The Industrial Revolution brought about serious changes to a predominantly agrarian society in mostly the eighteenth century. Youngsters who before might have stayed on the farm to help their parents were drawn to the more exciting cities and regular paychecks. It certainly couldn't have been the working conditions. Those early factories and foundries were nearly unbearable.
This is where the Robber Barons made their first mistake. Instead of paying the men who worked for them a decent living wage, many paid their workers just enough to stay alive-barely. Instead of spending the money to ensure a safe workplace, the workers had to fight every inch of the way to win those struggles. Every perk that workers enjoy today involved a long, hard struggle with management/owners.
How much money were J.P. Morgan, J.D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie worth? I don't care how many schools, libraries, and museums they endowed. They could have taken some of that wealth and put it back into making the work environment safer and shared more of their profits with the people who made their lifestyle possible. They would have avoided strikes, violence, bad press, and loss of reputation. If they had been less greedy and done some of those things, I believe they could have avoided having to deal with unions for the most part.
The majority of non-union factories I've known of over the years paid a good wage, offered decent benefits, and worked with agencies, like OSHA to improve safety and keep accidents and deaths on the job at a minimum. These owners might have done all these things to keep unions out. But, it worked. People appreciate being treated like they are valued and part of the team.
Places that don't treat their employees with respect and a decent living wage won't retain them for long. We've all seen these places with permanent "Help Wanted" signs in front of the building. Word gets around among the pool of workers in any community whether or not a business is a good place to work.
And then a scumbag like Karl Marx decided to poke his bulbous nose into the mix, get people fired up and opposed to Big Business. There was certainly wrong on both sides. Plenty of blame to go around. But if anybody believes Karl Marx gave two s**ts about the poor downtrodden workers of the world, I have some river bottom land I'd like to unload. Marxism/Socialism is one of those things that sounds good on paper but fails miserably in the application. That is where the idea of unions likely formed, although I think the guilds of the Middle Ages were similar.
This is a good place to say that I was a UAW member for thirty years. There were benefits and drawbacks to having a union. But I prefer working at a job that has a worker's union. I have always said that the idea of a closed shop working environment is counterproductive. When I go to work at a place that has a union, if I'm not smart enough to join up, that is my loss. But, I don't want to be forced to join. I've always believed in the Right to Work.
If you are a union steward and you have people you think are taking advantage of the union's protection without paying the dues, there are ways of dealing with them. If it will benefit others, then I would fight to win the grievance. If it just benefits them, you still have to show up. But, no one said how hard you have to fight for them. Let an irate scab prove you could have fought harder for them.
Unions were very necessary back in the day, before people became educated enough to fight for their rights. But, somewhere along the way, we wound up with the typical union boss. It wasn't always easy to tell who's side they were on. I told one International Representative I wasn't accusing him of doing anything wrong during negotiations. But, it didn't look good that he wound up with a new Cadillac right after the contract was signed-every time.
And then there is the question of what these big unions do with all of the money they haul in as union dues. After administration costs, a good chunk of it goes toward buying politicians they hope to control. What if you as an individual don't like that politician or you belong to a different party? Too bad. You have no say. I believe it should be brought before the rank and file for a consensus vote before one penny is spent on any politician. Make sure the majority of members are behind that person. Or allow people who are opposed to that politician to divert their union dues into an area less political. Most unions provide other services, training people to write and edit a union newsletter for example. But right now, as far as I know, since retiring, union members have no choice.
The story of Labor in America is both long and interesting. There have been some dark spots and some men with questionable ethics. But the bigger picture of our working men and women in America is still one to be proud of. We have been the backbone of this nation. We built the railroads, the cities, the cars, and the infrastructure of roads, dams, and bridges. Some of us even before we became citizens.
This is what a free people can accomplish when we are allowed to remain free. Most people don't want a handout. At least those over the age of thirty who haven't grown up listening to the siren song of socialism, "Your country owes you everything and for free."
I hope we can hold onto the country my generation grew up in.
Happy Labor Day to All.
