Most people think of Labor Day as an excuse for a day off, a family barbecue, and a good white sale at the local Macy’s. But many of us have forgotten that the holiday was created by the labor union movement in the United States and is meant to be a celebration of the so-called blue collar working man (and woman).
Today unions are under attack. Half of the states in the U.S. have passed Right to Work laws, which limit the influence of labor unions. These laws bar unions from requiring employees to pay a “fair share” fee to cover the expenses of negotiating contracts and protecting workers under those contracts. Yet the law requires that non-union workers reap the rewards of union-negotiated working conditions.
A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute reveals that wages in Right to Work states are 3.1% lower than in non-RTW states. Studies have also found a decrease in employee benefits such as health insurance and pensions. This seems logical to me. By reducing workers’ incentives to pay union dues, unions’ ability to get raises and benefits for their workers is diminished.
Union membership has decreased in the past decade as unions and their members have been demonized as greedy, unprincipled, and lazy. This is particularly true in the public sector, where taxpayers have become convinced that teachers and other public employees have it made in the shade while they, the taxpayers, pay for outlandish perks. Yet in many states, after adjusting for inflation, teacher salaries have actually decreased in recent years.
Have unions and their members sometimes been guilty of abuses? No doubt. But so have many corporations. Need I mention anything more than the name Enron?
Unions came into being because employers took unfair advantage of their workers, seeking to maximize profits and minimize expenses. Grueling work in unsafe conditions, child labor, and low wages were often the norm until workers gained the ability to organize and demand something better for themselves and their families.
It’s interesting to me that so many middle class and lower middle class people are vehemently anti-union. Unions were one of the factors that allowed the middle class to flourish in the first place. Today we see greater and greater income inequality, yet people are all for reducing or abolishing organized labor, the historical champion of the underdog.
Today on Labor Day, it would behoove us to reflect on what the labor movement has meant for ordinary Americans in the past. Let’s not be so eager to discard unions.