Labor Unions built the American Middle Class

[Sandy]

I've always wanted to write a book, and in fact, I have a historical novel about three quarters of the way through. But I think I may actually do the research and put the proposal together for one that has been on my mind since I moved to Pennsylvania, and have been close to some of my family down in West Virginia.

We're doing all kinds of debate over having a strong middle class, and I agree with the President that economic recovery is dependent on having that. I also agree that the government can direct some of its spending into infrastructure repair, and other avenues which will stimulate the economy, because we've done that before and it worked. And a decreasing deficit, which we are seeing now like we haven't seen before, is preventing the inflation rate from causing harm. But the fact is that the middle class jobs on which our prosperity was built would never have come about had it not been for the Labor Unions.

Yeah, there is a level of corruption that goes along with any kind of American movement that has power and income. Look at the health insurance business today. But the fact of the matter is that the American middle class owes its existence to organized labor, and the decline of the middle class over the last thirty years is a direct result of political activity that had undermined and weakened them, and gave corporate power the advantage. Wages started declining during the Bush administration, and they haven't recovered, even though corporate profits and business levels are at record highs.

I was personally able to enjoy being raised in a single income middle class family because my Dad was a member of a labor union that negotiated a contract with the chemical manufacturer for whom he worked. They bucked and hollered a lot, but in fact, they had a dependable, loyal labor force that produced for them, and they've managed not only to stay in business in the US, when other companies bailed and left, but have remained competetive and strong because their employees have stood by them when they need them, due, once again, to the leadership of their union.

My book would focus on the Weirton Steel company. In the 80's, the parent company was going to close the mill, citing high labor costs and foreign competition. To save the jobs of 10,000 steel workers, the union bought the mill and ran it for two decades, not only saving the jobs, but actually reaching the company's production and employment apex in the 90's, successful in competing with foreign companies not only in the US, but overseas. They managed to raise the employment level to 12,000, and the wages and benefits. In fact, they would probably still be the country's most effective and efficiently operating steel mill had they not listened to corporate consultants who urged them to go public. One of their foreign competitors picked them off to dismantle their competition. They still have to run the Coke mill, because they can't get that anywhere else, but the mill jobs went to India, under Bush administration regulations and tax breaks.

There will be no full economic recovery, no return of manufacturing jobs from the devastating outsourcing that occurred under President 43, until there are strong unions in place once again.

[Haruo]

Proud union member here.

[KeithE]

[William Thornton]

Don't buy it, Sandy. Labor didn't force Henry Ford to pay far above the average daily wage when he started assembling autos. Labor didn't force Rockefeller, Sr. to pay at rates where his employees were happy and avoid the labor strife common in his day. Labor doesn't create jobs and industries. Labor doesn't foster innovation and entrpreneurship. Labor doesn't promote productivity. Labor doesn't encourage efficiency. Public sector labor unions will, if allowed, bankrupt cities while gouging taxpayers with an insatiable desire for more pay, earlier retirement, and luxurious benefits.

Labor unions will kill the broader middle class in favor of their own greedy, self-focused nomenklatura class if allowed.

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

[William Thornton]

[Neil Heath]

I think the 3rd post above this one is somehow scrambled. It claims to be from William, but it looks like Keith wrote it. I'm not sure how the software would do that, so maybe I'm mistaken. If not, some editing or deletion may be needed to fix it.

Neil

[Tim Bonney]

[Dave Roberts]

I want to put in a mixed response to unions, and both come from personal experience. I grew up in a "right to work" state. My first real job was in a unionized store where I was only part-time, so I did not have to decide about the union. The main benefit I saw for all of us was that the union had demanded 15-minute breaks for all employees for every 4 hours worked. We actually got to leave our posts and rest for that 15 minutes, even if we had to clock in and clock out to do so. The union was the Amalgamated Retail Clerks.

My second experience was as a seminary student. I got a job in a union shop grocery in Louisville. There was no question about joining, since it was a requirement for employment. I did, and the pay was better in a closed shop state than it was working for the same company in a "right to work" state. At the same time, there always seemed to be a level of unrest in the KY store that was not present before. By the way, half the employees in the grocery department of this store were seminary students. All of us belonged to the Amalgamated Meat Cutters.

MY sense is that unions helped and hurt. It's not simply an either/or for me.

[Tim Bonney]

If not for unions I seriously doubt that workers would have many of the rights we've come to expect. This was particularly true in the formative years of our nation and the early days of labor unions.

Unions certainly are not without fault or flaw. But I believe in the purpose behind the labor unions. As my father-in-law has said and I imagine my own father could attest to, the unions put food on our table.

Workers do need legal protections and those protections seem to really be slipping now that unions have less and less power.

[KeithE]

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

[Haruo]

Yes, and unions are a large part of why the United States has fewer deadly workplace conflagrations than, say, Bangladesh, but don't tell the stockholders or the consumers who just look at the price tag.

[KeithE]

[TrudyU]

[TrudyU]

Ed: Back to the thread, I have never been a union member, neither of my parents or grandparents where union members. I did have a great grandfather who was a union member as a telegrapher. I had two uncles who argued the issue at every family holiday get together. The one who was pro union worked in a union dominated manufacturing plant, had 6 kids and could hardly get by. The other Joined the Navy, used his GI Benefits to Buy a bakery (he had been a bakery laborer before going in the navy was a baker in the navy) I have told the story before about how a brother in law that he had hired brought in a union organizer. After the organizer made his pitch my uncle pointed out that he had sick leave policy the union contract didn't mention one. He paid overtime from the first hour of overtime the union didn't require it till the fourth consecutive hour of OT. He had some other things. The union fellow left saying Mr. R when you have an opening would you give men a call. The other uncle still argued that Al's 8 employes should have joined. Go Figure.

Like Dave I have mixed emotions, because I do think that early on unions where organized ft the good of the workers but they soon lost sight of the original purpose. I had a lot of pressure to join the union when I worked at GE but my stock answer was "No thanks, I can do better putting that money in the employee stock sharing program."