We the American Working Population

By Brett Smith

Many people today assume that things are the way they are because that is the way things are supposed to be. Let alone the dangers of this type of ideology regarding our dire need for much more progress; this way of looking at the world lacking depth and only in terms of immediacy doesn’t recognize the serious hardships that were endured in order to get us to where we are today. Before pioneers in human rights fought for better standards of living under barons in Feudalist Europe, conditions we would now consider deplorable were the norm. In our United States, there were many racist leaders and policies that reinforced the prejudices of the day that would blow the minds of current adoring romantics for the days of our founding fathers – from George Washington to Harry Truman. The truth is that there is a tendency for those with power to abuse it if opposing factions don’t hold them in check, and this is the function that labor unions have graced the workers of most developed nations with in order to bring about a higher quality of life for those who don’t own the means to mass-production.

Just take a look at the past atrocities that have been made possible by monetary enterprises running free and unregulated. Slavery in the United States, the most relentless form that was known to the world at that time, was seen as just a fact of life. Whereas slave-owners in Africa allowed for some liberties, the ability to work oneself out of slavery, and much more equitable conditions with their “masters” where slaves did the same tasks that their masters did, America took the practice to far new heights. Intentionally spreading feelings of helplessness through the African slave populations by dividing families, brutalizing those who tried to escape their situation, and minimizing the social standing of fellow human beings to less than that of horses, just to name a few. All the while, the US government was hailing all of the profits that were being produced by the US South exporting 7/8 of the world’s cotton (an equivalent to the OPEC black-gold mine) and passed legislature that actively sought to extend and protect these sickening practices. Much like the big businesses that they so eagerly serve, governments have had a long history of being stalemating barriers on progress.

Underneath the pretty speeches politicians spew forth that hired scriptwriters produce about our land of freedom and equality, these are basically new concepts – especially when you extend them beyond the white male demographic. Conditions of slavery were far worse than what nearly anybody experiences in contemporary North America. But the fact remains that when privileged businesses are allowed free-reign in their conduct without any policies holding them to their legally and socially necessitated conscience, you better believe that they are willing and ready to unleash the beast on anybody they have to in order to wrench out any profits that they can.

The expected practice of corporations today keeping right along the legal boundaries they are prescribed regarding their conduct is proof that the only thing holding them back is the safeguarding laws that keep them on that side of the fence. The reality that they often cross this boundary and try to hide or play down the significance of the violation is even greater proof that if they were allowed to, they would revert to the good old days of even greedier practices than we see today. They might not revive the practice of slavery, but they could easily backtrack a lot of progress that has been made.

For example, civil liberties are already being lost due to the infamous Patriot Act. If they can convince a person that being more “transparent” is protecting them, without labor unions governments could do considerably more damage.

            Sick pay, vacation pay, overtime pay, health and disability insurance, higher wages, more reasonable safety standards, prescription drug coverage, pension benefits, etc. These qualities often expected of many contemporary careers were never the standard practice when left in the hands of employers alone, not by a long shot. These privileges were fought for – sometimes to the bitter end – by individuals who refused to live their lives in agony so that some suits could sit and count the stacks of profits that the workers accumulated through sheer dedication. These attributes of decency in the workplace had to be pried from the hands of unbending employers, ever so slowly. Not that the process is over by any means, but the progress that has been made in the name of working populations is very often due to the convictions instilled by labor unions.

            To give labor unions a definition, I turn to The History of Trade Unionism by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, “A Trade Union (Labor Union), as we understand the term, is a continuous association of wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment.” Functions of trade unions range from defending employees against undue unemployment, collective bargaining with the employers on issues of wages and working conditions, to taking actions against employers through strikes and resistance to lockouts in order to achieve the results workers deserve. If everybody just bum rushed an office of business without any structural backbone for organization, chances are that officials will brush the incident off as the actions of frenzied and frustrated individuals. But with a powerful, unified body of workers represented as One stepping forth to challenge the employer’s injustices, there is much less of a chance that an issue can continue unaddressed.

            The need for unions was spurred into necessity by the transition from agrarian civilizations with production based upon crafts into the Industrial Revolution. Ideology aside, a quick read of any major work by Karl Marx will shed light onto the conditions of this period. There were entire families working in factories ridden with filth and exhaustion throughout the day unable to pay for the basics of life. Meanwhile, the privileged few with enough accumulated capital to afford the expensive equipment needed to produce on such a large scale got richer by the minute. As far as they were concerned (and as far as the governments were willing to accommodate the needs of poor citizens), they were gracious enough to provide a means to make any money at all to the expendable workforce. What more should they have to give up to placate the downtrodden populous?

            These issues radiated terror through the guilds and crafts of the time, which were ill equipped to combat the ever-growing power and influence held by these businesses in systems of embryonic corporatism. Fears of worsening wages and work methods were rampant.  Women and children were being sucked into the pool of labor and being exploited to an even greater degree than the men were. There were cases of casualties on the job that ended with the corpse being dragged out of the workplace as the replacement walked in. Complete disregard for factory workers was just a reality of the day for the rich capitalists, and if reaching this echelon of society seems difficult by today’s standards then forget about it during this period of time. Only by the grace of god or by sheer fortune would commoners attain the status of the rich and prosperous.

            If it were a matter of all the segments of society standing up for themselves alone with nobody to help them along in the process, that would be one thing. But while the masses of desperate laborers were struggling to make pleas for their livelihoods, these businesses were summoning all kinds of support from the governments within which they operated.

Masters are always and everywhere in a sort of tacit, but constant

and uniform combination, not to raise the wages of labour above

their actual rate…[When workers combine,] masters… never cease

to call aloud for the assistance of the civil magistrate, and the

rigorous execution of those laws which have been enacted with so

much severity against the combinations of servants, labourers, and

journeymen. – Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations.

What are you supposed to do when you aren’t being paid an adequate wage to live off of – despite putting forth an unnatural amount of effort – and your boss both won’t make the necessary adjustments and when you try to organize against this injustice the government gets involved on the side of the clenched fist? The powerless workers needed a voice with enough strength to urge forth progress within the resistant ranks of big businesses.         

            There was a time in American history that corporations were strictly regulated and meant to be temporary with only a certain amount that they were allowed to make in profit. The founding fathers deserve a great deal of credit – despite their prejudices that aligned them with their day and age – in foreseeing the dangers that permanent corporations would present upon America. With the advent of permanent corporations, the presence of intense influences in the decision-making process of politicians began in its current context. Before this there were a lot of individuals to consider when creating policies (slave-masters, for one), a very unfortunate reality of politics. But the onset of particular individuals given preferential treatment due to their large pool of money to “contribute” for “private interest” is where the course was set for the extremely wealthy to assume more control over the political process. This threw the system even more off balance and presents a whole other issue for why labor unions are so desperately needed. If anything, we need more than labor unions alone to fight these conglomerates and curtail their radical conduct. By giving the heavyweights even more dominance, there needs to be a counterforce to adjust the power structure so that small-time individuals don’t become the cannon fodder of the big-gun corporations.

            This isn’t to say that today the US government doesn’t work towards similar goals that previous generations of rulers worldwide sought to sustain. The Bush White House and the Republican majority Congress have been pressing for lesser safety and ergonomic standards, privatized Social Security, undermined overtime, and expanding NAFTA through Central and South America with no regard for worker or environmental safeguards. Without the labor unions that were on the frontlines in this all-out war on the standards of living for generations to come, there is no guarantee that these policy initiatives wouldn’t have been successful. It is for circumstances exactly like the one we are currently enveloped within that labor unions are so vital to maintain and empower. With “social leaders” becoming ever more adept at sending euphemized signals to the masses through televisions and radios, there has never been a more critical moment to stand up against these degenerative forces. There has to be a significant force that is willing and able to combat these forces and encourage those not sitting at the top of the social stratigraphy that they matter just as much as the upper strata do. Without groundbreakers in laborer rights of the past taking action to counter the exploitative factories, who is to say that there would even be the thought in our minds that we deserve more than the hand that feeds us is willing to toss in our general direction today?

            The merit of labor unions speaks for itself in the changes that have been brought about through the toils that they have struggled through. The labour movement eliminated child labor exploitation (at least where it has been able to reach), bolstered worker security, elevated wages for union and non-union workers alike, sought and achieved public education for children, lowered the hours in a work week, improved the societal standard of living for all, and this leaves out several aspects that have been progressed through labor union’s efforts.

Beyond working for their constituent workers, many of the labor organizations have banded together, bridging gaps across communities, trades, and social brackets. This was the single most important factor in the consolidation of the voice for the American workforce. Without large groups like the AFL-CIO to speak across several segments of our society and actually being able to reach them and provide the means for defense, rallying up the morale of workers against the monolithic corporations that now exist would be nothing short of impossible. Beyond the political role inside of corporations that unions have played, they have also become a powerful player on the larger political stage. Through the mobilization of individual labor union members and the coalitions that have been built through alliances with similarly focused activist organizations on issues like trade policies, immigrant rights, living wage campaigns, and health care, the influence of the working class has been amplified several times from what was once meek at best.

Our current situation of job security in America is at a very crucial moment. With jobs being outsourced by multinational corporations to child sweat shops, developing and third-world nations providing impoverished laborers to exploit to egregious extremes, and other nations like India offering countless workers at much cheaper rates – all while these corporations pay little to nothing in taxes yet still experience the benefits as if they did so – it is hard to make oneself appear desirable in many job fields. In many cases, the only way to impress anymore is to be willing to work for the bare minimum, and people who find themselves caught in the crossfire have little means to stake their due claim without being dismissed by a heartless default.

This is precisely why unions are so essential. All parameters have at least strengthened. Union members are better fed, paid, clothed, and housed than non-union workers with similar occupations. It is more common for unions to provide improved access to prescription drugs and health care under safer workplaces with an available means to take effective recourse against employers when they breach basic standards of conscience. Women and minority workers also experience less occupational discrimination and are given their due claim to a life of equal opportunity. Unions deserve a deep appreciation by all workers for their support of the working class. To disregard the powers that have been earned through the blood, sweat, and tears of those before us is to spit in the face of the great accomplishments that have been created through these valiant organizations.