In Defense of the Middle Class: Labor Unions, Bowzer from ShaNaNa and You

Paydon Miller
Undergraduate/Political Science & Print Journalism

Hello again, loyal Flip Side readers. I hope the summer gave you an opportunity to relax and "charge your batteries," as the kids are wont to say, because I am brimming with rich, frothy disgust at the political Right and am looking forward to purging myself of it 1,500 words at a time.

If you were paying any attention at all to politics in our state this summer, you will know the big story was the recall of six Republican and three Democratic state senators. To put it simply, a recall is a legal petition that, if it meets the necessary amount of signatures, nullifies the previous election and gives the voters another chance to vote for a different candidate.

It is the six recalled Republicans I'd like to focus on, mainly because the Republicans lost some of these seats, while the Democrats did not. To summarize: Democrats won, Republicans lost.

The genesis of all the outrage that sparked these six recalls was the respective Senator's support for stripping public employees of their right to collectively bargain. Having worked for a stint in western Wisconsin on one of the less successful elections this summer, this was one of the main issues that voters were eager to talk about1. Many supported the rights of workers to organize, but many people in the district did not, but could offer no substantive reasons for their feelings when pressed.

This is when I began to understand the breadth of the misinformation being spread in regard to unions and their role in our country. At this point, the logic behind hating unions goes no deeper than "unions are bad because they're bad."

So let's take this time to examine the nature of unions. If you're inclined to be against unions, I sincerely ask you to read this with an open mind. In return, I'll try to leave as much sarcasm at the door as I can. This is too important to disagree because of the tone of my voice or a reader's stubbornness.

For those who are unclear: collective bargaining is when the employees of a company or trade band together and work with their employer to come to agreeable standards for their work. These often take the form of negotiations on wages, benefits and working conditions. Unions largely came to prominence during the Industrial Revolution, so we'll start there.

To put it mildly, working conditions in the Industrial Revolution were not friendly to the workers. Factories were expanding rapidly, and widespread poverty allowed for a nasty practice called child labor to flourish. They were paid next to nothing for their work – 10 to 20% of what an adult was paid2 - and it was commonplace for children to be killed in mine collapses, gas explosions and other industrial accidents. This is, of course, neglecting to mention the long-term effects of these conditions like blindness or the infamous Black Lung. Wages were barely livable, but some income is better than none, and the cyclical cycle of crippling poverty was solidified. The governments tried to limit these practices but, with the workers powerless because of their need for any source of income, the factory owners held an inordinate amount of power and struggled against these regulations.

Enter the labor movement. Workers began to organize their efforts, utilizing strikes and other group actions. The logic behind it was simple – while one worker refusing to work would mean nothing to a factory owner, if they ALL quit, the owner loses money, too. And let's not paint the picture of calm, peaceful talks between these two parties. Violence was commonplace, and it was not unusual for union organizers to wake up dead. However, as these movements grew and the workers persisted, the owners were forced to recognize the power and legitimacy of the unions because when they spoke in one voice, that voice was pretty god damn loud.

It is through these labor struggles that we have gained some of the most fundamental benefits that we take for granted today. The right wing of this country would have you think of these people as selfish "thugs," but it is because of these fights that the workers of America now enjoy such extravagant luxuries as the 8 hour work day, the minimum wage and that bastion of drunkenness we call "the weekend3."

You read that correctly. Before unions were around, people would often work 12 hour days or more for a fraction of what their labor was worth. Children were used as cheap labor, and the idea of the 40 hour work week was laughable. Over time, these changes developed the middle class of our country. The fact of the matter is that unions were the backbone that developed the blue collar engine that powers this country.

And somewhere along the line, we have forgotten that the right to collectively bargain was at one point considered a civil rights issue. In fact, Martin Luther King Jr. died efending the right of Memphis sanitation workers to collectively bargain.

But rather than just invoke the name of MLK, let's examine what he fought, and ultimately died, for. In Memphis, sanitation workers were subjected to shockingly dangerous working conditions. It was not uncommon for people to be crushed to death or maimed while on the job, with little to no recourse for the injured and dead. Finally, the 1,300 person union went on strike. The day before he was killed, King addressed a crowd of striking workers, telling them "Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis." Several weeks after his assassination, the Memphis City Council agreed to recognize the union, thus ensuring better wages and working conditions.

I use this story to accentuate a point that is often forgotten or ignored by those who aim to demonize labor unions: labor rights are human rights. In an environment that weakens the power of the working individual to stand up and say "I deserve better," the labor movement gave them that strength.

While on the campaign trail, I heard someone argue the opposite of that point. This woman claimed that because a union puts everyone in a group, it weakens the individual's ability to succeed. This is the kind of argument that I hate – it makes sense on its face, but if you think about it in real world terms, it deteriorates quickly.

Let's perform a thought experiment. In a situation without any kind of union, especially in manual labor jobs like manufacturing, there is almost always someone looking for a job. Think about it – what would happen if a worker approaches his boss and says "I'd like better working conditions." Do you think that manager would say, "Sure, I'll give you perks that everyone else will want too"? No, that manager would say, "We got a line of people out the door who need a job and will work for less, so hit the bricks."

Don't believe that's what a manager would do in that situation? This is already happening in the form of hiring illegal immigrants. Immigrants are willing to work for less, so they are hired instead of Americans who require pesky things like a social security number and a minimum wage. WHY DO YOU WANT TO HIRE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, REPUBLICANS?

The individual is weakened because that person needs that job more than the employer needs that specific person. The worker is going to shut up because paying for groceries will supercede dangerous working conditions nine times out of ten.

One of the main reasons I started writing this column in the Flip Side is my distaste for political rhetoric that paints issues in a "black or white" sense. You're either with us or against us! The vast majority of political issues require an ability to think in nuance, recognizing that the world is not black and white, but infinite shades of gray.

This is not one of those issues.

To side with workers is to side with the people who create wealth in this country. The people who work hard, taking raw material and turning it into something valuable. To cheer the attacks on their rights is to side with the few over the many. This really is an issue of protecting our middle class because that middle class is what drives the creation of wealth in this country. That's just simple economics.

This is not a class warfare issue, and anyone who tries to frame it that way is being dishonest. There is a real middle ground here. That middle ground is treating employees with respect, not stripping them of their rights, taking thousands of dollars out of their pockets, then telling them to grin and bear it.

1 Also, Bowzer from ShaNaNa was there. You may know ShaNaNa as the band that performed as Johnny Casino & the Gamblers in the major cinematic masterpiece "Grease."
2 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articles-1312764/Britains-child-slaves-Newbook-says-misery-helped-forge-Britain.html
3 Okay, a little bit of sarcasm may have come through.