movement, that companies used force to accomplish their anti-worker agenda. Violence and outright murder were legitimate tactics for the business-owners who wanted to go on exploiting their workers unchecked.
Now, the war against workers has evolved. Rather than physically suppress activists, how, companies asked themselves, can we break their movement? As Jack London outlined in the ever-relevant book, The Iron Heel, large capitalists, as he called them, had a realization: make the laws business-friendly. Sure, workers could have their rights, as outlined by the law, but laws could be amended and in the century since the Labor Movement was in its heyday, business interests have succeeded. London’s imagining of their plan was simple: buy politicians who alter law. If the courts disagree, buy off the courts. He gave us this warning 100 years ago, with the union movement in America at its strongest.
Now, companies can simply move to other countries where labor can be exploited. Outsourcing is somehow a legitimate business practice, boosting the bottom line and shareholder profits at the expense of the working class.
Union membership has been on a steady decline for decades, slowly chipped away at by laws that provide for declining relevance.
In Animal Farm, by George Orwell, the Pigs in charge propose the construction of a windmill. That windmill was supposed to reduce the workweek to three days. The animals of the farm would use technology to enrich their lives. Instead, the Pigs kept the workday the same and simply boosted production, selling the excess for profit. Technology, instead of making the lives of citizens easier or more meaningful, now puts the jobs at risk in the name of profit.
I’m a union-man from a union family. I belong to a teachers’ union. My father was a union steward. My uncle is the Vice President of a major police union. Another uncle is in a pipe-fitters union. And the list goes on.
Unions fight for decent wages, a fair treatment by employers. It’s not all that unreasonable to the average person. It is, however, a dangerous threat to mega CEO salaries and the bottom line. A strong middle class is a strong America and strong unions are an integral part of that.
I don’t know what the answer to the decline is, or how to fight back, I just know that something needs to be done to ensure a viable working class.
Cross-posted atNEPArtisan.com