Since the turn of the 20th Century as urban metropolises grew in both population and land brought about through rapid growth in industrialization, organized labor also grew in strength and membership. in organized labor, workers united around shared visions and common goals like safer working conditions, shorter workdays and work weeks, and the right to a greater share of corporate profits through higher wages. While the early 1900’s ushered in labor movements in that had seen its influence grow and wane in fits and starts, on the whole, over the next roughly 60 years, the impact of unionized labor on the American workforce was undeniable. More Americans worked their way into middle class lifestyles, homeownership soared, more durable factory goods like cars, vacuum cleaners, and washer machines were purchased by American consumers, and when workers were ready to finally retire, most were able to do so with dignity and a secure pension.
Granted, much of the accessibility of these union-won perks varied depending on workers’ race and gender as unions once forbade extending membership to Black workers and women workers. To be sure, the history of the organized labor movement pertaining to gender and race was ugly, and cannot be minimized or ignored. Labor unions involving the construction trades, police unions, and even teacher unions were stridently and unabashedly racist – and in some regard, much of those legacies within labor and police unions remain even today. That said, it would be dishonest not to acknowledge the benefits organized labor has had over the better part of the last one hundred years in America’s workforce.
When considering the gains made within the American workplace, it is equally important to recognize there has always been a counterforce to workers’ struggles to amass occupational power. From the ultra-violent anti-union busting measures employed from the late 1800’s Haymarket Riot to the early Colorado Coalfield Strike in 1913 and the San Francisco and Oakland General Strike in 1934, to Reagan’s dismantling of the union of Professional Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) in 1981, to today’s more subversive efforts to erode union power by one-percenter-funded think tanks and foundations, the enduring concentration to limit power from accumulating in the hands of workers persists. And, though labor unions are a shell of their most powerful years, union membership correlates with a strong sense of job satisfaction, higher wages, and comparatively better benefits than non-unionized workers within the same work. Additionally, non-unionized workers who work within geographic proximities and in occupations that have unionized workers, likewise benefit as comparative industry norms and standards are established by strong union activism .
The benefits of worker unions is obvious. Unionized workers get paid more, have more workplace rights, and are afforded more opportunities to take on leadership roles – especially among black women who are, by percentage, most likely to join unions – and the most likely, along with Latinx women more likely to work for, at, or near, poverty wages. Though black and Latinx women do find employment at higher rates than minority men, they are also more likely to work for wages at or below minimum wage in non-unionized service and retail sectors. And while women nationally earn about 77 cents for every dollar a white man makes, Black women earn an average of 64 cents for every one-dollar a white man earns. Unionized labor helps mitigate such racialized and gendered disparities in pay for all workers.
As a union president, who has been strongly influenced by the writings A. Phillip Randolph generally and, more recently, Lois Weiner’s critiques of teacher unions as myopic in their teacher-centered focus and oblivious to opportunities to demonstrate solidarity with America’s low-income working-class, I recognize the current COVID19 epidemic represents an opportunity for unionized educators to express our concern and hopes for unprotected workers across the country. While neoliberal Democratic and conservative politicians as well as America’s corporate class habitually turn national crises into financial and power-concentrating opportunities to oppress poor and working people, this Coronavirus era represents a unique opening for America’s marginalized workers to assert and regain power.
As a potential starting point, indulge me in expressing my transparent desire to see every worker with the same benefits and protections unionized educators have. EVERY worker, REGARDLESS OF THEIR WAGE AND WORKPLACE, SHOULD:
- Earn a living wage, far exceeding the $15 per hour minimum wage that has only recently become a pro-worker litmus test for even progressive politicians
- Have guaranteed health benefits for themselves and their family regardless of their full time or part time status; a staffing decision resting solely with management and has nothing to do with an employees’ desire to work a full-time schedule
- Have workplace safety protections to ensure workers stay safe and healthy at work and are not exposed to undue, unnecessary harm at work
- Have guaranteed due process and access to representation when disputes between they and management arise; no one person should unilateral, decision-making power over another individual’s ability to earn a living – such a system creates an atmosphere ripe for exploitation and dehumanization
- Have guaranteed Paid Time Off, Paid Family Leave, and Sick Leave
- Belong to an organization (union) with the muscle and purpose of protecting the best interests of workers as a collective, along with the authority to collectively bargain with management
Today, hourly workers in Amazon factories, chair stores like Hobby Lobby and Walmart, and even hospitals are working without the barest of essentials to stay healthy in the midst of this global pandemic because they need the money to make ends meet, are essential to maintaining a sense of normalcy and safety for the rest of us, and because workplace management has no counterweight compelling them to act in the best interest of their workers. In some instances, workers have staged walk-outs and mini-strikes in an effort to lift their voices and demonstrate their influence. Though the durations of such standoffs and their impact are unclear at present, this moment appears to present an opportunity for national unions like AFSCME or the SEIU to court this alienated and exploited workforce. What would it look like if not only Amazon workers in Chicago and Staten Island staged a work stoppage, but Amazon workers across the country refused to work? Afterall, Amazon’s CEO, Jeff Bezos is one of the world’s richest men, and has gained $3B since the onslaught of COVID19 – he can afford to address each and every concern voiced by Amazon factory workers. What would happen if there were a national strike among Walmart workers – the world’s largest retailer – operated by the country’s richest family (and ardent supporter of anti-union corporate charter schools)? What would happen if truckers operating as independent contractors, unionized, and refused to transport goods without being paid commensurate to their worth? Though these questions seem abstract and rhetorical, the central question remains: What would it look like if America’s low-wage workers united, and asserted their true power in a way that forced the corporate and political class to listen and comply with workers’ just and reasonable demands.
Right now, we have the opposite. Union membership is at an all time low, and wage inequality is at an all-time high with corporate CEOs earning up to 361 times more than their essential hourly employees! When adjusted for inflation, workers are making less now than they did in the early 1970s – even as worker productivity soars. Generational economic social mobility is quickly becoming an unachievable ideal, with this generation of Americans being the first fare worse than their parents. Political support for workers has been waning for decades, and outside of Bernie Sanders or AOC, it is increasingly difficult to identify a politician that centers the concerns of rank-and-file workers and not their corporate overlords. And, on top of all of that, it is low-paid, hourly worker who is bearing brunt of COVID19 through slashed hours on one hand, or forced labor placing their safety in a precarious situation on the other.
It is high time for the workers of the working-class to unite and snatch their power back. On this day where a record 6.6M filed unemployment claims, in a month where corporations were gifted a $2T bailout while workers, and citizens are being given crumbs (on the heels of 2018’s Trump Corporate Tax Cut benefitting the rich nearly exclusively), an opportunity lies with America’s vulnerable workers like never before. If there has ever been a time for workers to assert their dominant potential, now is the time, because we know like we’ve seen in Iraq in 2003, New Orleans in 2005, and in Puerto Rico today, our neoliberal government and corporations are already planning ways to capitalize on this COVID19 tragedy for the benefit of themselves.
