Time for Labor to Fight Back

By SAM URETSKY

The first recorded labor strike in the US occurred in 1768 when New York journeymen tailors protested a wage reduction. History.com reports that the formation of the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers (shoemakers) in Philadelphia in 1794 marks the beginning of sustained trade union organization among American workers.

In 1954, 34.8% of all US wage and salary workers belonged to unions and both the Democratic and Republican parties supported unions, but in 1964 Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act which shifted the solid South and Dixiecrats to the Republican line. On Aug. 5, 1981, President Ronald Reagan began firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers who were striking in violation of his order for them to return to work. Right-to-work laws, designed to reduce the income of labor unions, were passed in 28 states by Republican legislatures. Wisconsin, the state of Robert La Follette — and the Progressive Republicans — approved a Right to Work law in 2015

In 2016, Donald John Trump won the presidency with the slogan Make America Great Again. Although he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes, he captured the electoral vote in large part by promising to bring back manufacturing jobs that had gone to nations with lower labor costs. During the election there was only limited knowledge of Mr. Trump’s casual relationship with the truth that produces seven lies a day, according to the Washington Post, and those who believed him had limited access to good quality journalism.

The result of the election was a large-scale Republican win, and further attacks on labor unions and workers. Although Mr. Trump said “the American worker will finally have a president who will protect them and fight for them,” his administration has a record of cutting back on both workers benefits and safety rules. He has rolled back Obama-era rules on expanding workers eligible for overtime pay and limiting exposure to beryllium and silica. The Federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour for eight years and is now worth 25% less than it was 50 years ago, but there has been no effort to bring it up to date. The Trump administration has routinely attacked both unions and workers to benefit corporations and the very wealthy.

The current administration has attacked not only the national unions but also the union that represents its own employees. Officials with the American Federation of Government Employees Council 252 said the Department of Education is violating labor law and protocols. Secretary DeVos simply walked away from the table on a new contract before ground rules could be set.

Significantly, the United States has very low unemployment but also low inflation. Inflation seems like a bad thing because it means rising prices, but in fact it usually benefits workers since they get wage adjustments. For people who have fixed-rate loans, inflation benefits the borrower at the expense of the lender.

In spite of the fact that the unemployment rate has gone lower than the level that most economists consider full employment, wages have barely budged. There’s a reason. Corporations have taken the increased income, not to increase salaries to labor as the Republicans promised would happen, but to line the pockets of their existing stockholders.

Robert Lezner wrote in Forbes “The current rebound in stock prices has substantially benefited from a steady increase in stock buying by corporations such as Apple, Cisco, AbbVie, Boeing, Merck and MasterCard, along with many others. The fuel for this buying power has come from … the tax form legislation which reduced the level of taxes on [corporate] income from 35% to 21%, and increased the cash flow to pay for the buybacks.”

The workers whose votes elected Mr. Trump appear to be sitting, waiting for him to keep his promise, but we’re seeing strikes and demonstrations by schoolteachers, with limited results. In Oklahoma, where the teachers called for $10,000 raises and $200 million in school funding, they got $6,100 and $50 million for the schools. Still, these teachers’ strikes have demonstrated that unionization works.

A Pew Research study released on June 5 was headed “More Americans view long-term decline in union membership negatively than positively” and there appears to be support for the idea that that inequality is a serious problem. It’s time for labor to fight back.

Sam Uretsky is a writer and pharmacist living in New York. Email sdu01@outlook.com.

From The Progressive Populist, July 1-15, 2018

Populist.com