So, Monday was Labor Day. I like Labor Day - I like that it's kind of a nice break in where the year is going, a good day off work between July and November, breaking up what would otherwise be a nearly five month stretch with no paid day off. Which is good for everyone, I think.
And speaking of good for everyone...
The labor movement in the US needs some work. Pun intended.
I worked in a factory in Michigan many years ago. It was just about what you'd imagine factory work to be like - monotonous, deadly dull, and repetitive. They tried mixing things up, and the company I worked for (at that time) was very conscientious about how it treated its workers. There were yearly bonuses (very good sized bonuses), there were pizza and donut parties (not at the same time) for folks who came in to work on Saturdays (it was a voluntary thing, and having a little food brought in was a small but nice gesture, in addition to the time and a half). I was relatively inexperienced but an eager, diligent, and dependable worker, and the salary started at more than I would otherwise have expected.
Just about the time I started (September 1996) the company (Prince) was sold off to Johnson Controls (JCI). This deal was one of the biggest privately held company buy outs in history, valued at over a billion dollars. Elsa Prince, Ed Prince's wife, cashed out (she did give a very nice parting gift to the employees, giving each a percentage of their previous five years' wages - some people got checks in the tens of thousands) and the corporate folks moved in from JCI.
My good friend Ezzio continues to work there. The conditions he relates are almost unbelievable. How can this be the same company? Bonuses now consist of a gift certificate. Saturdays are compulsory and the little treats and things we used to enjoy are gone. Sure, in the grand scheme of things the pizza on Saturdays wasn't that big of a deal. But that's just it - if it's not that big of a deal, why stop it? It meant - to us working slobs - that the folks in the suits were ok with spending a little extra, marking our sacrifices so the company could succeed. We had quarterly large group meetings. The place was closed on Sundays - even to the point where the third shift, which would have ordinarily started at 11 PM, began at midnight to protect the Sabbath. Never mind that you had to drive to work on the Sabbath, you didn't work. Which was kind of cool. But that's gone now, too.
These concerns pale when compared with the closure of the plant - the one I actually worked in - and the movement of the equipment to Mexico. This makes sense to the executives (who want to protect their bonuses and salaries) and the share holders (who want to get a larger return on their investments). At least in the short term, that is. In the longer term, people need to take a longer, larger view of things.
Henry Ford paid folks well. He wanted them to be able to afford the products he made. This proved to be a powerful motivator for production - high-paying jobs lead to more dedicated workers, which leads to better quality and more efficiency. These folks didn't just buy cars, though. They bought all kinds of goods and services with their wages, which lead to good economies all over. The Great Depression was hard, but the Depression was due to a lack of capital in the system, which artificially lowered the amount of lending/borrowing power.
What's fascinating to me - and I've written about this several times - is that rich folks don't seem to understand (for the most part) that a robust middle class (consumers) is essential for the continuance not only of our economy, but of our entire society. The concentration of wealth in a few doesn't lead to greater stability - just the contrary. The great popular revolutions of history have happened because the folks at the bottom decided that enough was way too much. If you will not share, we will force you to share. And how does that help anyone? It degrades folks on both sides. How much more noble, more dignified, then, to say to one's fellow travelers - here, let's share. I have more than I need, and I will gladly give to those who have less. This ennobles everyone.
This is where labor unions were supposed to help. And they did, for a while. Now they have become the very thing they originally sought to combat - a bloated, top-heavy, and irrelevant bureaucracy. The modern labor union has little in common with the powerful and effective collective bargaining machines of the past. And that's why membership is down. And that's why people feel powerless and disaffected. And that's where real gains can begin to be made.
There is power in many voices seeking common goals. Even if it's just a day off between July and November. And I'm grateful for it, because it's the only thing standing between us and feudalism.
And speaking of good for everyone...
The labor movement in the US needs some work. Pun intended.
I worked in a factory in Michigan many years ago. It was just about what you'd imagine factory work to be like - monotonous, deadly dull, and repetitive. They tried mixing things up, and the company I worked for (at that time) was very conscientious about how it treated its workers. There were yearly bonuses (very good sized bonuses), there were pizza and donut parties (not at the same time) for folks who came in to work on Saturdays (it was a voluntary thing, and having a little food brought in was a small but nice gesture, in addition to the time and a half). I was relatively inexperienced but an eager, diligent, and dependable worker, and the salary started at more than I would otherwise have expected.
Just about the time I started (September 1996) the company (Prince) was sold off to Johnson Controls (JCI). This deal was one of the biggest privately held company buy outs in history, valued at over a billion dollars. Elsa Prince, Ed Prince's wife, cashed out (she did give a very nice parting gift to the employees, giving each a percentage of their previous five years' wages - some people got checks in the tens of thousands) and the corporate folks moved in from JCI.
My good friend Ezzio continues to work there. The conditions he relates are almost unbelievable. How can this be the same company? Bonuses now consist of a gift certificate. Saturdays are compulsory and the little treats and things we used to enjoy are gone. Sure, in the grand scheme of things the pizza on Saturdays wasn't that big of a deal. But that's just it - if it's not that big of a deal, why stop it? It meant - to us working slobs - that the folks in the suits were ok with spending a little extra, marking our sacrifices so the company could succeed. We had quarterly large group meetings. The place was closed on Sundays - even to the point where the third shift, which would have ordinarily started at 11 PM, began at midnight to protect the Sabbath. Never mind that you had to drive to work on the Sabbath, you didn't work. Which was kind of cool. But that's gone now, too.
These concerns pale when compared with the closure of the plant - the one I actually worked in - and the movement of the equipment to Mexico. This makes sense to the executives (who want to protect their bonuses and salaries) and the share holders (who want to get a larger return on their investments). At least in the short term, that is. In the longer term, people need to take a longer, larger view of things.
Henry Ford paid folks well. He wanted them to be able to afford the products he made. This proved to be a powerful motivator for production - high-paying jobs lead to more dedicated workers, which leads to better quality and more efficiency. These folks didn't just buy cars, though. They bought all kinds of goods and services with their wages, which lead to good economies all over. The Great Depression was hard, but the Depression was due to a lack of capital in the system, which artificially lowered the amount of lending/borrowing power.
What's fascinating to me - and I've written about this several times - is that rich folks don't seem to understand (for the most part) that a robust middle class (consumers) is essential for the continuance not only of our economy, but of our entire society. The concentration of wealth in a few doesn't lead to greater stability - just the contrary. The great popular revolutions of history have happened because the folks at the bottom decided that enough was way too much. If you will not share, we will force you to share. And how does that help anyone? It degrades folks on both sides. How much more noble, more dignified, then, to say to one's fellow travelers - here, let's share. I have more than I need, and I will gladly give to those who have less. This ennobles everyone.
This is where labor unions were supposed to help. And they did, for a while. Now they have become the very thing they originally sought to combat - a bloated, top-heavy, and irrelevant bureaucracy. The modern labor union has little in common with the powerful and effective collective bargaining machines of the past. And that's why membership is down. And that's why people feel powerless and disaffected. And that's where real gains can begin to be made.
There is power in many voices seeking common goals. Even if it's just a day off between July and November. And I'm grateful for it, because it's the only thing standing between us and feudalism.
Comments
Go back further and you’ll see that Marx and Engels were part of the trade union. The idea at the beginning was to make everyone equal: Pay the workers the same, treat them the same, give them the same benefits. Essentially unions could eliminate the class system, which is of course what the Marxists hate so much — those damn rich people.
Which brings me to the ridiculous speech Obama gave on Labor Day, advancing his cause for a rise in minimum wage. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 1/2 of 1% of households in America are attempting to operate their households on minimum wage. Mathmatically speaking, raising the minimum wage will do very little good for very few people in America. So for Democrats to be all up in arms about this, as if it's a huge crisis, is ridiculous. Reminds me of the millions of Americans dying in the streets because they had no Obamacare.
Where did the minimum wage originate from? Sidney Webb, English economist and co-Founder of the Fabian Society in the early 1900s, believed that establishing a minimum wage above the value of “the unemployables” as he called them, would lock them out of the market thus eliminating them as a class.“Of all ways of dealing with these unfortunate parasites the most ruinous to the community is to allow them unrestrainedly to compete as wage earners,” Webb said.
Both labor unions and minimum wage talk is proof, once again, that when Democrats feign compassion, they actually have a much darker, cynical agenda.