It is a curious thing to see everyone celebrate a holiday weekend that honors the labor movement while living in a state that actively exploits and distances itself from labor. And by distancing, I mean, actively working to dismantle the labor movement. The idea of a “right to work” state with the slogan Indiana - A State That Works just feels…off.
Years ago I worked in a company that had an interesting relationship with its employees. The owner was Australian and had a deep conviction about supporting employees through offering comprehensive healthcare coverage. (Australia has had universal healthcare for decades.) It was probably the most robust employee benefit I had seen in a company of its size. Every employee and their family were covered 100%. It was a rare benefit that ensured most employees remained well over 20 years, especially those who had started as perhaps single or young married and subsequently had a family. However, it was provided at a cost. As healthcare costs increased, raises became rare and, while bonuses still occurred annually, staff could not obtain a mortgage or secure a car loan based off of an annual bonus or benefit like comprehensive health insurance. What had kept long-term employees on the payroll could not retain newer, single staff. The benefit did not outweigh the cost.
In reviewing the employment history of this company, I recognized a pivotal shift in attitude between executive leadership, middle management and hourly workers. Middle management felt trapped by a benefit and wage negotiation that was no longer working for them. Hourly workers felt little if any loyalty to the company, often coming onboard from a temporary worker status. And the executive management felt increasingly frustrated by the lack of loyalty and commitment from their staff. But if I were to point to a single shift in the collective employment consciousness, it would be when the idea of “at will employment” took hold. The ability to hire and fire at will is a sobering reality for many who remember a more symbiotic relationship between employer and employee. In fact, even the term “worker” feels more like a line item on a budget than a human being who mutually invests in the success of a business.
I think we need to remember the idea that we, humans, are the hands and the feet that make our world. We have become deluded into believing it is Wall Street or 401(k)’s that accurately gauge the health of our nation. But in truth, it is the hands and the feet of the workers that build prosperity. Therefore, it is their well-being that should indicate whether we are on the right path or not. Labor Unions understand this fact. It is not just some social media meme that declares “If you are enjoying your weekend, thank a Union member.” Far too many things are taken for granted that actually came from blood, sweat and tears from union workers and their families.
We would do well to honor the labor movement by reclaiming our own history. Fellow Hoosier Eugene V. Debs is considered a leader of the labor movement.
”…ideas that were considered “radical” when Debs advocated for them…however, were gradually co-opted by the major political parties and have since become public policy. Among those ideas were the abolition of child labor, the right of women to vote, a graduated income tax, the direct election of US Senators, unemployment compensation for workers, employer liability laws, a national department of education, and pensions for men and women.”
Labor Hall of Fame, Eugene V. Debs and American Paradox by J. Robert Constantine [https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1991/08/art4full.pdf]
We should pause for a moment and consider what policies have been proposed or passed that threaten these ideas we once took for granted. In the last two legislative sessions, child labor has been reintroduced through the lowering of age restrictions, safety rules and employer liability. There is serious concern about the impact the proposed SAVE Act will have on women’s voting rights (and some Christian Nationalists even talk about removing the right for women to vote altogether!). Trump’s administration has gutted the Department of Education. And very few employees receive a pension anymore. With corporate stock buybacks, pensions are not a priority. Social security is under threat while 401(k)’s are supported only insofar as brokerage firms can speculate well. Ask any Millennial or Gen Z about future retirement plans, and they most likely will laugh. They’d like to find secure employment, thank-you-very-much. Too many of us are just trying to survive the present economy.
We must return to an imagination that declares that what we build, what we create, what we dream is more important than what the techbros and oligarchs take and exploit. We live in a world that is quickly losing its humanity. So we use our hands and our feet to remind ourselves that we are human. Whether we pick up a tool, a brush, a book, or a bowl, we are the hands creating in this moment. No matter whether we wear boots or sandals or barefeet, when we stand in solidarity with one another, we change the world. In fact, standing in solidarity with one another is a uniquely human thing to do. And we must do nothing less at this time.
”Ten thousand times has the labor movement stumbled and fallen and bruised itself, and risen again; been seized by the throat and choked and clubbed into insensibility; enjoined by courts, assaulted by thugs, charged by the militia, shot down by regulars, traduced by the press, frowned upon by public opinion, deceived by politicians, threatened by priests, repudiated by renegades, preyed upon by grafters, infested by spies, deserted by cowards, betrayed by traitors, bled by leeches, and sold out by leaders, but notwithstanding all this, and all these, it is today the most vital and potential power this planet has ever known, and its historic mission of emancipating the workers of the world from the thraldom of the ages is as certain of ultimate realization as is the setting of the sun.” - Eugene V. Debs
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