When class is the issue Democrats win. When race is the issue Republicans win.
Race has been the issue since the civil rights legislation passed during the 1960's and the War on Poverty began anti poverty programs designed to help blacks were followed by five years of black ghetto rioting and more enduring increases in black crime and illegitimacy.
If it had not been for the black ghetto riots and the doubling of the crime rate during the 1960's. a Democrat dove would have been elected in 1968. He who would have ended the War in Vietnam. Because Nixon won, the War continued for seven more years.
Now Democrat politicians are talking about more non white immigrants, fewer criminals in prison, a return to forced school busing and reparations.
Scalia is the typical bad fit that Trump choses for his staff and cabinet. But instead of just pointing that out, Kristof, as is his wont , aspires to be clever and muddles the point with babble. He ought to quit as columnist and make way for a clear, punchy writer like Paul Krugman.
3
like father, like son. Neither meant anything good for minorities or poor people. But people like Nick promote the environment that produce such people by struttingly demanding an honorable platform for the racism of the odious Charles Murray
4
HA HA HA HA. Oh my this is hilarious putting it mildly. How many different fantasies can I identify in this article & comments? Let's see
1) Trumps is responsible for the death of unions. No Shouldn't think so. They were moribund to dead long before Trump came along. You want to know what killed unions? Look at NAFTA, CAFTA & the WTO. American cannot compete with labor making 10$ a day. To believe otherwise is FANTASY!
2) And this one really funny! Tell me who signed NAFTA, CAFTA & let China in to the WTO? The Dems that's who! You with friends like that you don't need enemies. Dems had a great deal to do with the wholesale shipping of US jobs to the third world! Pretending the Dems are anymore a friend of labor the Repubs is nauseating. Because they obviously aren't. Fantasy again!
3) Their is NO equivalency between private & Public unions. Public jobs can't and won't be shipped to the 3rd world in the name of Free Trade. Private sector can & usually are. They are not negotiating on the same basis.
4) And this one is the biggest FANTASY of all! That there is the chance of snowflake in the Mojave of Private sector unions making a comeback. As long as as companies can freely & easily ship jobs to 3rd world & pay peanut wages ? The only that will happen if people demand higher wages or ask for better working conditions is so long jobs. I've been through it twice. It aint pretty. No claiming Unions are going to change anything or make a comeback? Is FANTASY!
8
This persecution did not start with Trump, it has been in the persona of the conservatives since the beginning of the labor movement. However, it got its steroid start under Reagan. Those year, the 80s, were also the last time we had real wage increases for average workers, and the last time we saw stable union membership. We can blame that on Reagan and the utter greed of our hugely compensated CEOs, but we can also blame it on the utter corruption of the union leaders.
Nobody is innocent in this situation.
(And please, NYT, understand the difference between genetives and contractions in your spellchecker). 80s and CEOs in a numbers list is a spellcheck error? Feel free to remove this part of my mail, but you are succumbing to my and others' (see?) fear that we will lose our English language standards completely. ( English is not my first language, in case you are interested.)
6
The South is the reason there are no unions. They subscribe to a race to the bottom to get factories to move south. Northern states then followed suit. Amazingly, most of those working class, mistreated southern workers have been voting for anti worker Republicans and voted for Trump. Believed the faux populist drivel he fed them: immigrants were going to rape their woman and take their jobs. They will vote for them again because they haven’t wizened up to the big con. I have no sympathy for them
31
Yet American working stiffs have followed the Reagan siren song of lower taxes and voted Republican against their own interests for 50 years. I am tired of subsidizing their willful ignorance.
33
Arguably????
Most regressive in modern US history. It's almost like it's channeling putin.
Oh, that's right....
7
The weekend.
Brought to you by the American labor movement.
35
The Democrats are the party against laborers. The encourage the flooding of our country with immigrants which depresses the wages of American citizens.
9
It is a sad history, the history of the US labor movement. Yet it is echoed in many parallels of the past, including especially the period from 1918 to 1939. During that time, socialist and communist ideologies overtook the pragmatic approach, and led to political overreach. That out-of-balance position was exploited mercilessly by the movements headed by Mussolini and Hitler, at the behest and with often open financial support from the industrial elite.
Proving that they never learn, labor leadership has taken the necessity of hard-headed action beyond the breaking point. The pugnacious us vs. them atmosphere, perhaps effective in some heroic fantasy of working-class heroism, has led to a real world fiasco of failure and declining support. Leadership strategy has failed to bring the troops along with them. Now we have the absurd spectacle of working class folks helping to elevate a top 0.01% real estate swindler to the presidency, where he has appointed a Velociraptor to guard the henhouse of the Labor Department.
7
How come Democrats don't point this out?
10
Why isn't anyone at the New York Times investigating how many Latinos (citizens and legal as well as illegal immigrants) are working at the Trump properties? How much are they paid? Are any of them unionized? Is the Trump organization benefiting from the anti-union sentiment in the country as well as from the availability of cheap labor? Could any hotel or golf course in the US function without Latino labor?
18
The truth...republicans have killed your unions. So, why do you keep voting for them?
21
Unions are mostly the victims of their own success. A 40 hour work week, minimum wage, child labor, workplace safety, overtime, vacation, etc.
Making nice with organized crime and white ethnic sectarian bigotry were self-inflicted wounds. As was the incestuous conflicted marriage between private and public unions.
But the division of the black and white working class was the best thing that ever happened to advance the interests of corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat oligarch welfare parasites and scavengers.
Dr. King dreamed of uniting the black and white working classes along common socioeconomic educational interests instead of dividing them across caste aka color aka ethnic aka national origin malign myths.
28
Why are we so disdainful of unions, which are nothing more than a tool for levelling the playing field toward workers, yet so easily accept Lobbies and lobbyists, which are nothing more than attempts by the already powerful to tilt the playing field in their direction. A lobby is nothing more than a union of corporations or special interests, to help them use government to gain some advantage....not based on their competitiveness, and often to the detriment of most of us!
241
@Old Doc Bailey
I think people have a general notion that the rich are powerful and rich because of some kind of moral superiority, so anyone that doesn't have power or money is challenging the natural order of things.
A lot of wealth is due to luck, favorable treatment of certain types of income gained by bribing congress people with contributions, etc. If the current administration is any sort of example. Trump has proven with his cabinet (and himself) that the rich are the worst people in the country - immoral, short sighted, and, quite frankly, dumb outside their narrow specialty.
43
Thanks for citing the work of Steven Greenhouse on labor unions. He gets it right. All the benefits worker have today, regardless of whether they are represented by a labor union, were won by organized labor.
What you did not mention in this article but should have is that the major adversary of organized labor has been the Republican Party. That has been the major reason this voter, once a union-represented employee and almost eight decades on this side of the grass, has never cast a vote for a Republican candidate for any office--local, state, or national office.
161
@Robert Stewart
Unions basically support the Democrats. Republicans do not like that, therefore, they put into effect a "Right to Work" state, which is anti-union. Then the Supreme Court ruled that if you work at a place that is covered by the union, you do not have to pay union dues to get the same benefits as the union workers.
My husband retired from a UAW- Chrysler plant, and as his widow, I get most of his pension, and the same medical, dental, eye and now hearing aids covered that he did. Since the Supreme Court ruling, the union asked me (and all other retirees) if they would pay union dues again. I said yes. Now I am a card-carrying union member. It is a small amount of money, which hopefully, will keep the union and our pensions stable for years to come.
51
@Robert Stewart - Steven Greenhouse's column in last week's Sunday Review is a must read as well.
9
@Robert Stewart
And rightly so. Thank you. (From a democrat -- small d.)
4
Republicans and Trump haven't just gutted unions; they've also effectively removed almost all recourse for non-union workers by granting corporations unilateral rights over workers.
Non-union workers usually are forced to signed 'arbitration' agreements and non-compete agreements upon employment that completely favor corporations, generally removing the right to sue for all workers.
Arbitration agreements are unconscionable as they subject worker rights and grievances to arbitrators bought and paid for by corporations.
And it's always been unaffordable for workers to sue a corporation, even without arbitration.
Trump and his Republican cronies won't be happy until feudalism is flourishing again....and they're getting close.
It's amazing that any non-millionaires vote Republican.
Chickens for Colonel Sanders: GOP 2019
397
@Socrates. Not just unions and members who must sign arbitration agreements. Try reading any new credit card agreement. You may discover that you have no right to sue as a consumer of money either, even when they steal your money — all legally, of course!
33
I appreciate your change of perspective. However, I am still stymied by how the union movement and Wobblies and all became so twisted in their management.
The workers benefitted but the management fed on their dues. My grandfather lost his job by going on strike. Their are vaults of stories of others of all ethnicities who were hurt because of the greed of others. See JohnnSayles “Matewan.” So many human lives damaged or destroyed and their grandchildren now totally unprotected.
How did we all ever let now come to exist?
1
I have finally realized why the left press is eager to criticize and debate Trump.
Everybody prefers to fight in their own weight category...
1
Here’s another thank you Mr. Kristof for re-opening my eyes on the value of unions, despite my contempt for their take another break before you go back to work attitudes.
2
Union bashing is a sport of the ignorant who are all too willing to ignore the benefits brought by the labor movement over the last century and more. Undoubtedly, these benefits are enjoyed by those doing the bashing even if they have never been a union member.
11
This article is infuriating. It took the writer all this time to realize that if unions collapse the well-being of workers will also. So many knew this as fact for decades. Preaching to the choir I think is the apt expression here.
10
My dad was a skilled Ford Motor tradesman who worked at the Dearborn, Michigan Rouge plant for 45 years. As a UAW member, he received a pension, health care and a livable wage. We weren’t rich -
we (dad, mom and five children) lived in an 800 SF Detroit house and we never owned a car. Thanks to the UAW, we
3
Too late, Nick.
The 2016 cycle was the firewall.
We will have to bottom out before we can start to rise again.
There's far worse to come before the Trump bacillus is expelled.
Our institutions are failing us on an epic scale.
We'll not be rid of these retrograde cretins soon, let alone get on with re-unionization.
6
Trump has purposefully undermined every governmental agency by appointing people like Zinke, Pruitt and De Vos whose goal is corrupt; privatize the schools, weaken protections to our water and lands and tax cuts for corporations who, like Amazon, pay no tax and whose employees have to wear diapers
7
I am so impressed that Nicholas Kristof is responding to some of these comments!
3
Well, get out and start organizing. These endless eulogies for organized labor are rather pointless. The corpse of organized labor was autopsied long ago. Current workers, if it is unions they want, need to work on establishing them. The fear of wrongful dismissal might be a bit easier to handle than the baton or bullet of a Pinkerton thug.
1
All human organizations become corrupt, businesses are as corrupt as any union as are churches, universities and politics.
4
It is also interesting to note beating down labor unions is characteristic fascism. Labor unions identify the ineffectiveness of the state in caring for workers, which is unfathomable for a fascist dictator. The dictator must be the sole source of what is best for the state. Trumpism is hard at work.
6
True, but what per cent of union members and those who would benefit if they could be union members will vote for Trump because "he won't take our guns away", "he's for lower taxes", "he's not a socialist", "he says what he means and means what he says", "he'll put the blacks in their place", "he's trying to stop the illegals from coming in", etc. The Republicans have always found their greatest support among low information voters.
15
Without Unions, this is essentially a slave state. Yes, Unions should be better run, but they are the lesser of two evils.
4
he conned some workers and now intends to destroy
them with the power they gave him
3
A union—I’m not sure which one—used to have a bumper sticker that read: “From the folks who brought you the weekend.” ‘Nuff said.
7
Read the link to the story about the teachers' union and the "Rubber Room." It's infuriating enough to make you anti-union for life!
1
All is not lost, as a member of a Los Angeles teachers union
we were able to stave off, for now, the capitalization of education
in Los Angeles. It took a lot of work, effort, and sacrifice to stop
the demonization of our union and achieve our goals. Their are a few of us left in this country who will not be forced into serfdom without a fight.
10
What a mess. I work for SUNY and I'm represented by a union that costs me $700/year. In spite of that, I have brought home less money every year since 2013, due to zero or very small raises, and increasing health care costs. It's kind of hard to blame workers for rejecting union membership now.
3
Thank you, Mr. Kristoff, for recognizing the important role unions have had in our Democracy. We have arrived at a time when we must fight for our Democracy and regulate corporations to arrest the Oligarchic monsters they have become. Unions, not false oligarchic forces that have just about overwhelmed all the institutions we have, are the proven key to ensuring a shared prosperity that builds the middle class. Unions gave us the middle class, without them, we see nothing but record inequality and a shrinking middle class.
Unions must be monitored for fiscal propriety just as we used to monitor corporations for the same.
I too like your Typhoid Mary simile! It’s good to have some fun while taking on huge organized forces set to crush us. We have done it before - in the late 1890s and again following the Great Depression. It took a grassroots groundswell of angry, cheated people who rose up and demanded a fair economy. It was most successful when we strengthened unions, and the workers rights to join them.
4
President Trump’s appointment to head the Labor Department is another disappointing choice.
It’s unrealistic and dishonest to expect that labor unions will be as pure as the driven snow in a capitalist economy.
Is corporate capitalism above reproach? No. Are labor unions without fault? No.
Regardless, both corporate capitalism and labor unions would benefit from recognizing that in the USA, we still can’t have one without the other. Learn to get along.
2
"A corporation may eventually be fined $5,000 or $10,000 for such a wrongful dismissal,..."
This strikes to the heart of the matter. Even if the government vigorously prosecutes, which it generally doesn't, even under Democratic administrations, the penalties are nothing. A more appropriate penalty would be the automatic unionization of all employees of the company at all locations in all states in which it operates if it is found guilty of this.
8
Much like the Russians influencing public opinions in 2016 - the GOP was way ahead of them when it came to feeding the public with their lies about the corruption of Unions. And those lies became the jokes and general derision many if us promulgated about Unions for decades. Myself included, as I was a son of the Management class. All I saw was how they made my dad's job difficult every time they'd strike.
Then I saw the reality, when I was working for an abusive firm where the (Warehousing) Union finally broke thru. But because I'd shown early interest, I'd already been fired when the contract was signed. I was left out in the cold.
The Repubs fed the public their lies about Unions, and the public, and pop-culture bought in. Movies, TV showed us nothing but the worst of Unions. Overfed, lazy men trying everything they could to not work. Rare was the pro-side depicted in such work. Rarely were we shown that when Unions did well, so did the non-unionized. By the time the spill-over benefits were being touted - the membership was already low and declining.
BUT - Unions had a lot to do with their own demise. They were too insular, too white, too male and not prone to promoting themselves in positive ways.
Lots of blame, but most is on the GOP anti-Union propaganda machinery.
Put this on the list of their gerrymandering, voter suppression and anti-women bodily control initiatives.
They keep winning battles...
11
hat tip for mea culpa.
Systematic attack on Unions is a hallmark of what we call today neoliberalism or market fundamentalism. Most of American intelligencia subscribed to this line of thinking for upwards of 40 years now. It does help that newspaper columnists and ivory tower professors tend to be well paid and thus insulated from consequences of their advocacy.
Unions can help in another epidemic that is actually threatening to destroy this country economically. An epidemic of wealth extraction by executives, boards, financial speculators and shareholders. We call this epidemic short-termism. Workers and customers, not shareholders, are the primary stakeholders in any enterprise. Workers need the company to function, as they cannot steal the surplus, call it my sacred, hard earned, private property, and become independently wealthy. They need the functioning enterprise to provide sustenance and ultimately a pension.
Laws which are permissive of wealth extraction through financial manipulation, debt and lack of investment cause wealth polarization, which then causes government corruption through paid lobbying and increasingly sophisticated propaganda, followed by smooth transition into a banana republic, which we are witnessing today in the United States. Unions can provide some measure of protection from this destructive process.
9
Name an American Industry that survived, let alone thrived, when the majority of its workforce became unionized. I cannot. Unions and Industry thrived together when the industrial capacity of our foreign competitors had been decimated by war. Increasing unionization levels back to those that existed in the 1950s would destroy our economic competitiveness. One only needs to look at France to see how these sorts of “worker protections” make an economy stagnant. The best way to help labor is to keep the unemployment rate as low as possible. Competition for workers will raise wages and improve working conditions.
1
I think you are ignoring the rise of public sector unions vs. private. 33% of public workers are union members vs 6% of private. governments have done a terrible job of representing taxpayers in negotiations with these unions - like the public pension crisis of the early 2000's, and protecting underperforming workers - so that people generally see unions negatively.
7
Enjoying a decent retirement thanks to my union. People knock unions because they think everyone should work for cheap with no benefits, as they do.
10
"Every creature is driven to pasture with a blow"
... So states the ancient philosopher Heraclitus. In the Twentieth Century unions did a tremendous job helping the 'average' worker, who 'on average' had taken a tremendous beating at the hands of unscrupulous employers. The blows of the 'on average' greedy employers pushed the workers to unite for self-preservation.
As the workers got into better shape, 'on average', they became complacent or 'on average' were replaced by workers who had not experienced the hardships which drove their predecessors to the pasture of the union.
Now the new crop of workers must feel the blows of experience - the most certain of teachers - which will eventually drive them to pasture, too. Unless they perish along the way.
'On average' the idea of the union is more honest and fair to the worker, and the anti-union is dishonest and unfair to the worker, 'on average'.
People with poor critical thinking skills or some nefarious agenda will always find specific contrary examples but they prove nothing, other than the unreliability of poor reasoning or bad intent.
1
Well, Nicholas, being a coddled, white collar suburban boy, you've had the luxury to spout anti-union nonsense for years because your bread and butter never depended on a workaday paycheck. Now you've suddenly discovered that unions actually benefit working folks? How nice of you to stoop down now to our level.
This is why so many blue collar people walked away from the Democratic Party over the years. I don't know if I can remember Hillary more than once or twice advocating for strong labor unions during her campaign in '16.
And, regarding corruption, why have so many supposedly liberal people continued to push that conservative talking point while ignoring the vast pattern of corruption that corporations have engaged in for decades now?
Yes, Trump and the GOP hate Labor. There is nothing new about that. This has been the case for around a hundred years now. It is time for every Democratic candidate for president to make being pro-Labor front and center in their platform.
The ones who do that are the ones who will benefit the most from the majority of us defined as blue collar workers.
5
@Raindog63
Most of the Democratic candidates are pro-union, including Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. They have supported them and showed up at pro-union events. You are not paying attention.
Thinking that Republicans support unions is just delusional.
9
Eugene Scalia - another victory for the corporate state. Gee, where did we see corporate states rise before?
3
What took you so long? Unions are responsible for the 8 hour day, minimum wage, safety rules that keep workers safe, etc. These facts were not hard to find....
5
Samuel Gompers, founder of the cigar makers union, many, many years ago was asked: after you have gotten everything you asked for from management, what will you ask for? He replied, More.
In my opinion, Some unions want to run the business without taking responsibility for its success or failure.
I remember hard hats for Reagan and then he busted the controllers union.
Miners voting Republican.
All too often as of late industrial workers who are unionized vote Republican against their own interest.
It gave us Trump.
14
"...achieving many things that now most Americans take for granted." That's the problem.
2
" The relentless assault on labor has gained ground partly because, over the last half-century, many Americans — me included — became too disdainful of unions. It was common to scorn union leaders as corrupt Luddites who used ridiculous work rules to block modernization and undermine America’s economic competitiveness."'
Looking back - who were the Luddites, Mr. Kristof??
Come on, we know who is making the money, The elites in on the coast, big finance, big tech, big government all bastions of the Left, and nigh a union worker in sight. Trump might be anti union but the Left is anti human
So, we need to encourage the phoenix-like rise of labor unions. In this age of social media are there no enclaves to bring this to pass? Wake up Mr Zuckerberg! This might be one issue in which you could actually help the country.
I represented a public sector union for almost forty years and found that the work was important for many reasons: Bureaucracies exist to ensure that political favoritism does not run too amok, but they also, given a priority for ensuring quality do in fact work. We saw that when a governor proclaimed that the private sector could do the work cheaper, they did but on an interstate highway fake drains were not installed, mixing too much sand for "drainage" let highway potholes erupt faster than prairie dog holes in the springtime. The cashboxes for governors were filled quickly by those wo stood to benefit by the well-tailored bid specifications while unions were attacked as easy foils.
Bureaucracies are also difficult to work within; it is not cushy jobs that attract many to the service of the environment, law enforcement, highway work where ice and snow pile up for drivers as well as the drivers needed to clear roads. Where supervisors are often immune from discipline for abusing their workers, a union is vital to dignity as well as protection.
Tenure does not protect teachers from incompetence, but incompetent supervisors are too often afraid to make the case where discipline is needed. When I heard of teachers in Florida some years ago who could not read, I had to wonder who the heck hired these people? It goes on and on.
Crooked company executives get a pass; a bad union leader gets vilified, and replaced.
4
Trump isn't draining the swamp; he is building a government of Trump, by Trump, and for Trump. Unions, like everything else centered on workers, just get in the way.
3
Mr. Kristof should be celebrating. The Unions won. Then they turned over enforcement to the alphabet soup of Federal agencies rendering themselves impotent and out of the fight. The members seeing nothing but union bosses living high on the hog and defending the co-workers who made them look bad left in droves. No Labor Secretary is going to resurrect meaningless and corrupt labor unions when the source of power is Washington D.C. The Union bosses are supplicants at the feet of the Democratic Party and the members, and more importantly the ex-members, know it.
Unions were born of desperate times. Slave wages and unsafe conditions. With minimum wage (really minimum wage) and osha, those desperate times no longer exist.
Add foreign completion in manufacturing, and I doubt unions will come back.
Please!
If your going to compare our unions to Europe's please do not ignore how they differ.
Living in Europe, I experienced one-day (yes!) strikes.
Living in the USA I experienced to-the-death strikes, prolonged stoppages that threatened the very existence of General Motors and other American corporations.
If I were Japanese I'd build a monument to the Ruether brothers who did great damage to US car manufacturers by their "total war" tactics.
1
1
Unions, like all organizations, are imperfect and can become corrupt. But, without them, the American middle and working classes have sunk. Ironically, some of the very people who would benefit from unionism, do not support unions! Why? Fox News, the Koch brother, billionaires who work behind the curtain to spread disinformation and demonize the common worker as lazy, greedy and currupt. Ironically, this would describe many billionaires, especially the one who inherited wealth: trump.
4
The strength of the unions was the Mafia that controlled the the long Shore men, the Teamsters, the garment workers, & probably had their greasy fingers in most unions. Bobby Kennedy was instrumental in breaking the hold of the mob on
labor & in so doing weakened the mob.Probably, President Kennedy was assasinated by the mob , who felt betrayed by the mob, who felt they were in part responsible for Kennedy’s Presidency.In fact, the mob led unions did much more harm than good & had to be eliminated, along with most of the mob.
Sadly, no one came to the rescue of the union less workers who were left to fend for themselves, and were displaced by low cost labor in China & elsewhere & by technology.
You would think that labor would look to the Democrats for support, but instead the Democrats gave them Nafta.In turn ,labor voted for Trump, who lied and told them he would bring back their jobs, that never happened.
Trump has sold what was left of labor, that immigrants were taking away their jobs, which turned the rust belt against the Democrats who was supportive of millions of immigrants who were for the most part undocumented.
Unfortunately,if the Democrats lose the rust belt again, they will lose the election.
1
It remains astonishing to me how the GOP has convinced lower middle class whites that unions are bad for them. They have jobs with modest if not poor benefits, limited retirement plans and middling pay, but think that the likes of Donald Trump, Wilbur Ross and Eugene Scalia (not to mention supporters of Trump like the Koch Brothers and the Walton family) are going to look out for them?
The only rationale I can think of, given recent events, is that they care more about their dislike of brown skinned people than they do about economic fairness, even for themselves. There are a lot of old, rusted trailers and broken-down homes in Alabama and Mississippi with Confederate flags flying outside them. They really could use a union to represent and support them. But I guess it's better to be white and ripped off by rich white guys than have to live and work beside a black man or an immigrant, right?
The shame is that, despite having no money, they have something very valuable--their vote. The rich white guys running the GOP can't win without it. But they squander that vote. I guess that's why they are living as they are in the first place--misplaced priorities: Hate first, their financial well-being second.
3
We need featherbedding people on one side to counter featherbedding people on the other side. Probably the best we can hope for.
This op-ed gets the forest but sure spends a lot of time on the trees. I acknowledge the many trees of union shortcomings but believe the forest with unions is a heck of a lot healthier than the forest without them.
5
It is good to see someone is aware of the issue Dems MUST "focus like a laser beam" on in 2020. Media run the herd from distraction to distraction, keeping the angst churning so that there is no clear focus for Praxis.
A president has very limited ability to stop murders. But is cloaked in immense powers to deal with economic inequality (put simply, he needs many allies ot legislate, but the veto means he can make many allies to get sausage in the budget process).
The central fact to be put in the cross hairs is that we are an effective Oligarchy. That ruling claque may split on various identity questions, but when it comes to class interest they work in lock step, and since our system is all about the "mother's milk" of money...
The Oligarchy either directly owns, or feeds, the media. The media clearly are moving to get any Socialist argument off to the side of the stage. The distraction- polls say (whatever the sound bites determine)- game is in full gear.
(If Socialists were organized and meant it they would understand for the long haul fight it will take they need their own media... including hard copy, a weekly CALL in major cities is almost a sine qua non... if nothing else to defend SS and mediocre and public education...socialism we have but is under privatizing attack constantly
I say that from experience- Davis Argus, Sac News& Reviews, the irregular Flat Lander)
Moscow, ID politics (particularly M v W) , race even, guns, distractions...
Dividing the pie!
As a worker, the work situation was so interesting to me. I was a aerospace engineer working with other aerospace engineers. I thought we were a rather educated and intelligent group. But, since we were workers, management had total distain for us in anything not regarding engineering. When it came to any other issue, HR, time management, scheduling... we were just too ignorant and uneducated to contribute in any way. People who had masters and doctorates just did not understand business. (I worked with a European to told me that was nonsense, "You have eyes, you have ears") And I watched bad decision after bad decision that drove the company's business into the ground. Conservatives, and a lot of "Dem moderates" here will simply blame the workers for decisions the workers had nothing to do with, as management is always right.
4
In addition to the corporate union busters, it seems that municipal and government unions are not being subject to the same “busting” mentality.
Every time a police officer is accused of a crime, their FOP rep. or whoever starts screaming from the rafters about persecution. AGAIN PEOPLE – There are good cops and bad cops and it intrigues me that the loudest voice is for the cop, ICE or CBP that truly has no business be in the public service sector, let alone any kind of enforcement officer. It’s almost as if the unions are changing their mission statement to hire and defend the worst of the worst and to sign on to an ideology only.
Look at the Facebook groups that have been uncovered of late; ICE, CBP and Police Departments that are totally opposite of the mission they took an oath to protect. Forget cabinet members. In many aspects of this administration, the boots on the ground are doing their own feather-bedding, and that is more frightening to me than Rick Perry.
If only the good law enforcement, the honest law enforcement, the apolitical law enforcement, the common sense law enforcement and the human decency law enforcement had more of a say in who they think is worthy of their mission.
I heard the old tune Coal Tattoo yesterday sung by Judy Colllins and was struck the power of coal miners' fury, sadly manifest in their 2016 support for Trump. I mourned for their plight, for the unions that have struggled to support them, and wondered if this tune might not find a new, eager audience.
Travelin' down that coal town road. Listenin' to my rubber tires whine.
Goodbye to Buckeye and white Sycamore. I'm leavin' you behind.
I've been coal miner all of my life. Layin' down track in the hole.
Gotta back like an ironwood, bit by the wind. Blood veins blue as the coal. Blood veins blue as the coal.
Somebody said, "That's a strange tattoo you have on the side of your head"
I said, "That's the blueprint left by the coal. A little more and I'd been dead
Well, I love the rumble and I love the dark. I love the cool of the slade
And it's on down the new road, lookin' for a job. This travelin' nook in my head
I stood for the union and walked in the line and fought against the company
I stood for the U. M. W. of A. Now, who's gonna stand for me?
I've got no house and I got no job, just got a worried soul
And a blue tattoo on the side of my head left by the number nine coal. Left by the number nine coal
Someday when I'm dead and gone to heaven, the land of my dreams
I won't have to worry on losin' my job, on bad times and big machines
I ain't gonna pay my money away on dues or hospital plans
I'm gonna pick coal where the blue heavens roll and sing with the angel band.
Nicholas...in your newsletter referencing this column, you stated, "That’s like appointing Lysistrata to be secretary of war, or Genghis Khan to be minister of culture." ALL of Trump's appointment have followed that pattern.
vAnd from the GOP on the Hill? Crickets. Guess they don't care what happens to our government that has suffered a coup in the last 2 1/2 years as long as that dirty campaign money keeps pouring in.
4
On the bright side, there isn't much more the government has left to do to stick it to employees. This is just a mop-up operation.
The name Scalia will not be looked upon kindly by American history.
A Scalia led the Supreme Court backwards in time and pioneered the use of original intent to forward the Corporate agenda.
The apple has not fallen far from the tree. E Scalia will attempt to inflict more damage on the progress of working men and women.
Did you ever wonder how people like this sleep at night?
3
Trump is only one of several who have attacked Unions.
The word "War" is such an over-used one, in the Media. War on Women, War on Gays, War on Minorities. And now - War on Workers.
What is evident in the Media is a War on Civility, a War on Reasoned Discussion and a War on Finding the Middle Ground.
I have been reading the NY Times for over 50 years - the partisan one-dimensional direction it has taken over the last few years is troubling.
2
American workers actively participated in the death of unions and are now reaping the result. I have had it with Americans who don't possess the mental capacity or the will to vote their own interests. I no longer care what happens to them.
1
It’s so nice when the NYT is contradicting self and we have to do nothing to point out such hypocrisy.
“Trump Finds a Brawler for His War on Workers”
“The bigger picture is that America’s working class is in desperate shape. Average hourly wages are actually lower today, after inflation, than they were in 1973, and the bottom 90 percent of Americans have seen incomes grow more slowly than the overall economy over the last four decades. The reasons are complex, but one is the decline of unions — for unions benefit not only their own members but also raise wage levels for workers generally.”
If the wages of the workers have fallen since 1973, it cannot be Trump’s fault nor his war on the workers.
Whose war is it? It has been waged by the big corporations. Who owns the free press outlets? The big corporations…
There you go…
Who has waged the war on the workers?
The free press…
Yes, you support unions? Let's see...
Do you drive an auto assembled in the US by union labor? That doesn't include Honda. Toyota. Nisssn, Huyndai/Kia, BMW, Mercedes and Tesla.
Let's see that show of hands. That's not many.
Let's all join in for a chorus of "Solidarity, Once in Awile, Forever".
Our consumer choices impact union membership. PATCO indeed.
Time to recognize the GOP for what they are: not racist, not nationalist, but classist. Specifically, they hate the poor and working classes. They’re not too fond of the middle class, either, except as a tool to turn against the poor and working class with fairytales about how you too can be wealthy if you just work harder and vote for more tax cuts for the wealthy. Everything the right does is to enrich the wealthy at the cost of the masses. As long as progressives, Democrats, and institutions like The NY Times choose to focus on race and other distractions, the GOP and their wealthy leash holders will continue to win middle and working class white (and even some African American and Latinx) voters to their side.
Bernie and Warren kind of sort of start to mention this, but they’re too distracted making it about health care or college loans and not focusing on the big picture. KISS, you know? Instead of “Trump hates black people” or “Trump hates South Americans” make your mantra “Trump hates the working and middle classes because X, Y, and Z” and watch how much more that resonates with all voters.
ABH is an unconditional supporter of labor unions, and has been a member of the UFT for 2 generations. Albert Shanker, Sandra Feldman inter alios were fighters for us and I am proud of them. Unfortunately, movement, overall , has been in decline for generations, due to automation, globalization and amazingly, advocacy of some union leaders for immigration, "parfois" illegal,which ends up being a plus for chambers of commerce seeking to flatten wages.No Excuse for that!And when is the last time labor unions paraded in NYC on Labor Day?Author needs to find another "violon d'Ingres"besides being anti Trump, who is always authentic, always himself , the tough talking entrepreneur from Queens who identifies with working people since they built his properties. Trump connects with them, respects them! Whereas HRC would put on a phony down home accent when she would address a congregation in an African American church, Dukakis back in the day would play soldier driving a tank--Trump needs no props. Believe that if NK were living in Cal. on border with southern Mexico whence many "indocumentados,"uneducated, unskilled hail,he might might change his views.(Ironically it was in Oaxaca that a kindly vet rescued a dog whom I later adopted and brought back to the US.)Second, third generation Mexicans in the US resent presence of the newcomers!Suggest NK look at all sides of the question re appt. of Scalia "fils! "Author simplifies issues known for their complexity!
Trump came down the escalator an unprincipled man. Simple but true. Such men act on impulse, gut or take cues based on making the donor class happy. A world of winners and losers; a calculus summing up Trump's world view.
A perfect Trump appointment. Like Scott Pruitt with the EPA, it's about wrecking, stripping and plucking a profit out for his fellow swamp dwellers.
3
In Catcher in the Rye terminology, the President is a phony. A while back, he wanted background checks but upon receiving his orders from Wayne Lapierre, Trump shut up about background checks.
I would like to see him keep a promise or two, particularly to working class Americans but at the moment Tariff Man appears intent on destroying the family farm. Why should workers, who have committed wage suicide by believing anti-union propaganda expect any better from this President?
I have a suggestion; Hispanics, who have much to lose from Trump should join unions whenever there is an opportunity, not only for better workplace wages and conditions, but for political support against White Supremacy and conservative enablers. Mississippi has not heard a peep from the Koch brothers, whose employees at chicken processing plants were ripped from crying American citizen children.
The imbalance between labor and management violates the spirit of our constitution's checks and balances. If not addressed, it will bring great harm to us all.
I guess Trump does no think he needs the Labor vote in 2020. Maybe he just outsmarted himself, which of course would not be a very difficult thing for him to do since his I.Q. must be somewhere about 100. After all I'm sure he can chew gum and tie his shoes at the same time. Maybe !
The mouth piece for the anti-union-corporate-trump agenda is Fox news and Murdock. Until there's a way to get the followers of this propaganda machine to hear what's actually happening to them/us I fear we're doomed.
Union leaders corrupt? I’m sure it’s happened, but how about corporate leaders? Government leaders? Health insurance leaders? Journalists?
2
Unions! The backbone of the work force in the 50’s and 60’s! The period when. Skilled labor earned a living wage achieving the American dream, a home, a car and college education for their children. A time when America appeared to be truly great, sadly depending on your race!
If the tweeter in chief wants to make America great again he will harass the ceo’s, Wall Street and other groups that control the wages and benefits of all workers!!
I
Isn't this column much too little, and much too late for a person as intelligent as Nicholas Kristof? NK and other neoliberals long ago abandoned support for unions that were in reality one of the central pillars of the economic fairness that was fought for in the US in the early and mid-20th century, and later scuttled by Reagan/Bush/Clinton/Bush/Obama. Now NK admits as much and states what Trump is doing to further attack middle and working class people. Sorry, but a column and a FB post is not enough undo 40 years that saw unions attacked and mostly eliminated and wealth inequality skyrocket due to neoliberals in the media and in politics. At least Joe Nocera figured out the central importance of unions 7 years back in his NYT column (https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/05/opinion/nocera-turning-our-backs-on-unions.html?ref=opinion).
Labor unions are the piggy bank for the Democratic Party.
1
People don’t seem to get that unions are required by law to defend the interests of their dues paying members. Having worked for a union for 20 years, I came to see like a client lawyer relationship. So there will be cases where it seems the union is defending a member or practice that doesn’t merit defense. But if there is a defense to be found in the union contract, it must use it. The benefits of representation for workers will always outweigh any inefficiencies it brings to business and even consumers.
1
Workers have enabled the attacks on their rights and wholeheartedly accepted the propaganda produced by Republicans that unions actually worked against them. It's workers themselves that allowed unions to dissolve. Workers have been convinced that they can go it alone in protecting their rights. I have little sympathy for workers who believe that big-daddy corporation will take care of them, that seniority means anything and CEO's care about them. And, white collar workers are the worst--they've bought into the anti-worker ethos of modern corporations that working insane hours and being constantly accessible is required to succeed. When families fall apart and kids act out, no one ever blames our ridiculous anti-worker, anti-family, pro-business culture. Whatever further desecration of worker's health and safety Trump and Scalia have planned, I have no doubt it will be accepted by American workers without a peep.
65
Could not agree more with the role of unions in the development of the middle class. Growing up in the coalfield of Pennsylvania, there were two minds about the unions: they were an engine for prosperity or they were a bane to good business. As independent business people, my parents lived both sides of that story. Overall though the net effect was positive. But unions did much more alter economic outcomes. They were social support systems for those workers and their efforts extended to even non-union employees. Their workplace rules, which many condemned or ridiculed, were in some form codified as safety and health regulations for all workers. Say what you will, in a time when Make America Great Again seems to be a rallying cry for the disaffected, those same MAGA slogan spouters should understand just what it is that made America great. One of those were institutions such as the unions.
4
Republicans are just following their time worn mantra that capital is much more important than labor. The tax bill proves that helping the corporations much more than than the individual. Labor suffers in the myriad of schemes that Trump and his Scrooge McDuck buddies follow. Witness the Tariffs killing the small farmers so the banks can scoop up the foreclosures and the agricorps can pick up the land for a song. We are well on our way back to feudal society. I hope 2020 comes before revolution which has been noted ,starts in a hungry man's stomach.
38
Mr. Kristof's essay is a rather rambling and unfocused piece on the unraveling of unions in the US. He makes no mention of the fact that it's the American styled capitalist system of profit and exploitation above all else and the culture of anti-union that is pervasive at all levels of American government that were the main causes of the demise and collapse of unions in the US.
He perversely blames the union featherbedding and rigid work rules as contributing causes to the collapse of unions and cites some examples to support his contention. Unions' work rules and protection of unionized workers are precisely the responses in the face of aggressive and greedy corporations and companies aided and abetted by states' and federal's laws and regulations that put businesses' profit above workers' pay, safety and rights.
The widest inequality in wealth and income and the erosion of American middle class and the desperation of the American poor (which gave rise to Donald Trump) are the direct results of the American capitalist system which ironically makes the US less competitive and productive.
4
Reasonable corporate taxes. Strong Unions. Health care for all. Reasonable minimum wages and the income inequality will decrease.
As a kid, back in 1979, every adult I knew was in a union and union talk was regular conversation around familial tables.
As a young man, applying for my first jobs in the late 80s-early 90s, only a handful of the jobs I researched had unions.
Now, I don't know a single person in a union.
It's no coincidence that wages are still at 1970s levels.
Corruption is possible in any endeavor. But you don't throw out the baby with the bath water... unless a lot of corporate dollars are paying you to... the decline of unions is a symptom... the cause is the corporate coup of our government.
7
It seems to me that all too often the union is most interested in protecting the union rather than the workers rights, workers working conditions, and helping with genuine workers grievences. We don't live in the same world as 75 years ago and for a worker to get higher pay there must be an acknowledgement that worker education, skill, and productivity must improve, and some work rules should change--but unions generally have opposed everything but seniority pay and promotion. Frankly, I think that workers want somebody on their side, but also somebody who tells them the truth about the future, and not just somebody stealing from their wallet, and the unions aren't measuring up. Blind adherence to supporting political candidates who pander to "union rights" doesn't help either, as the unions more and more are seen as political fundraising machines then worker's advocates.
We really need to inform ourselves more if we are commenting that unions oppose everything except for "seniority pay and promotion." Unions' members and leadership are diverse and include a large number of workers in low-wage industries. Just as every corporation is not corrupt like Enron or built on low wages like ConAgra, Wal-Mart,Uber or Amazon, unions have a variety of leadership and policy goals. Moreover, unions have long fought for issues that benefit working people -- and the country -- as a whole, including a higher minimum wage, health care and worker health and safety laws.
Like any organization, unions have their issues. But being a ardent unionist, I’d rather work in a union shop opposed to not.Nothing and nobody is perfect, but unchecked corporations have a distinct advantage over any worker, any worker. Capitalism needs to be a balance between labor and capital, not what we have today. Workers will eventually rise up and revolt, we always have, we always will. Gated communities won’t protect the gilded.
2
Unions are not perfect. No human organization is. But all of the working condition protections we take for granted had to be fought for, and the absence of unions is death for workers.
Far too many Americans, including some liberals, bought into the anti-union propaganda perpetrated by the GOP from 1980 forward on behalf of the wealthiest and huge corporations. The most effective executor of this strategy was Reagan, who successfully used dog-whistle racism to peel off millions of white working-class folks to vote against their own economic interests.
Now Trump has cut out the middleman and made the racism overt, while simultaneously doing everything he can to crush the earning and voting power of working people.
The next bite of the apple for organized labor will be the gig economy, where tens of millions are working for low wages and with few worker protections. Democrats would be smart to focus on organizing those constituents.
4
Unfortunately, corruption and greed works at all levels of society and both corporations and unions have had their share. But Mr. Kristin is right, unions have been gutted and can no longer fight for the workers, which was and is their primary job. Today, corporations are way out of control and this administration is aiding and abetting them.
I was a member of the teacher’s union for 30 years and I have nothing to say from my experience but praise and support for unions and their primary job. I feel for those workers today who have no way of banding together and collectively bargaining with their powerful bosses. And no, I never thought it was right to defend incompetence. Discernment should be a part of every union’s practice.
3
There is some sort of weird disconnect here. A Republican party that stands against living off the government, and at least states they are for personal responsibility, would seem to be in line with promoting the worker. This means promoting a living wage, safe working conditions, and a workplace based retirement program. How is it possible to be pro-worker and anti-worker at the same time?
1
I am pro-union - in theory. In practice, unions have done a lot to kill themselves with impossible demands and inflexible structures.
Two-plus decades ago, when I was pregnant and in danger of being let go (for the upcoming insurance cost) my (then) union told me they did not have any provisions for women's health. They did not tell me about my rights or right to overtime pay. I was just 'a girl' in a male-dominated profession. But when I needed to switch a floppy disk on my graphics computer (a mainframe then), I needed to call an engineer, wait for his arrival + let him do it. > 20 minutes instead of 5 seconds.
I am sure there are better examples, but this is mine.
1
"Remember, too, that manufacturing workers in Germany are unionized and earn $10 more an hour than their American counterparts. "
I worked for a German big pharma in the early '90s. After talking with other people who worked big pharma in New Jersey at the time, it appeared to me that the company took every employer advantage that it could. We had fewer days off than the other big pharmas; salaries were lower; we had to wait a full year before contributing to a 401k.
I can only imagine that the compensation package for Daimler Benz employees in the US is paltry compared to what their in Germany colleagues are earning.
2
Glad to see you've made the same journey I have, Mr. Kristof, to be able to see that unions are necessary after all, despite their imperfections.
3
" It was common to scorn union leaders as corrupt Luddites who used ridiculous work rules to block modernization and undermine America’s economic competitiveness."
In some cases union leaders earned that scorn by doing those things, but the anti-union movement created a generalized impression out of a few edge cases.
The right wing is really good at that sort of thing. It works with nationalism, it works with laissez-faire capitalism, and it works with union busting.
The common thread running through all these beliefs is the idea that only one thing can be true, and everything else is false.
The counter argument is that many things can be true at once. Unions can have their problems but still be necessary, immigration doesn't have to mean open borders, and capitalism can be useful, but it needs common-sense restraints.
In this context, my favorite phrase is "many things can be true at once."
7
While I agree with your premise that labor unions need to be strengthened, not weakened, going back to the 1940s and 1950s as representative of what labor can do is a false analogy.
In the 1950s, we were the only economy left standing. European economies were decimated and took until the late 1960s and early 1970s to become truly competitive again, the rise of the Japanese economy, and eventually the rise of China, created huge competition for the US.
The rush toward trade pacts that did not address the fundamental differences in working conditions and wage levels between the US and other countries had the result of "raising all boats" but because the protections were not there for US workers, rational businesses moved out of the US for lower costs.
But you can't put that genie back in the bottle again. What would really help workers in the US is investment in the US in areas like infrastructure, education and industrial policy. But that is simply not going to happen under the current regime in the White House and the Senate. Why? Well because all of those sectors of the economy are more unionized and the impact on other industry wage levels would be obvious and telling. That is why US business will not really support increased US investment. Why kill the goose that laid the golden egg?
We could do it. US taxes as a percent of GDP are in the lowest decile of OECD countries. Taxes? Oh my, we can't raise taxes.
2
I think it's clear that there is a direct line from Reagan firing the Air Traffic Controllers to ICE raiding the chicken factories last week. The reason there were no management arrested may have something to do with the labor issues being presented to management by the chicken factory workers. The management called ICE in to get rid of the problems presented by the labor issues and to terrorize the remaining workers. What management here in the US has accomplished is a sort of in between slavery and serf. It is a beautiful thing for business, draw workers from foreign lands to the US with the promise of work and control them through their illegal status even to the point of having the Government step in and deport them when they step out of line or discuss unionization. Labor is perhaps too far down the drain of history already because automation is coming fast. We're going to have an incredible amount of poor people fighting over scraps and that sure is good for business. Their only hope, labor unions may be too little too late and as well, most have been brainwashed to believe that unions are "socialist" anyway and dismiss them as a solution. Welcome to Reagans America. Poor whites had a real winner in their corner back then, and they'll pay the price their entire life as well through lower wages and sickening conditions. The rich have shipped all jobs that paid well overseas and the ones left they've got covered by illegals, brainwashed poor whites and the incarcerated.
12
Do not underestimate the damage done by unions supporting bad or lazy workers. A union should NOT be supporting a teacher who passes out drunk in a classroom. In fact I believe unions would have become stronger if the goal was to create the very BEST employee so companies would find no advantage in hiring a non-union employee. Instead they wasted their power protecting the worst and least productive of them.
We'd all be better off with strong, highly productive union workers. A union worker should be respected as a highly paid but very productive employee. There are many I'm sure. But the reputation is of the opposite.
4
@Ben
You have a valid point and all Union employees must remember their responsibilities: being paid better should mean being better. We are obligated to lead in that manner for the sake of all working people.
4
@Ben
I'm not sure the reputation is fair, however. Of course, there are always bad workers, unionized or not. But there has long been a concerted effort by those who oppose unions to make a few bad apples representative of the whole bushel.
3
@Ben: What I'm about say, is not intended to defend unions who protect workers who, one way or another, are just plain lousy at their jobs.
While I am in lockstep when it comes to the need to weed them out, maladjusted union employees will always be there; it's an unfortimate fact of life. I speak from indirect experience, as my late father once was in the dairy business; his delivery personnel were Teamsters. I can remember that union or not, they do their jobs, or get fired without union intervention. Period.
Just sayin.'
Unfortunately, the criticism of unions was never matched by equal criticism of corporations who were doing far worse things for the people and the country. It's nice you are starting to recognize that now but it's about 40 years too late.
4
If Typhoid Mary were still around AND wealthy, no doubt he'd nominate her as health secretary. I'm surprised he didn't nominate Blankenship to Blankenshipify the workplace even more - like he did with his clean-coal safer-mine.
"Trump’s mission [and of Republicans for decades] has been to promote the exploitation of wage earners." That's precisely the reason we have the wage gape we have and why the massive theft and transfer of wealth from the working-wealth-creators to the lazy capitalists - the largest cost to society - is so pernicious and evil.
"Disemboweling-Don is merely putting Republican disembowelment of America's government, environment, human rights, healthcare, etc, on steroids - all to benefit the criminal and kleprocratic class they serve. The "unchecked [global] corporate power" is as bad as unchecked union power, just as unchecked socialism is as bad as unchecked capitalism. The rich are NOT ENTITLED to ungodly wealth at the expense of society and the planet they exploit.
If only workers and true wealth creators were provided with enough ownership of shares in their workplace for a say and a check on management abuses would lessen the tilt AGAINST them.
Note the pittance that German corporate managers and CEO elites make compared to what their counterparts and so called geniuses in America make.
The continuing betrayal by legislatures against their citizens, at their expense on behalf of their wealthy patrons must stop or NOTHING good will come from it.
6
...you don't know what you've got till it's gone ...
Joni Mitchell
I live in Canada. Roughly 31% of our workers are unionized. In addition to too many benefits to mention here, we have funded maternity/parental leave for all workers. Our benefits may not the most generous in the world but they are amazing compared to those in the U.S. People tend to forget about the contribution of organized labour to the living standards for ALL workers. When the unions are gone it will be too late.
27
Capitalism seems to be evolving back into feudalism. The lords of the manor live behind the walls of the keep, where they feast on the fruits of their workers' labour. The serfs, meanwhile, toil day and night in the fields without rights or benefits and with inadequate wages, responding to whatever demands come their way through the various electronic devices that serve as their ever-present overseers.
15
I am a retired teacher. Without a union, I'd be a greeter at a Walmart. Unions give working people a chance to have a better life with healthcare, decent wages (no millionaires), and a roof over their heads. Why people knock unions, I do not understand. I live in a right-to-work state which essentially bans unions. Not only are the wages in South Dakota much lower than states which allow unions but just try to get a qualified/trained/apprenticed contractor here. The school curriculums are a joke and educators minimally qualified.
24
@Kris
BTW I taught in New Jersey and was educated in PA and NJ. The NJEA is a great union and supports its members and the students as well. One example : keeping class down helps the students as well as the teachers.
1
Thank you for a thought-provoking commentary. I am grateful to be a union member, and have benefited during my career from my union reps. negotiating a living wage and benefits.
13
Economic insecurity should be the centerpiece of the Dems 2020 campaign. Unfortunately it isn't for a variety of reasons, not the least is the Dems now share corporatist positions that may not serve their career aspirations.
7
I have worked for UPS as a driver for almost three decades and love being a Teamster. In fact, even knowing all the problems of both the company and the Union, it is worthy of National recognition that the relationship between the Company and the Union is a paradigm of cooperation between the best of both Democratic and Republican ideals.
It’s not perfect but on the whole WAY better than any alternative I have seen anywhere. It is a good faith work in progress of a venerable and tested tradition that Labor and Management are equal partners.
I have found the integrity of my Union officials to be exemplary, and it professionalizes the working relationship with Management, which is the best in the industry. Adapting to change is the biggest hurdle for any Company, along with competing against companies that treat their workers like expendable components. There is an answer for this problem and it is found in the UPS-Teamster model.
22
In the digital economy, wages and benefits like those that have been extorted at UPS cannot exist against the public demand for services such as Amazon Prime. Under such market conditions, warehouse and delivery staffs must be independent contractors. Paying for human inefficiency and down time are contrary to good business practices. There was a weak argument for unions at the turn of the last century. That argument should be considered an obscenity in the 21st.
1
@From Where I Sit
You may be right, we’ll see. But I once thought so as well and learned there is more to the market than dollars and cents. UPS continues to prosper and I know as many problems as they battle, they are the best and I am proud to have worked there.
8
@From Where I Sit
Let's hope the machines can still buy the products once humans are made obsolete.
4
A strong middle class didn't just and doesn't just happen. It takes government policies and protections -- whether that collective action comes from a union or elected officials -- working on behalf of the people against powerful, monied interests. Democrats support the types of policies that promote a strong middle class -- higher, living wages; workplace protections; well-funded public education; affordable higher education; affordable, accessible health care; a clean, green environment. Republicans, by abandoning these supportive policies, have abandoned the middle class. We'll all be virtual serfs out here soon if they have their way.
19
You're a day late and a dollar short, Nicholas. This horse is long out of the barn, you among the many who passively held the barn door open.
One should add that for the last 25 years or more the Democratic establishment both in and out of Congress as they cozied up to corporate interests was not very supportive of unions. In fact that establishment took and still takes union support for granted figuring they, like African-Americans, have no other place else to go. One reads about ex-Presidents giving paid speeches/talks at all sorts of Wall St. related venues, but when was the last time you heard of an ex-President addressing a major union gathering?
12
One of the simplest ways to show the importance of unions to workers is to compare the living standards of workers in the few industries where unions are still strong with the living standards of the rest of workers with similar skill levels. Perhaps the best remaining example are longshoremen. The International Longshoremen's Association is as strong as it ever was and the result is that the average longshoreman earns about twice as much as the average worker with similar skills. If unions were as strong now as they were in 1960, all skilled workers might be earning as much as longshoremen.
15
No institution is perfect, including unions. But the private enterprise system we subscribe to (which I am not against, in its general outlines) gives those who start and manage business enterprises tremendous power over the lives of those who don't own them but depend upon them for their survival. There can be no true fairness in this situation unless the non-owning workers are given some counterweight. FDR, at a time when the survival of our society was an open question, understood that and spearheaded the Labor Relations Act and the NLRB, the subject of this column. Every OCED nation except the U.S. understands this reality. We will remain an immature democracy until we entrench unionism, as has Germany, for example, inextricably into our social fabric and civic creed.
18
The appointment of Mr. Scalia as Secretary of Labor is entirely consistent with Donald Trump’s pattern of appointing individuals who have opposed a department’s mission to lead that department. Predictably, they eviscerate the department’s enforcement staff and implement policy changes to accommodate the very entities they are supposed to be regulating.
16
Low wage workers are, in fact,organizing. Hotel workers, nursing home attendants, school bus drivers, adjunct professors and many others. Janitors and other airport workers have been organizing and pressuring local governments to raise minimum wages.
When we fight, we win. Don't whine, ORGANIZE !
14
Pretty funny complaint since Democrats drove out his last Labor Secretary who was fairly supportive.
Also, Trump says he wants to restrict the supply of labor in the United States by lowering levels of immigration and deporting illegal immigrants. Both of these efforts would increase the cost of labor, (i.e. higher wages).
He also wants to restrict international trade which would also increase American wages.
At least in words, Trump is the most pro worker President in the last 50 years.
2
@Michael Green Ask people who’ve worked on Trump’s various construction projects over the years just how “pro-worker” he is.
And if you think that deporting immigrants will automatically guarantee higher wages for the remaining workers, I have one of those Trump Towers to sell you.
17
Ah, so that is why he employs undocumented immigrants in his businesses.
I get it now.
1
When the left workers were driven from the unions during the McCarthy red scare. Their place was taken by middle class types who had previously no voice. They were right;y called class collaborationist and the fight went out of unions.
2
@Donald Forbes sorry I hit the wrong button and didn't notice it until after a sent it ( rightly not right;y)
I'm also a strong supporter of unions, but I don't see how they can return to their former prominence in a world where corporations are free to move production off shore or to 'right to work' states.
Unions were tolerated in the 50s and 60s because America needed to compete for the world's hearts and minds (and commerce) with the thriving counter-model of the Soviet Union. Western European workers thrived in those days, too. There was no need for Yellow Vest protests or nativist political movements.
But things changed for French and British workers as soon as the USSR began its downward spiral.
Germany and Scandinavia seem to have continued to share their wealth with their blue collar workers. But do they do that because their workers are unionized, or are the workers still unionized because the bosses have maintained their commitment to share?
7
In addition to the economic benefits that unions won for their members, I believe that unions also played another important role - encouraging the participation of their members in local Civic activities. They have historically encouraged members to be active in their communities (certainly much of that related to political activity); and demonstrated the power of working collectively to solve problems. Many of our communities are suffering today from a lack of broad civic engagement. This allows well organized, narrowly focused, often extreme, groups to dominate our public debates - focusing on narrow divisive issues instead of finding common ground in broader areas that touch everyone - education, infrastructure, economic development, public services, law enforcement, etc.
7
It's a bit confounding to me when I find people who are against unions -- and they apply for and obtain union jobs! It seems that people understand about the benefits and the paycheck, but also believe that unions are somehow a drain on the economy. It does not help that unions are often not very good at explaining why they exist to their members. It seems a lot of union members show up for work but don't understand their economic, social, and political situation beyond getting a paycheck.
5
It's horrible to resort to clichés. But in this case: pick the lesser of two evils.
A vast, powerful set of empires, often international in scope, with almost unchecked power, making immense profit hand over fist for a tiny number of people, at the expense of huge numbers of dramatically lesser paid employees, decade after decade.
Or:
An organized group of workers, paying part of their wages to leaders who, sometimes but not always are less than honest, who struggle against management on behalf of those workers, in a setting in which they are typically villainized socially and politically.
I pick #2.
5
Why not a third third option? Rather than replicating the lesser of two evils and tolerating flaws of past corporate and union tactics, why can’t the US self correct and seek to build on Germany’s example? The US is not a flourishing economic democracy without a strong, upwardly mobile working and middle class. The article suggests, “Unions don’t detract from Germany’s economic system and competitiveness but are a pillar of it.”
6
In the history of the world, the little people were either ignored by the Aristocracy and even the Merchant class, or exploited. Independent people living in "subsistence" farming were free of this interaction, but had their own exploitation, based on land ownership. The Unions made it possible for the little people to win for such a short time, 1930's to 1960's? But as you note, it changed the relationship between worker and employer. Reagan and the Republicans worked hard to change that for the Oligarchs, those that own vast amounts of the means of production and who have benefited so greatly. The Gilded Age was actually the baseline of a successful society, the rich owned and ruled everything and the rest were servants, two classes of human beings. The loss of the Gilded Age was a blow to the Oligarchs and now they have started to claw back what they had lost, the power to run things, (hmmm, Atlas Shrugged!). Trump is their champion and 90% of Republicans approve. He, the great huckster, has fooled the working class into supporting a return to a plutocracy.
14
@William Trainor I’d change “now they have started to claw back what they had lost“ to “now they are clawing back ...” They’ve been clawing back for 40 years now.
@walkman
good point.
In their day unions did a lot of good things to protect workers from egregious exploitation by greedy employers - those days were maybe 40-100 years ago. Now OSHA, anti discrimination and numerous other laws are on the books - if you operate a corporation you need to know the laws and comply with them - or replace human labor with machines or send the jobs offshore. The “enemy” is public sector unions. In IL over the last 30 or so years they have conspired with shill politicians to win unsustainable concessions and even have constitutional amendments to protect some of them. As a direct result, IL is bankrupt for all practical purposes. Busting public sector unions would be a public service.
RW. Right let’s bust our public sector unions so the Trumps of the world can call all the shots. Spare me. My dream is a general strike police fire teachers sanitation sewage treatment correction officers the whole lot let’s try that for a few weeks.
4
God forbid workers have safe working conditions and living wages.
1
"Trump campaigned in 2016 as a voice for forgotten workers, but he consistently sides with large corporations against workers"
If only there were some way to repeat this summary in every media format old and new every day until the election. Maybe some of the voters who are distracted by Trump whipping up fear of "the other" would pay attention to a real threat to the democratic republic Franklin warned us to keep if we can.
12
Great piece! Tells it like it was & is. As a recent retiree transplant to the South the prevailing anti union attitude here seems particularly bizarre.
I get that a person may want more personal work autonomy and recognition for their efforts compared to coworkers. But remaining in a union has always been optional not mandatory. Going into company management or a non-union position has always been there for the more ambitious union worker.
Collective bargaining is therefore a win-win for every employee from the bottom up. Rejecting unionism is absurd! Especially given that technologies and temp workers are decreasing the value of human labor value and thereby also any negotiating leverage a single employee may possess. Get the most reward consistently for your labor makes sense.
11
It unions are trying to assert that a permanent per capita income mulitple can persist between the US and the world, without dampening our trading status, they are deluded.
These forces are global and make for sensational headlines all the while working themselves into new equilibria over decades, maybe centuries.
3
@Stuart Germany has very strong unions and is doing well.
1
Yes, the demise of the unions has been tragic for American workers across the board, whether or not they themselves were part of a union. There's no doubt that America's middle class was built on the strength of the unions.
However, I wonder if it isn't the change in corporate culture that is equally responsible for the loss of the middle class and the income inequality of the past twenty years. From that of stakeholder value to shareholder value - from Wall Street's quarterly targets to a longer term target of corporate excellence in stability, progress, and culture.
I began my career with IBM in the mid 1960s and I recall so vividly that there were no unions at IBM. Old T.J. Watson gave employees ownership in the company instead. There were plant workers who became millionaires as a result. My IBM shares accrued over thirty years are still safely tucked away.
There are two sides of our capitalism system to be fixed.
7
I agree with all of your points. However, I'm a little disappointed that you only mention the Teacher's Union as an example of Unions having political clout, etc. What about the Police and Fireman's Unions? Nobody seems to bash them the way they do teachers. The "Mostly Male Unions" do the same political stuff as the "Mostly Female Union". I wish when articles are being written about Unions, that the the mostly male unions in this country got equal time.
21
Kmgh. I totally agree with you. As a former male leader of a predominantly female teacher union, it’s sexist plain and simple. Hopefully that will come to an end
I have, over time, belonged to two labor unions, and enjoyed the excellent working conditions and benefits that those unions fought for over decades. Have I seen some featherbedding? Yes, a little, but where I worked the featherbedding occurred at the most successful and profitable workplaces. You see, good unions earn a little softness from management. My observations confirm to me that bad union workplaces are generally bad places to work.
12
If unions weren’t doing what was right for working class people, the bosses wouldn’t be spending all their money hiring union busting lawyers to fight unionization. Truth be told unions helped create and sustain a viable middle class that characterized life in America. Big Business has done its best to undermine unionization, but when the chips are down, the American belonging to a union has a better chance at getting a fair shake than the worker on his own. Trump is just the most recent example of a President who has exploited workers and is an active union buster. Scalia is a terrible choice for workers.
19
"Look how unions ruined the US car industry with their greed."
I recall the cars that management decided to produce during those times. The Pinto. Corvair. The Valiant. Classic American cars. The workers forced management to produce those cars. Right.
20
There are many good arguments concerning unions in this piece. However, there are many falsehoods concerning unions and the unionized employees also.
And there are abuses by unions that is well documented.
Have unions run their course? I don't believe so, and unions may be needed in the near future as we see our government dismantle many worker protections in hazardous industries such as mining (one mine operator asked Trump to remove a rule that was for worker safety).
Yes, there are abuses by union leaders at the national and local level, however, one must not use a broad brush when talking about unions in total.
I worked at a plant that belonged to a large corporation. At each entry door was a placard stating a unionized workforce was not needed.
After working at this facility for a few months I realized this plant was in dire need of a union as the managers feathered their nests at the expense of labor in ignoring issues concerning retiree healthcare, pension benefits the rest of the company enjoyed, work rules, and pay increases.
Yet the employees were content to allow management to lie to them about pay, benefits and work rules.
I left for greener pastures at another facility of the same company where work rules, pensions, and the other benefits I mentioned previously were in place.
No, unions for the most part are not the enemy. Guess how the worker achieved many of the benefits we have today?
Thank a union.
8
Living abroad as an expatriate affords a clearer prism to view America.
What Trump is doing to America under the auspices of Putin in Russia is divide the country against itself, an old KGB trick. The same thing is happening in Sweden.
The 2020 election is the next chance for American voters to reclaim their country.
15
The private unions have suffered more due to globalization over the last few decades than anything else. When both parties allowed corporations to outsource and manufacture in any country where they can do it cheaper then it is obvious that the remaining manufacturers in the US will be out of business if they were not able to be competitive.
If anything you should be thankful that a president has finally making an effort to stop that. No doubt there will be a lot of short term pain and winners and losers but in the long term this is how the president is protecting the US laborers. Exactly how he campaigned and said.
Last January I had the honor of taking part in the Los Angeles teachers' strike against the Los Angeles Unified School District, whose superintendent, a former financier with no background in education, had been put in place by a board majority that included a member who would shortly thereafter have to resign for having laundered money during his board campaign.
Our issues had only a little to do with salary, but a great deal to do with learning and working conditions. Our demands included having a full time nurse on every campus, a full time librarian in every library, and an adequate number of counselors to counsel our students. We also struck to stop the encroachment of corporate-backed charter schools into our district.
We were out for six days, and our strike actually changed the conversation about public education all across the country.
And now we'll be prepared to fight Trump and his bully boy if we have to. The NEA is the strongest, biggest labor union left in the United States, and we know what is at stake. We are proud to stand for the country's working people.
10
An excellent piece. Unions would be unnecessary if anti trust laws were vigorously enforced, and businesses never became large and powerful enough to overpower pure economic forces. But that never has and never will happen so long as big money rules poitics. Labor will have to fight back by the same means. It's a shame, but it's a fact.
4
As @Socrates points out elsewhere in these comments, the stealth attack on the Seventh Amendent via the insertion of arbitration clauses in emloyment agreements is a huge problem. It is one thing for a strong union and a big corporate employer to agree to give up their mutual Seventh Amendment right to a jury by agreeing to submit their disputes to arbitration. They have roughly equal power. It is quite another for a large corporate employer to force a relatively powerless individual to sign away her Seventh Amendment right as a condition of employment. This stealth campaign had it genesis in Randolph v Greentree, a case decided by the Supreme Court in the same week as Bush v Gore. There is an argument that Randolph had a deeper and more lasting impact. Today you cannot get a credit card, a cell phone, a car, a house or a job without signing an arbitration agreement. Think of the uproar if gun owners were to realize they might unwittingly sign away their precious Second Amendment rights. Yet the Seventh Amendment, arguably the bedrock of our democracy, has been silently eroded away without much more than a few whispered cries here and there. And the irony of it all is that “Justice” Scalia, the ardent supporter of the Second Amendment, authored the destruction of the Seventh.
9
Mr. Kristof should try operating a private business in NYC and negotiating with unions! Unlike unions in the public sector where increased costs of wages and benefits are simply passed on to taxpayers, private businesses need to compete with others and turn a profit. When the competition is not unionized, it’s almost impossible to compete. The value proposition of a union affiliated workforce can only help so much. When the customer says “ You are too expensive”, it’s time for a new business model. It is because of this that the construction industry in NYC is in an upheaval. Building Trades are desperately fighting for their existence, as their costs are high. Pension obligations are staggering numbers, as are the costs of medical plans. I for one, are very saddened by this but am in complete understanding of how we got here. Like many of the other issues dividing the Left and Right, both sides would do infinitely better if they walked in the other side shoes. Somewhere in the middle lies the answer.
I worked in Telecom for a large organization handling work internally and none of us had any desire to become unionized. During a major cutover involving Germany my coworker told me that in the middle of the cutover the unionized German worker decided that it was time to go home. So much for that project . With that said the Verizon installers that I worked with on a daily basis were great and we worked very well together. I think they saw the future because as time went by I was able to handle via a Verizon online system more of the work that was a function of their own installers. This resulted in my providing faster service for my internal users
1
Your previous characterization of labor leaders as self-interested Luddites was correct but did not go far enough. Labor leaders are akin to the animals who sell the other animals to the glue factory in George Orwell's book. They are just as elitist as their bargaining opposites and it would do us well to have a strong counterforce in place to help to keep them in check.
1
I assume that by “us” you are referring to CEOs and board members? The only reason we would need a strong opposition to labor leaders would be to keep the working class from claiming their fair share.
It’s hard to understand how anyone who wasn’t born wealthy could argue against fair compensation and time distribution. And even if they were born wealthy, it would speak volumes about their moral fabric to oppose such basic rights. Don’t even get me started about “christians” who oppose labor rights. This country is doomed to repeat the past, because the populous has been programmed by corporatists to despise their own well being. The right wing base are the very people being harmed by the policies they vote for. Nothing could be more sad and deflating than the willful ignorance of the republican base.
15
@Jay Hack
Surprise. I am neither a Republican nor a "Christian." I am simply an independent thinker and so do not fit neatly into any of the boxes that you construct. By "us," I mean the American public.
1
It's no accident that one of Scott Walker's first acts as Wisconsin governor was to gut public sector unions. He recognized their power and influence.The fall of union influence then enabled Republicans to win state legislative seats and then gerrymander districts, institutionalizing Republican's power and diluting our votes.
17
@JDW13
There is no place in a democracy for public sector unions. Full stop.
These are not jobs with undue physical risks; they are running our government functions. If voters lack the compassion to care for those who provide our services, end the services and see what happens. The self reinforcing and corruptible influence of politicians will always be present in public sector unions.
Private sector unions are in an entirely different category.
1
without public sector unions, public sector workers don't get raises, are dismissed and laid off, and have their pensions looted to balance budgets. What could workers possibly need unions for?
8
The irony here is that most of the MAGA hat wearers would say America was at its greatest in mid-1950s when unions were at their peak...and the top marginal tax rate was 90%.
51
I worked in a non-union position in a largely unionized corporation. At first I was pleased to not be a union member, as I saw only the negative side of the equation. Gradually I became aware that some of the benefits I enjoyed were due to the efforts of the union, and I realized that I was indebted to the same union I disdained.
By the end of my career, I realized that the pendulum had swung to far away from the unions, to the detriment of our economy.
Vote for Democrats in 2020. Don’t be fooled by the “too far to the left” rhetoric.
25
I spent over 40 years representing workers and unions. It took you a long time to wake up to realize the importance of unions to American workers, and to the health of our economy, but I’m glad you did. Welcome!
13
I'm sad to say that from the inside of large corporations where I've now worked for my 5th company in 25 years, that management consistently deploys strategies to either beat down the existing unions or prevent unions from forming at all. In the case where the global multi-national has operations in Germany or France, I've heard disparaging comments about how the worker has "too many" rights in these countries...and "why can't the company use its influence to change it?" When headcount reduction decisions are made (the easiest lever for management to pull when there is stock price pressure from poor earnings), I've been involved in the process which de-identifies people into "FTEs" - full time equivalents, and lower management is given the mandate to work with legal and HR to exit the targeted number of FTEs. When the company announces reductions, the stock price typically goes up reinforcing that management made the "tough call." I've always believed in capitalism but through my lens today, there needs to be some type of regulatory check. The current ones aren't working.
14
@Kris
Thank you Kris for providing us with an inside view of the protocol of many corporations to dehumanize, cut down at the knees and cut down the size of their work forces. How painful to be part of the management team executing this system of calculated greed. It is what I call automatized capitalism rarely addressed in the public square. Commenters here, including labor unionists, unaffiliated workers, specialized professionals and concerned citizens have cogently contributed their experiences and analyses of work in America. As difficult as it is now to feel safe, secure and respected it is essential for us to bear witness and to have a sense that Americans are coming together in support of each other. The call to be attentive citizens on behalf of the restoration of a 'square deal' is loud and clear. How can democracy survive without our active participation?
2
And yet many members of unions support Trump. I know some who still ‘believe’ Trump is for the working man - that’s what they say, with all the proof to the contrary.
Many non-union members are jealous of union members and rather than working to raise their own status (perhaps by joking a union) work to tear down unions and their influence. I know some who still ‘believe’ Trump is for the working man - that’s what they say, with all the proof to the contrary.
13
@Maxi Many unions and members did, and may still, support Trump.
Trump promised those unions and the members much-bringing those jobs back, creating new jobs such as construction in rebuilding our infrastructure (yet to be seen), the tax reform (in which little was seen in the trickle down) and rid us of that pesky NAFTA (which he repackaged with a new name and a few different terms and conditions).
The one thing the unions forgot is Trump does not control the CEO and the directors of corporations and cannot force them to repatriate jobs or provide substantial pay increases or force the companies to provide adequate benefits.
The unions bought into Trump's promises. And in time they ill realize they were played.
3
many unions across the country are run by corrupt, often mob-connected individuals, who run the unions as protection rackets. These unions, tend to be "apolitical" in that they focus only on some of their local issues - raises from time to time, opposition to massive layoffs (when it is too late to do anything about it), protection of featherbedding and noshow jobs for the leader's lackeys. There is often little or no democracy within these unions.
These are the unions that the corporations love. They keep the workers in line and focussed away from the real issues, they keep out the 'radicals' who were mostly purged in the 1950s as 'communists' and 'traitors' by the anti-communist (and anti-union) hysteria of that era. Those 'radicals' and 'communists' brought us the 5 day week, the 8 hour day, an d the end of child labor, among several other reforms that we now take for granted - and which are rapidly slipping away in this age of mostly sweetheart unions and no unions.
1
As a life long union man and now retired enjoying the benefits my union worked hard and fought for I can say without a doubt that unions are part of what made America great and prosperous. All Mr. Kristof said about unions is true. They are good and bad. I’ve seen people who definitely deserve to be fired retain their job. I’ve seen favoritism and I’ve see Stewarts defend the worker rights. But why the big surprise? Everyone knows republicans are not the friend of the working man. They are in the pockets of big business. Yet many of the union people still vote republican. That’s an easy answer. The dems go too far left and that’s what’s going on this election cycle. Trump will win and the unions grip will slip a bit more. The dems need a moderate who will not turn their back on them like Hillary Clinton did. Till then good luck. Oh I also thing public employees should not be allowed to unionize. They hold an unfair advantage. But that’s another story.
2
In any democratic society there is an inter-play of forces at work to determine the direction the economy and the social structure will take. When one part of society remains without a strong voice, obviously other forces rush in to fill the vacuum.
This has been what is happening in the United States . Labor has lost its place at the table, not principally due to corrupt labor leaders, but rather to a concerted effort to dissuade the public of the necessity to have a strong representative for working people at the table to protect and advance their rights. The ironically-named 'Right to Work' laws
are one example of the attack pointed at the heart of labor unions. Sadly some working people, taken in by a campaign to persuade them to support something which is against their own interest, actually support laws such as these. One of the factors leading to this rationally unexplainable behavior is the inability of weakened unions to supply guidance, leadership and information from the working person's point of view (union newspapers, seminars,etc). In our history it took years of persistence, courage and sacrifice to build unions. People were killed trying to organize a company or an industry. The attacks today are more subtle but they have eroded the power of one of the players in the economic and social network, I believe to the detriment of us all.
8
The essential, overall point being that Americans have forgotten the history of labor in America. "Labor Day" is now a party weekend when most people can't even define what the term "labor" means. I am a life-long union member and advocate. Our union leadership is corrupt, antiquated and incompetent. But the union is still valuable, mostly for the workplace rules that prevent bias in employee evaluations, discrimination and abuse. Every workplace should have a Collective Bargaining Agreement (the equivalent in Human Resource policy) that defines employee rights and responsibilities. Good luck getting any of that in our era of the New Gilded Age and Trump presidency; especially when a lot of "workers" are voting for Trump (and Scalia) i.e. against their own interests.
11
I just hope my NYC municipal union members finally wake up, see how they have been bamboozled by the right for years, and stop voting against their, and the country’s, best interests.
12
Talking about "employers" instead, who hired and retains exploited undocumented immigrants in the first place - who drive down wages, working conditions etc.? What say we actually enforce the law and fine/imprison "employers" who illegally hire them, and have a limited amnesty for those who are here, coupled with a "guest-worker" program that ensures them the full panoply of U.S labor law - minimum wage, overtime pay etc. - while they are temporarily working here awaiting their turn to obtain legal residence? Going after Republican-supporting employers to dry-up the jobs - so they will self-deport - is so much more humane than arresting and incarcerating workers leaving their kids abandoned.
8
As a teenager I had a summer factory production job and was required to join the International Association of Machinists Local 1191. First day on the job the union steward told me to slow down , I was working too fast
5
Five of the biggest sources of income inequality and wealth disparity are:
- Taxation of “carried interest” for workers in asset management. This can be remedied by Congress moving these to earned income rather than capital gains.
- CEO salary and bonus packages in public companies. Easily rectified by proxy voting among investors, particularly index funds.
- Offshoring of low-skilled service economy jobs. This will continue with disproportionate impact to the English speaking West.
- Failure to save thru 401k plans, resulting in impoverished retirees. This can only be remedied by more saving thru mandatory or opt-out plans and higher expected employer contributions.
- Shift of more to renters from owners. The persistent low intersst rates due to deflation and the post 2008 economic response will continue to concentrate wealth.
Some things can be remedied; many cannot. This is not meant to be indifferent, but we need to tackle things responsibly, especially as we ponder putting the brakes on economic activity as we pivot to renewables.
1
Kristof makes a solid point about private sector unions being a check of sorts on corporations and a method to force up wages. However, union leaders are by their nature greedy & corrupt and seem oblivious to how technology can render the work-rules they agree to useless in a short period of time. It was the calcified auto union leadership + calcified auto company leadership at places like GM that led to the loss of jobs due to poor quality and style.
A good Labor secretary is not a shill for the forced unionization of the workforce or a force against it, but someone who understands how the various pressures in the workforce and industry affect all sides. Scalia is certainly knowledgeable and experienced in this arena.
1
@Chris Scalia is an anti-union hack that will never advocate for the laborer.
GM, using your example, was its own worst enemy when it came to manufacturing, not the worker.
The unionized employees and the unions at GM did not force GM to close Lordstown or any other plant. Market forces, in one case, and corporate greed in many others caused the job loss.
Calcified leadership is oozing from the Trump administration.
16
@Dan When Scalia is employed by a company in opposition to a union or union organizing attempt, he is doing his job - he's not a hack.
As for GM, I fully agree with you that corporate leadership for 30 years doomed that company. However, it seems disingenuous to not acknowledge that union leadership was inept in understanding the market forces and their impact on the company - the union acted like it was the 1960's - as well as being pre-occupied with high salaries and benefits for themselves.
When a Labor Secretary is biased toward management he is a hack, undeserving of the job. I worked for 27 years for the DOL. Their mission is to protect the American worker, not enrich the American employer.
3
While I agree with much of Mr. Kristof's article, I want to note that the alleged abuses of labor were in almost every instance, reactions to the abuses of management. In the late 1900's many large corporations and unions formed committees to work cooperatively, but as soon as management could save a dime, they left for cheaper labor markets in the non-union southern states, and then to foreign countries. In other words, while loyalty was demanded from labor, such loyalty was not reciprocal. The USA has the highest productivity rates and loses fewer hours to labor disputes than any other industrialized nation. It also has the most confrontational, anti-union labor relations of any industrialized, democratic country.
20
An op ed that is so outdated it belongs in a museum,the attempted destruction of the middle classes
came about because of their good paying manufacturing jobs being moved overseas in the 70’s and 80’s.
They were left high and dry by their greedy employers and by the government who watched it happen
while muttering platitudes about re training,an all around disaster for the workers and a lesson in who
our elected representatives really work for ,not the folks who voted for them.
2
The increased skepticism that many Americans have regarding labor unions may stem from a sense of entitlement on the part of their highly paid leaders and, in some highly visible cases, of wrong doing and criminal behavior.
Just as major corporations and their executives have been increasingly found to be lacking in good judgement and upstanding morality, while failing to aim at a "true north" of concern for their customers and employees, so, too, have labor leaders. The Teamsters are only one example.
Once organizations become bureaucracies, whether private, not-for-profit or governmental, they tend to take on a life of their own, while their primary goal often becomes their continued existence and the perpetuation of privileged sinecures for their leaders. That their primary mission, in the case of labor unions, might have begun as a legitimate and noble cause on behalf of workers, their continued existence and behavior simply become typical of large organizations generally.
Finally, there is a general alienation by large swaths of the public from institutions generally, which is not only a perception problem but a pervasive reality that impacts the ties that used to bind our society.
When all is said and done, it is workers who have found that union membership is less enticing than it was in the past, perhaps because of the reduced organizational effectiveness and the literal cost of membership. Ultimately, it is they who have found less and less value in belonging.
3
Another great example of wage disparity is in agriculture. British farm laborers average $17/hour. Ours don’t even have to make the minimum wage under various federal regulations. Why do we allow system in which our food to be produced by people who cannot buy that product at a local supermarket? Besides allowing farm workers a better quality of life, mandating higher wages for them would also attack our national obesity problem by sharply raising food prices. Time for action on behalf of those on their knees picking strawberries and cultivating tomatoes. Don’t overlook them as you worry about auto workers.
12
Many of us have benefits from Union collective bargaining without being in a union. White collar workers at the company where I worked received those benefits after the UAW fought for them.
For all those benefit, I thank a strong union.
12
Unions at the turn of our 20th century were for the workers. Unions in the 1950’s onward became as crooked as the corporations their workers needed protection from.
By the 2000 Unions were totally awash in compromise and collusion with Wall Street types.
So we are back to square one for forming effective workers unions.
Good luck!!!
3
Mr. Kristof, the 1960's called and want their jobs back. The war on Union workers was lost / won, depending on your perspective decades ago. The giant labor intense industries that employed those workers are gone or have been broken down into smaller globally nimble factories. The days of Ford owning the iron ore mines, the ships that transported it and made the various parts itself are long gone. The weight of Union membership in the work force has shifted to Government employees, where there were only small and very restricted numbers prior to the 1960's. Labor intense private industry went global. Working class people resent unionized government workers because we are taxed locally to pay for unionized government workers and their benefits. That local taxation provides a transparency that allows one set of workers to see the deal another and getting and connect it direct to their tax bill.
3
This column explains, too, why college debt has exploded. It's not so much the cost of a college education, which in many (not all) cases is proportionately similar to what it was in the 70s (cost of a new car). It's that wages and earnings have not kept up -- students used to be able to work summer jobs and work while going to school and get scholarships to cover their bills. That combination no longer pays those bills. Their earnings, and their parents' earnings, have stagnated, making it difficult to get that education without loans.
6
@Beth D
You are not accounting for the flood of government-backed loans that have allowed non-needy Americans to use borrowed money and rich/poor colleges to send less affluent applicants to borrow. The more recent presence of for-profit schools with less scrupulous loan policies is more scandalous.
This, combined with the abundance of applicants versus spaces, causes tuition inflation.
It is more than about wages alone.
My loan upon graduation was $30k in adjusted dollars, but the tuition has increased sixfold. Prestige is not worth that much alone.
1
When will all of those Trump supporters who complain about the lack of good jobs that pay a living wage figure out that Trump is not on their side?
14
@Susan
2020 will tell us if you are right. It will be interesting and will settle the Left-Right debate once and for all.
1
"Most studies find that one fifth of the rise of income inequality in the U.S. is attributable to labor unions." How about the other four fifths. If this statistic is correct, labor unions will not fix income inequality.
1
Thanks for this timely article. Unions were indeed a major force with creating the middle income class. When I entered the workforce, unions represented approximately 25% of employees - so we are not talking about the majority of workers in the U.S.
We have witnessed their decline since the 1970s though firing of the PATCO members by Reagan after he ordered them back to work under the Taft-Hartley Act, really opened up the flood gates. I think that emboldened private sector employers and corporations. Many times when unions were pushed to the brink contract negotiations These ended frequently as stalemates with employers locking out employees, closing plants, and moving operations to places that were more favorable to them. And that was the goal,condoned by the National Labor Relations Board.
This has led us to where we are now. The truly tragic part in in this demise is two-fold for me - and please do not think I'm saying not unions are perfect but they played an important role and we ignore that to our own peril. First, one must question how much loyalty there is among CEOs who are citizens of the U.S. to this country where the majority of operations are overseas? Who's side are you on?
Clearly, not your country. Second, for those who are/were union members who voted for DJT, why would you continue to support him when he nominates someone like Mr. Scalia? That's a clear signal he's not on your side.
3
Mr. Kristof's complaint that teachers' union s such as the UFT (United Federation of Teachers) "use political capital to defend incompetent teachers" rings untrue. Instead they lose political capital because they have to defend all and any tenured teacher. That includes the international teachers that Giuliani gave parity to sight unseen and unvetted when he wanted to spite the current teachers then seeking a contract. Or those coming under fire by graduates of the Leadership Academy, an institution set up to fast-track administrator appointments to ambitious candidates impatient to work their way up the ranks, often with limited educational experience. The only choice the union enjoys is whether to defend the untenured who don't have a process to challenge complaints leveled against them. By the way, NYC teachers are still waiting for backpay from 2008 which should serve as some sort of indicator how powerful the union proved itself to be by its contract negotiations with Mayor de Blasio.
3
Can we stop comparing US economics that existed in the tiny post war era where essentially every major economy was rebuilding from the war and we had a huge advantage
After that stopped every caught up - Japan and Germany are more developed than we are and produce better stuff
Unions served a purpose then but got bogged down by its intransigence
Something new has to be created - no one has good ideas including this article
2
Let's reflect on why unions, while creating the middle class and pressuring Congress to create legislation preventing child labor and sweat shops, etc., have also promoted inefficient work rules, opposed some modernization, sometimes engaged in corruption, etc. Was this the only way?
This is a key issue of our times: the difficulty of reform in the face of relentless opposition by powerful interests.
What should be done to force through reform when so much is stacked against it.
Biden perseveres in calling for step by step progress.
To break out of this trap, Bernie and Warren call for a leap over incremental reform, to restructure (a wise man once said, sometimes a musical instrument has to be restrung and not just tuned).
The history of unions is a combination of both. But during the recent past the forces opposed to reform have gotten too powerful -- controlling Congress, the economic system, and in many cases, the media. Sure, an occasional Kristof or Krugman speak out, but as we saw in a recent NYTimes headline, and in its support for the Iraq War, this grand paper often tows the line of inertia and establishment privilege. Each step forward is met by reaction.
So unions occasionally played dirty and were selfish -- they had little choice but to do so or perish. You don't tie your hands in a street fight.
Can we still pursue incremental progress when corporations solidly stand in the way ?
If we cannot, then how to move forward? Few options remain.
3
Unions in Germany are very different than in the U.S. German law requires management and labor to cooperate for the common good. U.S. labor laws, which where written mostly in the 1930s, deliberately designed an adversarial system between management and labor. We have been paying the price for this adversarial system ever since.
9
Unions are also weakened by automation and the dumbing down of jobs. If 1000 steelworkers went on strike in the 1960s, the mill was crippled -- you couldn't find replacements in a week or even a month. If 1000 McDonalds workers go on strike, a push by management could likely install and train replacements in days.
A robot factory depends on highly skilled technicians to keep everything running, but not many. They have the power to strike effectively, but the benefits aren't broadly felt.
I think the underlying issue is that technology has made labor increasingly less important to making a profit. Fewer people are needed and/or they are interchangeable parts with little unique value.
We need to rethink our society as a place where many people will simply not be needed as workers, only consumers. That's a fundamental change that we mau not be equipped to handle with any elegance at all (q.v. climate change).
Thanks Nicholas. I wonder how many Trump voters out there benefited from their parent's union memberships as children, and don't even realize it. And now blame their current dissatisfaction with life on immigrants rather than on an absence of union backing. You can explain far better than me that union membership correlates better with middle class quality of life than any other variable. The corruption and need of reform is undeniable, but so is their role in forming the nation's backbone.
9
I'm not opposed to unions (even though I've never been a member), but why does talk of workers' rights steer predictably to unions? Even in their heyday, the majority of workers were not unionized. And why do we need (too oftenly corrupt or at least self-serving, but always w/ dues) to protect workplace rights? Wasn't that why the Dept of Labor was created... or was it created to protect unions?
Today most union workers 'toil in the government sweat shops' paid for by taxpayers. I get that the root problem is that corporate money bought Washington long ago, but do we really need another lobby (trade unions) to compound the problem? Do two wrongs now make a right?
@Apathycrat
If unions do not protect the workers, the corporations will abuse them. That is happening today. HR departments exist to protect the company from workers' complaints about abuse and harassment.
4
American Unions demise has started decades ago through egregious and selfish deals in favor of their union bosses (explain why one of them has a yacht on SF Bay?), and pension and retirement deals that bankrupt companies (United, GM) with trillions of uncovered obligations. Unions in the US have thus squandered their justification of existence and respect and failed to find a sustainable model in favor of short-term profit for bosses. Sound familiar?
Unions are though critically important and could do much better as the European examples are showing. Mentioning the US and German examples though as if they were alike is insulting to the responsibility the German Unions carry.
The German evolution of the Union model made Unions part of management, carrying responsibilities for lay-offs and failures but also leading to entrepreneurial stability. US unions never evolved to collaborative styles, and shareholder laws would not allow such, yet that is where a new union model would have to be. It is though incumbent upon the unions to redefine themselves for the millennial generation, where they failed.
4
One cannot blame Unions alone for pension cost. Management agreed to those concessions and bears some responsibility for the consequences.
2
@Dr. No
I see the same events and blame management for their incompetence. Management knew the conditions, yet could not manage their company to make a profit. I have no idea what the people who blame unions think management is for. I see companies like GM and recall cars like the Pinto, Valiant, Corvair. Management chose to make those cars. Unions did not force management to select lousy cars to produce. Lousy management is the problem, but so many Americans believe that corporations are always perfect and the fault is always the workers.
2
@Dr. No You might try comparing pay ratios, CEO to median salary of workers. In the USA it's 400 to 500 times more.
In Germany it's 12.
This overwhelming disparity trickles down into lesser management. Small wonder that labor is excluded from corporate & company decision making.
3
If those chicken processing plants in Mississippi had been union shops, the workers there would have all been vetted, and showed to be legal immigrants, or they would not have been employed. We need more unions, not fewer. American workers need to wake up and fight for themselves.
11
@Patrick Stevens
What evidence do you have that unionized employers do a better job of vetting applicants than non union employers?
Glad to hear that you've come to your senses, Mr. Kristof. My dad's union membership allowed me to grow up in the middle-class. I've only had one non-union full-time job in my life -- the one I have now -- and it's the only one I've ever had that does not pay well enough to support myself. Since becoming an adult I've never been dependent on another person until now.
I hope that's about to change. On Thursday I will be "outing" myself as one of the people behind the organizing drive currently going on at my workplace. We'll be having our first public meeting for all staff to meet with the organizing committee and a rep from the union we've been working with.
We're public librarians. WalMart and McDonald's starting wages are higher than ours. Those WalMart and McD's jobs also don't even require a high school diploma and don't require the employee to invest in "business casual." Our entry-level positions used to require an Associate's degree but when they couldn't find people to take them they lowered the qualifications instead of raising the pay. Our Masters-level positions (that'd be me) start at $17.51. Our "merit raises" barely keep up with inflation. I could go on and on but 1500 characters isn't nearly enough.
Will "coming out" cost me my job? Possibly. Probably. So why am I sticking my neck out to do this? Because sometimes you just have to do the right thing.
Wish us luck.
57
Good for you! I wish you much luck.
4
All the best to you and the librarians !! Collectively, you are strong. I admire your principled stand.
5
Incisive and well written, Mr. Kristof, but this is an *established pattern with Trump. To find the LEAST qualified Trump lapdog on the planet for the job in question. This is how Trump took over the EPA, the BLM, and the USForest Service, the USDA, and lately, many of the open Court Appointments.
When Bill Maher calls this Administration a "Slow moving Coup",
there is *FAR more truth than humor in his dead-on observation !
5
@Nominae, let's include DeVos as secretary of education.
1
I've been a trade unionist all my working life as a motor mechanic, civil servant, journalist/editor. Going on 84 now, retired, I still keep my union card active at half-rates. I've often said 'there has never been a strike (sometimes against the union itself), that wasn't well-deserved and long overdue.' Rarely, when all the facts are known do I swallow my words.
Your point about trade unions bringing the rise of the middle class is in turn responsible for the middle class bringing the downfall of trade unions. White collar teachers, even underpaid junior management, and aspiring middle class computer techs, and etc, seldom "go on strike." Instead they "withdraw their services". There is a big attitude difference.
As the corporate era continues self-destruct from the bottom up, trade unions will reappear.
3
If unions have such a bad reputation and membership keeps falling they must somehow have earned their fate; if they were such a good deal it would be impossible to prevent workers from joining. If employers keep winning and unions keep losing representation elections there must be some positive reason why workers vote 'No'. Maybe unions really aren't so good for workers, and when given the opportunity to organize, they decide not to. Who keeps decrying the decline of unions? The Democrats, for whom unions were (are) a significant source of funding and manpower, not the workers. As ever, the Democrats keep aligning themselves with, praising, and boosting the backward-looking, unproductive, cost-raising sectors of the American population and economy. If worker pay is not rising it might be because foreign made goods are cheaper to buy (lower labor costs) than union-made American goods, and automated labor, machines, now compete with human labor, and it turns out human labor is overpriced. What do Democrats and their union friends want to do? Raise the cost of human labor even more so businesses will demand less and less of it. Is that smart politics, or smart economics?
My father worked for an airline, and belonged to the Railway Workers union. Pilots, very well paid in those days, had a union. They would strike, and my father’s union paid him a stipend so that we could survive. Now, we live in a so-called Right to Work state—the right to work for long hours at low wages— and my middle-aged son barely makes a living wage. Non-salaried workers always benefit from unions. That’s why the governor of Tennessee and former Senator Bob Corker, both wealthy men, worked so hard to prevent Chattanooga VW workers from unionizing.
3
@Ronald B. Duke
No. This is like blaming the Native Americans for events like the Trail of Tears, Sand Creek, and Wounded Knee. Blame the workers for Leadville, the Triangle Fire. They must have deserved it. Management is always perfect and angelic.
Worker pay is not rising because management has no reason to raise it. Why do so when management can simply pocket profits.
From my point of view, the problem is poor management. It is almost always poor management.
1
I'll just comment on one small part of this. Workers in Germany are paid more because health care is not part of the equation. if we had universal government care, companies could save thousands on every worker. And if it was mandated that part of that savings must be given back in wages, Union workers here would be making much more.
13
@Doctor Woo
One tax that German companies pay that American companies will never pay: By law, ALL German workers get 4 (or is it 5?) weeks of company paid vacation. The kid at McD's gets that paid vacation.
No real American wants 4 weeks paid vacation Like no American worker wants more pay. Too socialist.
2
One could add that those who advocate for charter schools are really complicit in this in that teachers who work in them are often not unionized. Thanks Trump and Betsy DeVos.
10
The dwindling of the power of labor unions, which Nicholas Kristof describes, began with the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act over Harry Truman’s veto in 1947.
The Act authorized states to pass so-called right-to-work laws. Today, slightly over half of the states have such laws, which allow stopping unions from demanding that all hourly workers join the union and pay dues.
Corporations have benefitted in right-to-work states by weakening the unions, but families have suffered. Eugene Scalia, if confirmed as Secretary of Labor, will undoubtedly make things even tougher for those families of working people.
Hopefully, any man or woman who is an hourly worker and fell for the phony populism of Donald Trump in 2016 will now re-think his or her choice for 2020.
7
I know that perhaps it might seem like profiling, but I assume Scalia is a devout Roman Catholic. It is not necessarily that an Attorney who works in a particular area in the private sector, is ideologically wedded to a particular political creed. My daughter, an attorney, said this morning,’Dad, the law is a conservative profession, and all lawyers are conservative.’. In my opinion most attorneys try to follow the principals of the law, a very complex field in my opinion. There is an implicit criticism of Scalia, that he is a flunky of Trump. I ask if he’s a very skilled attorney, why would he deliberately be political and dishonest in his work. If Trump can be how he is, I guess it’s possible. If my daughter is right, he cannot, being of a conservative bent , be anything other than that. To assume one enters into biased conclusions in one’s work , unless with evidence, seems not accurate. Would one consider a doctor makes judgements on a political ground? They are both noble professions, and I would hope they would not. If the law is conservative, propping up conservative structures, how could it not be? Just to be clear, my politics would probably be the diametric opposite of Scalia, and non-religious as well. I wonder what others think of this.
There is ZERO democracy in the US.
Republicans, who corruptly work for their corporate masters instead of their voters, have done everything in their power to destroy labor unions. Labor unions are the only check against corporate tyranny over workers. Republicans have put pro-corporate judges on the courts and written anti-union legislation severely cutting the right of workers to organize. Thus Republicans have aided corporations in achieving the enslavement of their nearly-powerless workers.
In his film Fahrenehit 11/9, Michael Moore correctly asserts:
“The United States of America is a leftist country,” rattling off a list of polls showing large majorities support healthcare, legal marijuana, immigration, free college. Americans are pro-choice and 78 percent don’t own a gun, he says. Fifty-seven percent of Texans aren’t white, he adds.
How then do we explain the fact that the government has ignored so many of these leftist values?
The Republican-controlled government has chosen to follow the dictates of their corporate masters while ignoring the wishes of their progressive voters. This is the antithesis of democracy. It is evidence of the American corporatocracy.
31
I couldn't agree more that the demise of the union movement has contributed greatly to the downfall of the working/middle class. Trumps appointment of Eugene Scalia
is another gesture of disdain for those of us who do the living,
working and supporting of this nation. But as a life long Democrat
who came up in Daley's Chicago, I know that Bill Clinton and the passage of NAFTA did more to hurt Unions than Trump could dream of doing. Remember when Clinton was told
that the Unions weren't happy with the way NAFTA was written ? Clinton's response was "Where are they going to go?" With his persuasion on the party NAFTA was passed and Unions were effectively gutted. We need to understand that
establishment and corporate Democrats turned their back on us along time ago. The only Democrats that work for the middle working class are the new progressives. They are the only reason I stay a member of the party. We must do all we can to resume our place of importance in the party and the country. Citizens who are Democrats must realize that too many elected Democratic officials do not work for us, they work for their donors. Right now Democratic representatives are trying to scare us with about Medicare for all. Make no mistake, they are working for the insurance companies, pharma and the hospitals. Union workers are being frightened into thinking their hard fought for, high deductible
lousy coverage will be snatched away from them. This is being done by Democrats.
3
@Terri Monley
Medicare for all would cut into insurance cos and force them to be competitive. Medicare pays less for doctors, pharma, and hospitals which is why the latter fight against it and why so many doctors refuse to accept medicare patients.
The problem is going to be congress, there won't be enough progressives who will be elected. And I doubt if a progressive would win the nomination.
Which means 4 more yrs of decline for workers.
4
A modest proposal: Although "reparations" is a political third-rail that can't be touched, there should be some thought given to its validity. Not targeted to blacks, but rather to deal with the huge inequality imposed on a majority of all Americans, thanks to top-tier corporate leadership as well as well-placed professionals who thrive in this environment.
2
Merely 11% of American workers belong to unions. Unions protect workers from employers. They are assured fair wage, 15 minute breaks in the a.m. and p.m., lunch period, if working outdoor to have shade, they can cast their grievences to a union representative, assured physically safe workplaces, free from wage theft. receive overtime.
How many of you are in management or regular workers where none of the above exists? You work weekends without pay to meet deadlines, stay late without pay. And you are an at-will employee where you can be terminated at any time.
Unions protect. Obviously, employers are buzzing into Republican ears and lobbying to further reduce their personnel overhead.
16
I think a lot of Americans disdain unions because they are jealous of those in a union protected job. They are envious that someone can survive on a 40hour a week job with excellent healthcare benefits and paid vacations no less. It’s envy. If they can’t have it then others shouldn’t either. And that’s exactly how trump voters think as well.
38
@Oliver
It seems that Americans would tear others down rather than raise their own status. The Right Wing has promoted this ideology to their own benefit, and to the detriment of workers. Works, too. See all the comments that defend grossly incompetent management over workers.
4
Nicholas, when growing up in the 50’s and 60’s in SF, I knew of nothing other unions. All of my friends and classmates had fathers who belonged to them. My own dad, a first generation Sicilian-American, delivered French bread to grocery stores and restaurants throughout the City and was part of the Teamsters. This man who was indeed a participant of the Greatest Generation put a roof over our heads, food on the table, clothes on our backs, and sent my brother and me to Catholic schools through college. Until the day he passed at 101 he thanked his God for unions. I am glad he is not alive to see and experience this America under Trump. He would shed tears of sadness.
27
If management would stop treating employees like dirt and start to trust us to do the jobs perhaps things would improve. Perhaps things would improve if employers started to pay us decent wages and stop treating us like criminals before they hire us. Anyone who has filled out an application in the last 5 years has to have seen the consents that applicants are required to give before being interviewed: drug testing, background checks, credit checks, and whatever else an employer can think of.
I was a member of 1199 for 6 years in the 1980s. That union was as corrupt as possible. Worse still they were affiliated with the NY Archdiocese which had an "interest" in the place we worked at. In other words there was a distinct conflict of interest and the workers lost. But my experience in the work world has shown me that employees NEED unions. It's too easy to fire an employee for no reason, to replace an experienced employee with a temp, or to discipline an employee for nothing except putting a black mark on their record in order to get rid of them later.
One of the reasons sexual harassment and other types of conduct continues in the workplace is because employees have nowhere to go. Human resources is useless. Trying to sue invites retaliation. Unions and management can work together. It would be to everyone's benefit if they did. But most of all, employees need representation because employers do abuse employees and fire them when they complain.
13
I just stopped working a civil service/union job which I held for a few years. This after a lifetime in the private sector.
I found the quality of work to be far inferior to those in the private sector on the whole. While there is no doubt of the benefits to the workers the toll on the public who relies on those services has to be horrific.
Of course how one works is largely determined by ones character - doesn't matter if you are in a union or not. So there were plenty of workers who were conscientious .
I was astonished at the level of pay for unskilled workers compared to my former profession in the computer field. The hours worked in computer field compared to the regular hours of a civil service job.
i understand the 'featherbedding principle'. My objection is that in negotiations between the mostly civil service unions and the city government - the actual taxpayers are not allowed to be at the meetings.
So we wind up with politicians who curry votes giving away benefits while the taxpayers who are slaving away are not permitted to be at the negotiations.
Teachers of course make out like bandits. Only the liberal hot shots think of poor teachers - the rest of us can only envy their decent pay, long vacations and a retirement plan that the rest of us can no longer even dream about.
i'd not begrudge them their good luck, but for the fact that they are typically all for more taxes, open borders, when they have no idea of the sweat it takes to pay them.
1
I don’t know where you live that you think teachers are well paid, but where I am, considering the level of education they are required to have they are anything but well paid. Think about all the debt they have to go into-someone with a masters degree could make more in about any other field. In some states teachers are having to take second jobs or go to food banks to feed their families.
12
Most teachers work second jobs. They have “side gigs” during the summer in order to support their families. I’m not a teacher, not related to teachers, but they’ve never been well paid, and throughout our history, citizens have resented being taxed to support schools.
2
@Smilodon
The key word in your response is 'considering the level of their education'.
For the most part teachers score the lowest of any professionals on the SATS. The courses as far as rigor goes, compared to STEM fields are a joke. And you say, the pay is low compared to other fields with comparable education - $60,000 is decent pay for most people in all careers - combined with the benefits of teachers (think retirement) its a dream job.
I live in Western MA the average teacher pay is about $60,000 a year.
They complain in my community about not getting their cost of living raise. Those in private sector don't know what that means.
You say they work second jobs. In the computer field and many others there is no time for second jobs - your working 60 - 70 hours on your one job.
Retirement benefits for teachers are out of this world. In my old age, it is only the teachers who get to take the real vacations.
All that said, do i think teachers have it that good - no - but they do when compared with the average worker ----- which Kristol agrees with.
It is their ignorance when it comes to the consequences of open immigration, higher taxes and on and on the liberal positions they take on the backs of others that i find greedy and why i am for charter schools - which of course unionized teachers oppose.
Thank you for highlighting this critical issue. But it's not just Trump who's presided over the demise of unions and the suffocation of the middle class. Neoliberals like Bill Clinton did nothing to stop large corporations from breaking the social contract they'd had for decades with employees. That contract rewarded loyalty and hard work with a real pension, long term employment and affordable health benefits. Our global corporations came to only see as far as the last quarter's earnings, and employees became "cost centers," expendable if the stock price declined. They then decided to export as much labor as possible overseas, and replace actual employees with independent contractors in the gig economy. Thomas Frank chronicled all of this in his great book, Listen Liberal. Our global corporations love to bray about their diversity efforts, but those just obscure their contempt for employees in general. We are decades beyond Western Europe in fixing this. And wait til artificial intelligence and robots dislocate millions of workers world wide; the political and social upheaval will be horrific. My solution: I'm voting for Elizabeth Warren (I was Bernie 2016).
9
Sadly- correct.
The people have abdicated their role as citizens- of, for, and by the people’s government.
This is what happens when plutocratic Kakistocracy rules.
3
The American working and middle class does not have
basic modern advances available to people in other developed nations
such as universal health insurance and gun control
because in the good old U S of A
racial politics always splits the working and middle class in non-conventional ways.
Trump USING RACE as a wedge is the same script.
Spilt the working and middle classes by race....
then they will never see the forest for the trees.
16
My father was a union man his entire working life! He worked in heavy construction, and was a darn good worker, more than one engineer working on the job, often came to ask his advice in solving problems! He often said politicians wanting to do away with unions had one purpose in mind, make working people poor!
23
Most Americans are totally complacent about their presumed rights as an employee/worker. They do not realize that most o these rights came from a series of cases in the USSC that changed earlier precedent denying all worker rights.
The Roberts' court will reverse these rights. Workers will return to the 19th Century. It's as good as done.
8
@goofnoff Sad but probably very true.
At one time, our states were part of the Union. Those good postwar years noted by Nicholas Kristoff and Steven Greenhouse are not known by more recent generations, nor are the earlier labor movement times of rousing songs that gave unionizers their strength to persist. Gone are the days of Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, "Look for the Union Label" and "The Union Maid." The powers of wealth and corporations have "invaded" and "infected" governments in states and the nation.
As noted, unions (like many other organizations) have not been perfect, generous, compassionate, ethical. As a dues-paying member of the AFT, I was subjected to a blatantly rigged re-hiring process, and my union refused to support me because (the excuse) it was not an issue of "tenure."
Just as we need to resurrect ethical, compassionate national leadership, so do we need to revitalize our unions where members can honorably say and sing they are stickin' to the union 'til the day they die.
Doug Giebel, Big Sandy, Montana
9
Thanks, Doug. I’m from Montana and agree completely.
This horse left the barn decades ago.
I worked for many years for a major retailer that was heavily unionized. In the near 20 years with the company, the unions representing a broad range of employees were eviscerated, isolated, criticized as anti-consumer and enemies of management. Many were fired from their union jobs only to be re-hired in similar positions -- but no longer unionized. New hires were paid minimum wage and were kept at a lower tier wage scale. Over time, the well-trained, experienced workers retired or quit, and their replacements were slowly, over time, phased out, and replaced (if at all) by inexperienced, minimum wage, unskilled workers.
Unions in this country have never been treated well by management, and the antipathy has had a serious negative impact on productivity and organizational esprit d'corps.
Nothing -- nothing -- will bring union work back in the U.S. The Dems have all but abandoned them, and the Republican war on unions has generated thousands of casualties.
To me, the root case of this demise was and is a failure of imagination -- a failure of union leaders and corporate management to seek common ground in which all boats would float on a rising tide. It was always a zero sum game, and in this combat, the union side lost bigly.
4
In 1981, then-President Ronald Reagan broke the strike by the air traffic controllers union. That struggle marked the beginning of an all-out assault against the union movement in this country. Ever since, Republicans have invoked the fight against the union movement in America as the pursuit of the Holy Grail.
It doesn’t seem to make much difference to many in power whether they are attacking private sector unions or public sector ones, as long as they try to destroy them and the rights of men and women who belong to them.
One thing is certain: unions helped to build this country, and that is a fact.
25
Our consumer choices have a larger impact on union membership than Reagan snd PATCO. But blaming Reagan does make for a bettet polemic.
Do you snd your forward thinking friends drive autos assembled in the US by union labor?
@Jp Even with sincere effort, it is difficult to "shop union" as they have been decimated by successive neoliberal governments. It has to be even more difficult in the US.
1
@Sandy: it is difficult to "shop union"
Is it the neoliberal governments who are forcing folks to purchase a Honda over a Ford?
No.
Those are consumer choices. Whatever the reasons for those choices, they have consequences.
"It has to be even more difficult in the US."
I'll make it easier for the forward thinking Americans who claim to support unions:
https://aflcio.org/UnionCars
Too little, too late Nick. The assault on unions began in earnest during the Reagan administration and has continued from one Republican administration to the next. They are a dead letter now and nothing is going to revive them, because so many are dancing on their graves. Almost no one working today has ever engaged in a strike or otherwise fought for better wages, benefits or working conditions. All the fight has been taken out of them and they are worthless automatons, serving their corporate masters and going home to their big screens, internet and opiates.
12
@Likely Voter I so hope that you are wrong.
The glorious interlude that the Tea Party and Trump want to return to was the 1950's and early 60's. What made it so great?
One third of Americans belonged to Unions, and there was the GI Bill of Rights, which made it possible for an entire swathe of citizens to attend college and buy a first home. This was something they would otherwise have never been able to do, and it created the biggest engine for growth, stability and progress the world has ever seen. Education was promoted and revered, and America was the Gold Standard and model for education around the world.
Also, the world's population was around 2 billion humans.
16
After WWII, Europe and Japan were decimated, China and the rest of Asia had yet to emerge as economic powers, and so U.S. manufacturers had little to no competition. It was during that time period that unions were at their pinnacle of strength and were able to extract major concessions from U.S. manufacturers. And yes, that certainly lead to the growth of the American middle class. However, by the 1970’s all that had changed and America’s often inferior products (hello Chrysler) faced stiff competition (hello Toyota) and U.S. manufacturers with their bloated healthcare and retirement benefits could no longer compete. The competition has only intensified since then. Thus, I think is naive to think that we can return to 1950 and that “strong unions” can magically cure all of the ill effects of what is a real problem problem with economic disparity.
3
Every advanced industrial nation has much stronger unions, and better wages and benefits, and less income inequality than we do. You can’t have a strong working class without unions.
24
The destruction of the Unions has been concerted Republican policy since Pres. Reagan. It started with the propaganda of Union corruption with a dose of libertarian-ism and "union" became a dirty word. Without Unions there is no ballance of power between workers and management/owners. Without Unions management has been able to ride roughshod over workers, taking a larger and larger share of corporate earnings.
Without Unions there is no political power base for economic liberalism. That economic liberalism was an important factor in Democratic Party power and membership. Without Unions holding the political loyalty of the worker, large numbers of workers have become pray to Republican propaganda on all sorts of social issues forming the great divide we see in todays politics. One example is the blaming of immigrant and undocumented labor taking away jobs from native born workers, when in fact unfettered free trade has allowed the moving of jobs to other countries which is just business owners wanted in order to maximize profits.
6
Despite all th jokes and motivational questions concerning th candidacy of Mayor Bill Deblasio, he is the only one of the Democratic candidates advocating, straight-out, that workers "need to unionize" and start the reversal of the widening income gap.
I'm retired now and a lifetime unionist, but in my entire life I've never heard a politician actually SAY that we need more Union representation of our workforce. Politicians always seek the endorsement of Union leaders, but they also try to keep themselves and the various Unions at arm's length, even today.
If Mayor Deblasio is still on th ballot when th primary makes it way around here, then he gets my vote.
4
Glad you've seen the light, Nicholas.
Yes, there have been problems in unions with mob control and featherbedding and indefensible support of bad apples. But those problems pale in comparative scope with those fostered on nearly everyone by employers and corporations that do not have to deal with a countervailing union force.
People might not like union excess, but believe me, they'll like corporate excess a lot less.
10
In the 60s there was a mutual respect between management & union labor, whether in the office or on the operating end. By the time Reagan was elected the full bore assault was on, with the greedy & arrogant yuppies leading the charge taking their cues from the Great Communicator.
Having met several of these college educated bosses placed in charge of family men & women & a direct witness to their disparagement & hostility to labor & union labor particularly, it's no accident we're in the place we are now with Scalia Jr. slated for the labor post, courtesy of the self proclaimed "working man's friend" Trump.
We know who the strongest supporters of labor happen to be, the fighting tag team of Sanders & Warren. Vote!
22
If a corporation wants to keep their employees non-union, all they have to do is treat the workers well.
Pay as close as you can afford to union wages, offer union style benefits, put everyone on a bonus incentive plan for reaching goals you all agree are reasonable.
You as the employer won't have to deal with silly work rules, jurisdiction, and featherbedding if the employees can see the P&L and have a say in how things are done. Employees often knows more than those who are managing them.
One need only look at employers like Costco to see how much they have benefited from extremely low turnover and no union.
Employee turnover never shows on a P&L line but turnover raise s costs, lowers productivity, impacts customer satisfaction and cuts into profits.
Run your business so employees never want to quit to look for something better and you'll never have a union shop.
Companies get the union they deserve.
12
But that only works if there are good union jobs to compete against. That is why strong unions improve conditions for all workers.
8
@American Expat
No, all they have to do is stop workers from unionizing with scare tactics, which they have been doing very well for decades. The rules are all slanted to the employer to stop unions.
1
@Lizmill And yes, a very good point.
What I am missing in this otherwise interesting piece is any specific information about the shortcomings of Mr Scalia, who worked for Walmart and had a father who was in some ways brilliant but who lacked. In a fundamental way, judicial temperament. Do Trump cabinet appointees do interviews with Times columnists ? It would be nice to know more about him and if he has anything of substance to say, although Trump’s appointees are mostly for lobbyists, hacks and toadies. Trump, rather than draining the swamp, seems to be swamping the drain.
6
@Geoffrey James
The specific was that he worked for anti-unionization for businesses. Walmart was one of the corporations he stopped unions from forming.
6
Yes, the US workers and the country as a whole need unions. Now! But I despair of that happening when I read comments in the NYT referring to the "radical left wing" policy proposals of the Democrats, which is then often referred to as a "socialist" party. It's even more scary when you realize that the gains unions enabled and that Mr. Kristof points out to, have all been surpassed elsewhere in the western world. As Germany progressed, the US went backwards. You guys (the USA) are really exceptional; just not in the right way.
12
I curious why you fail to mention that Bernie Sanders is the foremost advocate of Unions running for president.
10
This is what Steve Bannon referred to 'as dismantling the administrative state', the goal of the conservative billionaires who are destroying our democracy. Find a cabinet head who will neuter or do away with with the department they're hired to lead. When you can't fire 200 scientists whose opinions don't support the 1%, you transfer all of them to Kansas City. Two thirds of them quit instead. In the meantime, America doesn't get much-needed scientific data. The Koch brothers; Robert Mercer and his family - people like that.
18
If Liz Warren is the one, and beats Trump, I suspect that she will put her mind to work on solving the union problem. She is not from the plutocrat class so there is hope.
Outlawing Right to Work laws is a start. This started in the south with the mills that turned their workers into indentured servants. As CEO of a company I installed an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) that gave each employee at least a part of the company. The problem with that was a company might have a problem placing a value on each share if it is private. Nevertheless, I thought it important.
To repeat a past post: In the late 60's a Labor Econ Prof stated clearly that Cesar Chavez was the only current labor leader then with an imagination. I don't recall his reasoning but I believe that labor leaders today suffer from the same affliction.
Hopefully our new POTUS will work to make Right to Work laws illegal. Corporations will fight it.
3
A CEO with a conscience that actually passes along some profit to his employees who helped him make it-you are a rare bird.
1
That it took Mr. Kristof his entire adult life -- he's 62 now? -- to conclude that unions are essential to equality and social justice is a measure of the colossal failure of mainstream Democratic party liberalism.
And yet, this crowd refuses to leave the podium. How wrong do you have to be, year after year, before conceding that maybe others know better -- and did all along?
7
The second generation of union leaders, beginning in the 70's, were the lazy, incompetent, or retired former union workers who thought they could be leaders.
They had the power to shut down a job if one non union worker was on a job of hundreds of workers; the beginning of the demise of trade unions.
My career formed by a union apprenticeship was the gold standard in on the job training, with the all important requisite time to learn.
The angry voter today is a product of a unregulated, untrained, and underpaid workforce.
There is very little pride in the workplace today, but if there is, it is not in the free for all workforce.
Retired, General Contractor.
2
We won't have strong unions again unless workers risk everything and strike. We need major strikes. Strikes that bring our governments to a halt. Strikes that close down cities, close down airports and harbors, close down school systems (as it has happened). Corporate management, government and the American people will not listen to workers unless it hurts. This is how the labor movement got started in this country, and this is the only way it can be reborn.
13
why so grudging a tribute? what's wrong with saying workers have a right to form unions, because representing themselves collectively, which is what a union does - however messy - makes them stronger, improves quality (services, education) and makes everyone happier. Just bc it wasn't cool to speak well of unions for a couple decades doesn't require false equivalence now, thanks for listening
14
Thank goodness for today's democrats, who instead of talking about all the negatives associated with tRump at the debate chose instead to disparage President Obama.
1
"..we need a secretary of labor who cares about labor"?
Not going to happen until:
We get a President who cares about more than himself and getting re-elected, and a similar Republican Party.
4
No, Mr Kristof, we don't need gratuitous snark about how unions are "maddening and retrograde," or that there are "real problems" about "featherbedding and rigid work rules."
Just acknowledge that unions are critically important to the creation and survival of the American middle class, that unions are the sine qua non for a society that respects average workers, and safeguards their workplace dignity.
And please acknowledge, Mr Kristof, that we liberal Democrats, the people you relentlessly denigrate, stood firm in our support for unions, for union rights, and for the dignity of union members through all those years that you were "scorning union leaders," as you now admit.
Acknowledge now, Mr Kristof, that liberal Democrats are the ones who continue to fight for average working, while your fellow conservatives have been beating them down.
It's important.
15
I'm about 9 out of 10 on the liberal scale, but I think you are unfair to Mr. Kristoff. He talks about his previous stances and how his views have changed; are you faulting him for not praising the unwavering fortitude of "liberal Democrats?"
2
Joe Biden kicked off his campaign by describing how unions built America’s middle class. That’s what we need in our next president - someone who won’t exploit the working class for political gains, but who will throw their own political power into the institutions which strengthen workers.
3
I financed my pre-med and medical school education 50+ years ago working in construction. I worked for both a non-unionized and a unionized organization. I have to say that the unionized company produced a superior product because of the unions. The skilled trades like welding, pipe-fitting, heavy equipment operators were all qualified and good at what they did, unlike the non-union shop, where often the workers did the best they could, but did not bring the same skill level to the job. I think you get what you pay for.
27
The tacit tolerance of undocumented immigration (the President rails against it while his businesses rely on undocumented labor) and the war on unions are of a piece. Both create pools of labor with few or no rights, working for substandard wages, easily fired. Both are tools corporations use to drive up profits at the expense of working people. Assailing the "invasion" and "infestation" of this country by immigrants are tools they use to drive a wedge between those who are natural allies.. It is time for American workers to make common cause with immigrant labor for the benefit of both.
8
And to think that the white working class - which used to be synonymous with union labor - put Trump over the top in 2016 and might do it again in 2020. He appealed to them by promising to bring back jobs from China. Juxtapose that with his appointment of Mr. Scalia and Mr. Trump must be thinking "I'll bring the jobs back but you working folks need to work at a wage that's competitive with your counterpart in China." Unions don't fit well into that picture. It will be interesting to see if the Democrats - who threw the working class to the wolves of globalization over the past twenty years - will be able to seize this moment and win back at least enough of the white working class to evict Trump in 2020. Unfortunately the Democrats keep shooting themselves in the foot with social issues, which are still a powerful determinant of working class votes. The Dems waste too much political capital on things like transgender concerns and they are belligerently unrealistic about immigration policy. Their stances on issues like these might well keep Mr. Trump in office through 2024. That would give Mr. Scalia - backed up by a sympathetic Supreme Court - plenty of time to do his work. After the 2020 election Dems might still be asking "What's the matter with Kansas?".
1
It's probably a basic law of human nature that power corrupts. I don't know how unions operate today, but back in their hay day, unions controlled hiring in union shops. Businesses could not make hiring decisions, but rather called the union hiring hall to send over a pipe fitter, mechanic, or electrician at a certain experience level. The union then made the hiring decision based on seniority, not competence or compatibility. Job seekers needed to become union members before they could even seek employment, and union membership was effectively restricted to sons of current members, creating a kind of industrial royalty. Wages rose to unsustainable heights, leading to inflation and the impoverishment of non-union members.
A more efficient approach would be for laws to enforce safe working conditions, restrict arbitration, unpaid overtime or unpaid internships, and guarantee a national subsistence income, a living minimum wage, a 40-hour work week, health insurance, and business competition through the breakup of monopolies under the rarely enforced anti-trust laws. In other words, create conditions of business competition in a regulated labor market, and let business maximize efficient operation under enlightened regulatory constraint.
“So I’ve come to believe that we need stronger private-sector unions — yet the Trump administration continues to fight them.”
We also need stronger public sector unions too. Today at a Walgreen’s, I donated to a local school district for teacher school supplies. Currently, teachers pay for their school supplies so that students will be in a better position to learn.
How pathetic is it that teachers are forced to such a choice: pay out of pocket to enhance student learning or go without in this rich country.
16
A gig economy where employers have no obligation to their workers, where workers supply the cars, the insurance, the computers, the electricity and are on call 24/7 in order to make a buck. Or how about the "Amazon" work ethic, adopted by Apple, Netflix and others, where you pledge allegiance to the company's value system, work 14 hour days, with working "breaks"--but hey, they'll give you bagels and fruit and lounge areas for a breather and a schmeer. Who needs unions when exploitation has such high-tech, hipster wrappings?
8
I'm still waiting for the Democratic candidates to point out all of this corruption in the Trump administration rather than bicker about immigration, etc.
4
I've often wondered just how much the decline of the working class is associated with the decline of "living" memory of the Great Depression. The decade between 1929 and 1939 made it very clear just how vulnerable working people were when corporate admin was unchecked by unions, and just how little that same corporate admin (or governments) cared about those people when times were hard. Workers (and their families) learned that they were disposable, and they were expected to like it. Organized labor's greatest strength came from the fact that the public had a very real and hard-won knowledge of what life was like without organized labor. The generation that had adult experience of that era started to die off in the 1980's, which was exactly the same time that Ronald Reagan and his penchant for union-busting, along with the associated "right to work" and "trickle-down" idiocy/mantra of the political right became politically viable. I don't think it was coincidence.
15
Unions transfer wealth from those who cannot unionize to those who can. Thanks to the open borders, we have a competing alternative to unions.
@DL
That makes no sense, considering that unions make other businesses more competitive and raise wages for the rest of us.
W/O unions, it's a race to the bottom for workers where businesses can pay the least amount of wages. Which is what is happening now.
1
The soft handed Mr. Scalia, built what? Look around you. Our country built by union labor. Some credit due for actually making our country great.
Don't hear too many stories of unions crashing the economy. Charging your children usurious loan rates for college. Off shoring entire industies to China.
Interesting how the "first responders" unions seem so off the busters radar.
5
It is constantly drummed into peoples heads that cooperation is an obscene word, and that cutthroat competition is most desirable social system. The reactionary "think" tanks have succeeded in convincing people that unions will destroy their way of life, and using "independent contractors" is the most desirable way to organize a workplace. People see their standards of living fall, but misdirect their anger. No wonder that Trump has so many fanatical supporters.
1
When Reagan fired all the striking Professional Air Traffic Controllers, the bottom fell out of treating labor as a skilled resource taking pride in its work.
9
The horrid trump should be impeached solely on the basis of his cabinet picks. they are installed only for one reason: loyalty to trump. Not competence, etc. Forget that.
6
And Trump’s union and non-union supporters love him regardless of how poorly he treats them. Go figure. Too many Americans have been indoctrinated by business and conservative politicians to hate unions, despite the benefits they have brought to all Americans. In this election, Democrats will be portrayed as Socialists and Communists by the fear mongering and hateful Republicans.
5
Unions are comunist, socialist, unAmerican, proletariat cells.
Unions are credited with “achieving many things that most Americans now take for granted: the eight-hour workday, employer-backed health coverage, paid vacations, paid sick days, safe workplaces. Indeed, unions were the major force in ending sweatshops, making coal mines safer, and..." yada, yada, yada.
Pretty clear unions ruined America. If Walmart wants to have six day work weeks of 12-hours a day, why should workers have the right to say no? Why should Walmart have to pay a minimum wage, or pay women the same as men, or blacks the same as whites?
If we're going to make America great again we need to get rid of worker protections. We need an America without regulations hampering Walmart and our banks from maximizing profits. That's the promise of the US Constitution: land of the free-to-make money, home of the wealthy.
9
Count on Trump to appoint department heads whose sole focus is to destroy the departments they were assigned to lead.
6
Was it 20 years ago...?
"Members of labor unions and unorganized unskilled workers will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white collar workers - themselves desperately afraid of being downsized - are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.
At that point, something will crack. The nonsuburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking around for a strongman to vote for - someone willing to assure them that, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots...
One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans and by homosexuals will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion...all the resentment which badly educated feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet."
- Richard Rorty, Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America, (1998)
Richard Rorty (1937 - 2007) was an American philosopher and teacher associated with pragmatism.
Quoted from:
Ben Fountain, Beautiful Country Burn Again, (2018)
2
I was in a carpenters union in 79 and remember how many of the members were conservatives and voted for Reagan. I spent 10 years in AFGE and was surprised at how many were republican and anti-Obama. Many are fan of Rush Limbaugh, or were and many watch Fox NEWS.
3
I was a member of a nurses union in Minneapolis in the 1990’s. At participating hospitals it was mandatory to belong to the union. I still get a pension from that union.
During my employment there, a strike was called to call for better pay/ benefits and decreased patient numbers per nurse. The Union was not corrupt and the strike was well supported by the press and local and state politicians.( Read Paul Wellstone)
Nonetheless it failed. Older nurses did not want to face the consequences of employers wrath post strike. Employers made it difficult to come back with the same schedules, full/part time positions, or specialty positions.
During that time I read a book about the history of labor in America. The thing that stood out to me was that in America business and government have always colluded against labor. This is not the case in Western European countries. Only during the time of Roosevelt’s New Deal, which extended for 30 years or so, was this not true.
It’s going to be very difficult for unions to recover because Corporations/ government/and business are basically the same thing now.
33
Unions have been under relentless attack since Reagan and the rise to prominence of the philosophy that the only stakeholders with legitimate claims in corporate decisions are shareholders. This was a radical change fostered by Milton Friedman and others who did not view corporations as having any social responsibility outside of maximizing shareholder value. The U.S. legal system - reinforce by Conservative judges - has fostered this view, which has enabled raiders such as Kravis, Icahn, Boesky, etc.
While some private equity investments have helped grow the economy by liberating under-invested divisions of public companies, providing time for companies to adopt new to evolve with their industries, or enabling other changes that help companies compete and grow, there are not enough of these situations to absorb the massive amount of capital flowing to PE. The “go to” move for many PE investments over the last 15 years has been outsourcing/offshoring US jobs to Asia while loading up companies with high levels of debt (because, under the tax code, debt is “more efficient” than equity).
The playing field has been tilted 45 degrees in favor of capital over labor, and public company managers that try to balance interests of shareholders, workers, communities, etc., are attacked by hedge funds, corporate raiders, and others for not maximizing returns.
This is one of the root causes of the vast accretion of wealth by the rich at the expense of the average worker.
5
This president and his administration are all about destroying the livelihood of anyone not in their "camp" of the wealthy. And he is doing all he can to destroy our democracy/republic. Appointing "acting" secretaries and "acting" department heads he side-steps Congressional oversight and his choices are people who have fought to either end or curb the departments they are supposed to lead. This appointment is unfortunately in the same vein.
7
When I was the union rep. at my elementary school, the union helped in my effort to get mold removed from our buildings. As you so state, unions have their sins, but these pale compared to the damage corporate America heaps on much of humanity. Too bad the Democratic Party abandoned workers and unions, leaving a decimated working class as well as a shrinking middle class.
5
Unions of course are all about "working people". Trump has never worked in his life. Born rich and has been rich his whole life. The immigrants and people of color that he denigrates have much more in common with the majority of people who voted for Trump then he does with them. Think about it. As a child did he clean his room, make his bed, do the dishes, take out the trash, have a paper route, go to the public park for pick-up games, take public transport to public school? As an adult did he ever apply for a job, work 9-5, pick up the kids after work, clean, grow food, dig ditches, build with his hands, teach, or cure? How much time have working people spent in his homes? Probably a lot if they are the "help". How much time has he spent in the home (rented or owned) of a working family? Good guess. Yes most of his appointments, if they ever worked, it was against the departments they are appointed to head, and have no connection to the people who work there or are served by them.
13
Wages are important but benefits, working conditions and worker rights have an equal (if not greater) impact on employees. You can be earning a good wage but if you have to draw money from your paycheck for health care, good wages become just O.K. Are you to sick or too injured to work? Oops, don't have paid sick leave.
The unemployment rate is low but do all these jobs have livable conditions and benefits. The voices of worker suppression say, "They aught to be thankful to have a job." Which is boss code for, "Every cent we save on worker benefits goes to the bottom line and the share holders."
One of the odd things that had to be bargained (when I was on a bargaining team) because the bosses hadn't gotten around to it was bathrooms for teachers. For decades teachers had to share bathrooms with students. Certainly not the best practice for the security of teachers as well as students. The year was 1990 when the last bathrooms went in and teachers could finally flush in private. Not Black Lung but a necessary improvement that was not forthcoming from the bosses without the pressure of collective bargaining.
4
And let's not forget the "irony": like the anti-union Saint Reagan, trump is also a member of at least one union: SAG. Unions are necessary for people who make tens of thousands an hour, but not so good for people who barely make tens.
5
Given the state of affairs, it's hard to imagine that private-sector unions will make a comeback any time soon. As Kristof suggests, generations of anti-union sentiments--even among progressive left--has dealt a fatal blow to the labor movement. It is striking that no high technology firm in Silicon Valley is unionized despite the trillions of dollars of valuation and the long history of labor unions in San Francisco Bay Area.
If we give up on labor unions, how are we to tackle the pressing issues that Kristof raises? I think a long, hard look at the American political party system can only lead to one logical outcome: build a national political party that puts the interest of American wage workers first. As a political party, American workers can avoid the corruption of union bosses and bureaucracies and side-step the antiquated system of traditional union organizing that assumes employers will last forever and workers have lifetime employment. Such a party would have a clear focus on raising wages and benefits and not have to share this most important political priority with an endless set of issues and agendas of the Democratic Party. In an era of toxic partisanship, perhaps the only path forward is to create a new one.
1
It seems that the Republican Party has been pro-business, anti-labor for at least a hundred years. Using its present political power to hamstring labor, the Republicans have found in Trump a useful tool with wide enough appeal to further their aims. Hopefully more workers will abandon their vain expectations for a president who delights in pressing the Republican agenda camouflaged as empathy for the plight of workers.
5
Workers have been badly hurt by the loss of unions.
I was once in the UAW in Detroit, and have worked for other unions. I know they are not perfect, and just how.
I also know that this is not about perfect, but about empowering and protecting workers.
The unions were gone by the time Trump arrived. Only fragments remain, those mostly government workers.
The damage was done over decades. The biggest move was from Reagan. Clinton piled on. Dubya of course did as much damage as he could. Obama did no more purposeful damage, but neither did he achieve any repairs -- it may or may not be fair to argue that he tried, but anyway it did not happen.
So now Trump does more of the same. That is no solution, but it is also not the problem nor the cause of the damage.
The voting public was conned. They voted for "right to work" laws that wiped out unions. So education of the electorate, effective journalism to offset corporate flack, all failed before Trump ever arrived.
Again, he's done nothing good.
Still, it is misleading to suggest the problem will be addressed by returning to power the people who did cause it, in the name of being rid of Trump.
6
The 10% of American workers in a union today is a combination of private and public sector members. About 60% of government employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. Union membership among these workers numbers around seven million, roughly 33% of all government personnel. In contrast, approximately 12% of all private sector employees are covered by a CBA. And while the number of private sector union members is also around seven million, union membership in the much larger private sector workforce has fallen to less than 7%. Given this situation, union busters have turned their attention to the public sector. Bankrolled by corporations and wealthy individuals such as the Koch brothers, anti-union crusaders aim to wipe out the union label once and for all. Their current attacks will most certainly drive down the pay and benefits of public employees, increase income inequality, and reduce the size of the middle class.
19
Checked to see if my brief comment to Daphne's vagueness had made the trip.
It hasn't yet, but who cares? Nothing lost.
But the moment was not wasted. I encountered a columnist engaging in intelligent give and take with his readers.
Wonderful. I can't thank you enough, Mr. Kristof, for taking the time to respond to some who read, thought, and wrote.
How rare and refreshing is such civility.
Let me shake your hand.
6
Jobs and the economy, aside from union coffers, seem to be in great shape under Trump.
What we need to worry about is that most Democratic presidential candidates are competing to see who can make the most woke and socialist promises as demanded by the squad:
Free college tuition. Medicare for all, including illegal immigrants. College loan forgiveness. Reparations for blacks and gays. Guaranteed basic income. Federal job guarantees. Federally mandated school busing to achieve integration. Green New Deal (eco-socialism). Voting and early release for prisoners. Open borders.
All the fabulously wealthy US individuals and corporations together do not have the many trillions of dollars needed to pay for these goodies year after year, and even Bernie Sanders has admitted that taxes would have to be raised on the middle class to pay for Medicare for All, not to mention the additional trillions for the other items. (For perspective, the current US budget is about $4.4 trillion, with a deficit of about $1 trillion.)
As Margaret Thatcher said, the problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.
We must keep in mind that our 2020 goal is to vote Trump out, and that will require appealing to the independents, undecideds and others whom the Dems did not reach in 2016—we absolutely need their votes.
If even a few of these socialist promises are planks in the 2020 Democratic platform we are doomed to a second Trump term.
2
The average American union member, or factory worker in general, has almost nothing in common with a German one. For better or worse the German school system tracks kids early into academic or vocational tracks. But, unlike in the U.S., the kids in the German vocational tracks aren't abandoned to a weak alternative. On the contrary, their apprenticeship system, which relies on the cooperation of schools, employers, and the government provides a world-class technical education and is the reason that Germany excels in so many different areas of manufacturing.
Besides the wasting of great resources in this country to avoid 'socialism', the contempt for manual or manufacturing labor is also a result of the 'college for everyone' attitude that implicitly, or explicitly, demeans vocational work. So don't be surprised that labor is exploited. Everyone contributes to it.
21
Quite right too. There are too many people going to college these days. The German system can lead to a Master Craftsman certificate which is recognised as equivalent to a bachelor degree. The German master craftsmen and women often earn more than most university graduates. In the Anglo Saxon countries there are always complaints about skills shortages, while simultaneously minimal effort is made to train school leavers. Sending everyone to college is a fraud
4
@TJGM. We just bought our third dishwasher. The first two were installed lickety split. This time the plumber brought along his son to "help". The process took twice as long as it would have if the pro had done the job alone. But someone needs to train the next generation of tradespeople. The son did the actual hands-on work under the dad's guidance. The plumber pointed out the idiosyncrasies of the particular brand being installed and pointed out the whys and wherefore of precautions to take when removing the old and installing the new. It seemed to be the kid's first lesson because there were even details of using the dolly that he needed to learn. Eventually that kid will earn a good wage. But what about the kids with no dad to teach them a skilled trade? The Guidance Counselor will tell them to go to college and they will end up earning half as much as the plumber's son.
4
While paying an obscene amount for the privilege
No one has ever found Jimmy Hoffa's body. A correction has been necessary.
But it seems absolutely necessary to reinvigorate the working class through unions. They are the only antidote for the suffocating power of corporations and oligarchs.
9
I love and respect your work and have for some time.
For that reason, I'm very surprised that you ever viewed unions in a negative light. Any large organization (including unions) can misuse its power, but as you point out so well here, unions were responsible not only for the post-WWII prosperity of workers, but also for restraining the worse excesses of capitalism run amok, which we now see in full flower.
I only hope that there will be a resurgence of unions, and that they will again be able rein in those excesses.
12
It's simply about the balance of power. Working people, whether they know it or not, need something to balance corporate power.
11
I always despised unions 40 years ago as crooked; destructive; against our nation’s best interest. No longer. We need unionization to secure the middle class. The unions set the pay scales for the middle class.
15
One gap I notice in articles on unions concerns the large role now played by services in the economy. The gap is many jobs today are white-collar jobs done in office settings, and they never seem to figure in discussions of unionization. Having spent 25 years working in white collar professional jobs, I can say every one would have benefited from union representation. Also, I never came across unions for white collar workers during my time in corporate America. What we have in our economy is a vast group of employees without union representation that would benefit from it. The fact they are white collar employees should not matter, yet it must, since this group never seems to be included in articles on unionization.
1
What if:
Labor was taxed at the same rate as capital instead of at double the rate.
Tax for social security and medicare was not a tax on labor but a lower rate on all income.
Public companies were required to have 1/3 of their board chosen by the company's employees.
11
It’s interesting that unions are unpopular. I guess union leaders are like politicians, easy to criticize. But just as we need politicians willing to run for office in order for citizens to enjoy representative democracy and the rule of law, we need unions to agitate for social justice. Child labor was not outlawed because there was a strong child lobby. If people say they are opposed to powerful private interests taking unfair advantage of the weak and vulnerable then they should spare some appreciation for unions.
14
It's not just the Republicans. Under Bill Clinton, with the acquiescence of then Senate Majority Leader, Joe Biden, the unions were thrown under the bus. George Packer's book, "The Unwinding" details what and how.
14
@lzolatrov And that is one of the major reasons, voters have left the Democratic party!
1
You mean someone besides me read that book!
The decline of union power was also correlated with the retirement of the WW2 generation. When the men came home from the war they were not prepared to put up with their previous economic prospects. This was particularly pronounced in Britain where in the Khaki election of 1945 Labour won a landslide victory. In America, which had raised living standards by ten percent in real terms during the war, and had ended the war with half the world’s gold reserves, and was set for an economic boom, the working class was likewise unwilling to accept the status quo ante. There was a psychological aspect as well, the officers, back in management roles, could scarcely oppress their comrades in arms after having fought with them. Capital was also mindful of its interests, and realised that a return to pre-war society was impossible. If labour had not been allowed to organise for higher wages and better conditions they were risking a revolution. So the stage was set for a heyday of union power and working class prosperity.
4
Featherbedding went out in the late 60's early 70's. Most of the arguments against unions are nit picking. A lot of anti-union sentiment is by those who have been hoodwinked. Be that as it may, Trump followers and Republican voters will still vote against their best interests
6
Mr. Kristof,
In return for expecting unions to participate in evaluating teachers, include union representation in the hiring process. As long as hiring and evaluation are the exclusive preserve of the school administration, unions will oppose firings. (An observation made often by Miles Myers, who was president of the California Federation of Teachers and later executive officer of the National Conference of Teachers of English.)
(Thank you again and again for your analysis and recommendations -- particularly about gun safety.)
1
What I don't understand is what they will do when they have it all. With nothing to buy, no one to provide services, where will they spend their ill gotten loot?
6
@Mcmcpeak
Oh they will have the rest of us as indentured servants to work for very little like they did in the late 19th century.
Back then the company owned the houses and the stores. And if you wanted to be employed you had to live in their houses and buy at their stores. But the price for rent and goods was barely covered by the wages.
So many of the workers ended up owing the company and couldn't quit to seek other jobs. So the company got all the money back with virtually free labor. And the owners lived lavish lifestyles.
All of which led to a backlash by the workers and violent strikes which crippled the companies. Even though the companies had the police, hired mercenaries, and the army, they had to in the end allow unions to be formed.
We have forgotten the lesson of what happens when companies control everything. We forgot the fight that the workers committed themselves to, with death and beatings when they faced firearms. They sacrificed themselves for others to have a better life.
And we threw it all away.
2
The decline in U.S. trade unionism goes back much earlier than Nixon and Reagan. In 1961, the AFL-CIO set up an organization called the American Institute for Free Labor Development. Those were different times, and the subversion of first world labor unions was an active goal of the Soviet Union. We cannot entirely fault the people who created this body and participated in its early work.
By 1970, however, AIFLD was little more than a front for the CIA, which used it as a vehicle to interfere in labor movements around the world, usually in the service of U.S. owned employers, and against the interests of local workers.
In some ways, the sixties and seventies marked the high point of U.S. trade unions, where they played a role in foreign policy that now seems inconceivable. In the end, however, they were tainted by the company they chose to keep. Their influence and power has been in decline since the nineteen eighties, but the roots of that decline can be traced to a much earlier date.
1
Whenever there is an abuse by any union, it is generalized to knock down all unions. When there are corporate abuses, it is treated as an individual bad apple. Think about pharma and opioids, tobacco companies and cancer, banks and sub-prime loans, oil companies and climate change... There has been a concerted effort to demonize unions, but unions don't kill, big business does.
51
All these things are about balance. Unions are a critical counter-balance against unchecked power in the hands of employers. On the other hand, if he unions gain too much power they can become an obstacle to economic growth and overall prosperity.
There have certainly been instances where unions here in Australia became corrupt, exploited their own members and just got in the way.
But before that unions were the tool that took us from the Charles Dickens poverty of the industrial revolution to a world where wages were fair and workplaces were safe.
Right now though the pendulum has moved very much too far the other way. Working conditions, including safety as well as wages, have been undermined. Once again employers have virtually all the power and that's not healthy either.
We need balance. Unfortunately this is a foreign concept to both Scott Morrison here and Donald Trump over there.
8
My husband was a union carpenter for over 40 years. One only has to see who gets pensions these days in retirement to realize that once the unions have been destroyed by the republican party, people will be forced to live on Social Security, until the republicans cut that also. Everybody needs to VOTE!
123
Unions are a necessity. Like government, it has to be reformed to find back its soul.
3
Unions are totally broken in our country, and I doubt if organized labor can ever deserve that moniker. Having Eugene Scalia further eviscerate that dying beast cannot be all bad. I think a new labor movement will arise, led by health care workers, followed by workers of other industries who will have the most bargaining power, leaving aside the miners, the autoworkers, and workers of the machine tool industry, concentrated in the rust belt and the South. Who is Scalia replacing? A corrupt, inconsequential functionary, namely Acosta. It will be good to have Scalia do some real damage to union workers who voted for Trump and intend to do so again.
4
Very interesting premise. As a shot down the field it is not bad.
1
I personally believe that the narrative painting the American wage-earning class as supporters of Trump is a false narrative. Where working-class people allegedly "responded" to Trump's message, it was a veneer for tacit racism; a "cover story", if you will, for anger built-up over having a Black Man in the White House for eight years. I also find the narrative of the Obama-Trump voter dubious. That said, anybody that truly understood what has happened to labor and the "rust belt" over decades would know that a solution would never come from the likes of Trump and the Republican Party. America needs a Labor Movement. Not Trump and the Republicans.
3
I truly hope that all those blue collar workers who voted for Trump and still think he will MAGA, start opening their eyes and realizing what Trump is ACTUALLY doing to them. It's too bad that none of them read the NYT as that would only contradict their preferred vision of reality as defined by FAUX News, because this article should sound the alarm bells for them.
Trump was NEVER for workers. Look at his record as a builder/developer: he routinely underpaid workers, hired non-union workers, stiffed workers and sub-contractors, and declared bankruptcy several times to avoid paying his bills. Does anyone REALLY think he would ever do anything for the working class? If you do, you must addicted to Trump's Kool Aid and should immediately seek a 12 Step Program!
But Trump didn't create this by himself, he's simply piggybacking on the decades-long assault on the working and middle class by both parties who dumped them in favor of the donor class and Corporate America. This is why so many former Democratic voters voted for Trump put of immense frustration with the party for continuing to ignore them. And what better proof that they had abandoned the working and middle class than their nomination of the Queen of Wall St. - Hilary? If the Dems expect to win, they'd better return to the FDR-populist roots, otherwise Trump, despite his record of being anti-worker will dupe them again by making outrageous promises he'll never keep.
12
Why is it that our grandparents and great grandparents sacrificed so much to unionize, even engaging in pitched battles with management goons, and there is barely a murmur of discontent today? Perhaps having a big screen TV, a car, and AC have convinced many workers they're not serfs, although they are in debt up to their ears to pay for it all, no less than a worker 100 years ago was in perpetual hock to the company town.
22
People are too tired from working 3 jobs just to keep food on the table to actually do anything about this.
The unions have had their problems, heaven knows. Still, one of the reasons that the incomes of working class people have not kept pace with the cost of living is the inability to collectively bargain. In part, this has been due to workers themselves having a jaundiced view of unions. Workers in the Volkswagen plant in Tennessee voted down unionization.
But it's not just higher wages that make unions valuable. They're a way of enforcing work rules and providing channels of communication with management It's too easy for conditions in the workplace to slip as management pursues higher profits. Unions have fought for better health benefits and safety in the work place. While some employers are conscientious, others are not. Those who work in a non-union shop have little recourse when conditions turn bad.
12
@T Norris Unfortunately, even union shops are having trouble with overreaching management. Union power has been greatly diminished.
It will get worse, as corporate America writes its' own laws through contracts, that the courts uphold. Trump stacking of the Federal Judiciary isn't about Roe v Wade.
4
Everyone goes too far: unions, corporations, criminal police and criminal African Americans, religious organizations that try to impose themselves on all of us, presidents, legislatures, courts and me. That’s why we need a balance of power within government and a strong government to balance and reduce the power of all of the forces in society. Justifying the gutting of Unions by arguing that Unions have gone too far when they had the chance is disingenuous.
2
Unions, Corporations, and Government all suffer from the same the problem: People are not angels. (No link to supporting information needed).
Robust, multilevel checks and balances work. Or at least work better than other alternatives.
Unions are needed to check corporate focus on shareholders and senior management over workers. Robust competition in a global economy can keep unions in check. Government needs to enforce the rules and everyone needs to keep an eye on the politicians.
Take one away, and like a three legged stool, it fails. Allow two to gang up on the other, and it fails. Give too much power to one and it fails. Overcorrecting when trying to restore balance is an easy trap to fall into.
Keep the right balance is hard and requires constant vigilance and adjustments. Like many who recall the excesses of unions in the 70s, I was not sad to see some of the changes that were made in the 80s. But we overcorrected.
We are way out of balance. We need stronger private sector unions. Time for a comeback.
21
40 hour work week, overtime pay, workplace safety, no child labor -these benefits and many others are all the result of workers banding together to improve conditions. A LOT of those who scorn unions would be outraged if the benefits that unions gained for them disappeared. Americans are dismally unaware of history and intensely responsive to the con man with the shiny object. I grieve for the future if we continue our present path.
80
As a teenager, I worked in a union shop and was astonished at the work rules that seemed perversely crafted to maximize inefficiency. Further, the union focused most of its energy to protect them
5
The stories and literature about unions always have a similar feel to me. They often harken to a time when unions served manual laborers and only manual laborers. I can almost see Johnny Friendly with a hand out to collect a little graft from those hardworking benighted stevedores. But lets be clear. College professors have unions, as do physicians, writers, motion picture directors and actors. There are number of what might be called professional class laborers who benefit from union representation. Is the graft and corruption and featherbedding that is often attributed to unions any different from the pay to play efforts of lobbyists and corporate advocates who try to bend the rules to suit corporations. There are only two classes in America, workers and owners - and I don't mean small business owners - I refer to the .01 per cent. If you aren't in that group you are a worker. If the manager class understood that they could benefit from unions too, the labor movement in the US would be a lot more effective.
26
@Michael I am in the Writers Guild of America, one of the professional class unions you describe. In my union, top earners make tens of millions a year. While over half the Guild makes zero dollars a year.
The idea that we all have the same interests is ridiculous. The leadership is generally picked from the most successful writers. Like giant corporations, they make rules that serve themselves and hurt the everyday writers. It is no better to be a victim of a union leader's greed and self-interest than a Ceo's.
@Sparky I completely agree with you. I,too, am a union member. (IATSE, IBEW,NABET). And as a shop steward I saw just how ineffective, self-serving and obtuse union leadership can be. Unions can be rife with corruption. The rank and file can be as disinterested and disaffected as a citizen who doesn't bother to vote. It is an imperfect system and if you have a better plan I'd love to hear it. But change in Unions can only come from within. I don't see a better option on the horizon and I have seen enough of greed to know that expecting people to sacrifice personal gain to work toward the betterment of all goes against many peoples nature. But I think a working world without unions will not be a better place to be.
1
@Sparky Why have you not organized and voted these people out? All union members get an annual vote for leadership. I think it's time you and other like you step up and demand change.
Unions are the only way the middle class will exist, otherwise it is the race to the bottom. Without them, the have and have nots gap continues to widen. I don't want to live in a country like that. Do you?
48
Eventually the have nots will have had enough. Then look out! You’d think some of the very wealthy could see where this is headed and share a little more, if for no other reason than keeping a revolution at bay. Yes, it can happen even here, folks. I’d say we are even more vulnerable - it feels worse to lose something you had than to never have had it at all.
4
In this Opinion, Nicholas Kristof bemoans his attacks on Labor Unions, which I think is appropriate, although Ronald Reagan wears the crown in that arena. The main target of this piece is Trump's pick for Secretary of Labor Department and the sorry state of working class Americans. Instead of bringing back manufacturing and jobs, Trump has accomplished chaos and deception. The nomination of Eugene Scalia as the Secretary of Labor underlines what side Trump is on. Kristof states that Scalia, a noted nemesis of the workers. is like putting 'Typhoid Mary' at the head of the Labor Department. Of course, nothing will dissuade Trump. Aren't the secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Transportation and Treasury all Typhoid Marys? Everything that is important in our lives is being dismantled along with the country's knowledge base. Destruction; mismanagement; a higher mortality rate and the growth of white supremacy, gun violence and opiate addiction speaks of his presidency. Why report one sin at a time when we're dealing with an overwhelming invasion from Trump & Company.
33
I am a member of the Writers Guild of America, the union for nearly all working screenwriters and television writers.
In April, all 15,000 of us were forced to fire our agents because the Guild leadership decided agents were engaged in some unfair business practices and refused to negotiate a solution with the agents. Though the business practices only affected TV writers, thousands of feature writers (like me) were ordered to fire our agents in solidarity, making it near impossible to work. There is no sign this will end by next May when we will likely go on strike against the studios.
Since April, the leadership has bullied us daily and threatened those who leave the union and go Fi Core will have their names published in the LA Times and essentially blackballed from the business. So let's just say, I'm not as Pro Union as I used to be.
7
@Sparky
I looked up the article in the NYT about this (which I knew nothing about - it's an interesting issue - thanks) and it said 7,882 members voted in favor of the new code of conduct and only 392 voted against. Were you one of the 392?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/12/business/media/hollywood-writers-agents-fire.html?module=inline
2
@Sparky If you do not like your leadership, organize and vote them out. You state that only one part of your union was affected by management but all were forced to fire your agent. It may seem harsh now, but the outcomes may be very beneficial. I truly don't know. What I do know as a former union leader (grievance and negotiations chair for my school district) is that all members vote each year for leadership positions. It may be time for you to run for one of those positions. Good luck to you as you go forward.
1
@Sirlar Yes, I was one of only 392 who voted No. But the numbers are deceiving. Only half of the Guild actually has agents, so thousands of writers were voting to make competing writers fire THEIR agents which many unrepresented writers thought would level the playing field.
And many, many writers voted Yes, because leadership begged them to, with the intent of giving the leadership negotiating power but the Leadership broke off negotiations almost immediately and refused to negotiate on moral grounds. I have worked in "Hollywood" for many years. It is not for the faint-hearted. But no one has ever lied to me more than my Union leadership. I will never be Pro Union again.
1
The actual problem is corporate political power, or more specifically the political power of the financial elite. With their wealth they are able to thwart actual honest representative democracy and bend our government toward their interests.
Unions are a good start at protecting worker well-being but they do not address the fundamental problem. Our country needs to cut back the political power of the extremely wealthy fairly severely. One person one vote, like the rest of us.
Honest Representatives and Honest Senators and an Honest president would obviate the need for unions as the last bulwark against the financial elite "owner class" grinding workers into the dirt.
So figure out who is against corruption of our government by the financial elite and vote for them. There are only two of them. Both are good choices to crush Trump in 2020.
8
@trebor You are correct, and they are Sanders and Warren.
For most of this nation's history this nation has made life difficult for workers. Before the Civil War there were actually laws that made it illegal for workers to join together to press for better conditions and higher pay but allowed employers to band together to keep pay low
Large corporations were first to employ force against workers making demands for better conditions and higher pay and even were sometimes able to use the police or military against workers
The great change for workers occurred during World War 2 when we needed uninterrupted industrial output to defend us and defeat our enemies. Only in those dire conditions did Labor advance and unsurprisingly the U.S. became by far the most dominant economy in World History
Corporate greed for short term gain has resulted in crushing Labor in the U.S. to the long term detriment of the U.S. On a per capita basis Germany is now far more successful than the U.S. often producing a trade surplus; this may be because Germany requires labor representation on corporate boards - I think so
What is happening here is not inevitable; we can reset the rules to not only make conditions better for labor but to ensure the U.S. economy remains #1 - see Adam Smith "The Wealth of Nations"
1st Step: fully vet Scalia whose demonstrated bias makes Scalia demonstrably unfit - didn't Trump ask the press to do the vetting for him?
13
Mr. Kristof, with all due respect, this column maddens me. The "War on Workers" started long before Trump. And where was the Democratic Party while this was going on? They were bowing at the alter of the Clintons, especially Bill, who was the greatest Republican president of the 20th Century. And ever since Clinton's presidency, the party has moved from the party of the "working class" to a coalition of the victim class. If your column is about Trump, it should be how he exposed the Democratic party's abandonment of workers. They have left the party because the party has left them. This is not new news. If the Democrats want victory, they should speak to the workers of all demographics.
18
I work in a non-unionized hospital in a state with little nursing union power. We have wage growth well below cost of living for the last 15 years, and have trouble attracting labor. We have no salary bargaining rights. We have worse patient/staff ratios than our unionized brethren in other states. Workers are allowed to be fired for literally no reason at all. Sadly, when someone brings up unionizing, coworkers say two things:
1 - You'll be fired for even mentioning that.
2 - Plus, Unions just take your money.
42
Trump is following his too familiar, outrageously cynical pattern in now nominating Scalia to head the Department of Labor. He seeks out hard right ideologues whose primary purpose is to insidiously undermine the stated missions of the very agencies they are nominated to head, to wit Pruitt at E.P.A., Mulvaney at Consumer Protection, Carson at H.U.D., Zinke at Interior, etc., etc. This nominee, Scalia, has probably left a well documented and lengthy public trail in his court filings, including briefs, submitted on behalf of his many corporate clients, opposing labor interests and positions at every turn. If he possesses any of the unrestrained vitriol of his now deceased father, liberally peppering his Supreme Court opinions, Scalia’s clear bias and resulting core unfitness for the labor position will be apparent. I assume that the Democratic Senate staff is already researching this.
17
For the last 40 years I have represented employers in labor and employment legal matters. I feel compelled to offer this correction to Mr. Kristof's column: Employers that commit unfair labor practices and therefore violate the National Labor Relations Act do not get fined. They can, however, be found liable to reimburse the pay lost by any workers who were fired for union activity. They also must pay interest on the back pay. Typically, the employers are also required to reinstate the fired employee or employees. The back pay that may be awarded can easily exceed by significant orders of magnitude the $10k mentioned in Mr. Kristof's piece. I've seen cases where employers were compelled to pay over $100k to employees who were illegally fired. With respect to Steven Greenhouse's contention that 20 percent of union activists are fired: where does this statistic come from? In my 40 years of law practice, I never heard that. I hope either Mr. Kristof or Mr. Greenhouse will share the source of that information. Finally, let's not forget that there are many more employee-protective laws today than there were during unions' heyday. For example: OSHA, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, ERISA, and so on. Is it any wonder that unions have lost members when employees can vindicate their rights under the myriad of laws that exist, and they are not required to pay union dues?
6
@Balsher You make very salient points, but one point not mentioned in support of unions is that your salary as a counselor would be paid by the union and not the employee. Most working and middle class people cannot afford an attorney to litigate their case without union support.
@Sue Salvesen
Hi there. I represent the employer not the employee so my fee is never paid by the employee or the union. When an employee hires a lawyer to sue a company the employee’s lawyer usually takes the case on a contingency fee. This means the employee pays nothing to the lawyer unless the employee wins the case. Also it costs a person nothing to file an EEOC charge, an NLRB charge, or a charge with the Dept of Labor.
For many big companies, $100,000 is peanuts. They save way more than that mistreating workers. It’s nothing but a slap on the wrist.
I would be shocked if the author could produce evidence that the major U.S. domestic auto manufacturers could be economically profitable at a union labor cost of $67 per hour.
"For all their shortcomings, unions...."
Almost every time I read an article about organized labor, inevitably the writer has to make a remark like the one above. All should remember that it takes "two to tango". Everything the unions have/had in their contracts was through negotiations with management. Both parties signed the contract. If there was a shortcoming, it was with management for allowing it.
And what is needed are tough minded labor leaders like John L. Lewis to take up the fight again with the Scalia's of the world. Then a movement can begin again to bolster workers rights.
53
@cherrylog754
There is some sort of word-processing software glitch that is universal among the systems used by journalists and is unfixable. Because of this glitch:
(1) trade unions must never be mentioned without some sort of caveat about their "shortcomings" and
(2) reporters, analysts, and columnists are prohibited from typing the words "Hillary Clinton" unless preceded by the phrase "the flawed."
2
The key to earning a cabinet appointment in the current administration is to be diametrically opposed to the mission of the department which you are selected to lead. It is scandalous, blatant, and effectively unopposed by the so-called Senate leadership, whose advice and consent role it has completely abandoned.
103
The secret to engineering society is balance, as the founding fathers intuitively knew. Unions are needed to be part of that balance in the modern corporate world. Like any human instituation they are imperfect and can do wrong (like corporations), but that if is a reason to restrict them than sauce for the gander is more regulation of corporations.
14
For a private sector employers under the original Wagner Act and amendments, there is no “fine” for illegally firing a worker. There is backpay, which the fired worker is required to use reasonable efforts to mitigate by seeking alternative work. Fired workers often sell their right to reinstatement to their former job, for more or less depending on the circumstances.
For those in the country without documentation, it’s worse. Per SCOTUS, no backpay is due for an illegally fired worker for the period s/he was in the country without permission; and the worker (often deported) must attain lawful status before seeking reinstatement.
All in all a good deal for bosses.
8
Luddites, more often than not, get a bad rap. They were less concerned with technological advance than with how the financial gains from those advances would be distributed. History has shown their concerns were valid.
31
"Eugene Scalia has fought unions on behalf of Walmart and other companies, is a talented and experienced litigator and, who, upon assuming office will be in a position to disembowel labor." It would be fitting to rename the U.S. Dept. of Labor the “U.S. Dept. of Corporate Interests.” Otherwise, workers will continue to be treated like the indentured servants of corporate America.
78
In the last 100 years only two narratives have consistently resonated with American voters. One narrative blames the rich for our troubles. The destruction of the union movement is evidence that supports this narrative. The other narrative blames our troubles on racial or religious minorities, often in the form of immigrants. In 2016, Trump owned both narratives. Of course, he is without peer in selling the immigrant bashing narrative. But he also owned the “blame the rich” narrative, arguing that only someone as rich and savvy as he could figure out how to protect the middle class. In the greatest act of political malpractice in modern American history, Hillary Clinton somehow managed to sufficiently compromise herself so that she could not credibly be seen as a defender of the middle class against a billionaire. Unless the Democrats retake possession of this narrative in 2020, they are toast.
45
@Victor James
"Hillary Clinton somehow managed to sufficiently compromise herself "
The malpractice was on the part of the press, which spent the entire campaign talking about emails rather than her detailed policy proposals, aided by the Republicans, which spent her entire adult life attacking her (with targeted lies about her aided by Russian facebook ads), and Sanders, who criticized her integrity for an entire year rather than sticking to explaining why he thought his policies were better than hers (she had a very pro-labor agenda, if anyone looked at her website or listened to her speeches on cspan as I did---couldn't learn about it from the email email media), not to mention Jill Stein claiming there was no difference between the parties and gaining enough votes in Wisconsin, Michigan and PA to hand the Electoral College to Trump even as Clinton trounced him in the popular vote.
7
@Lynn This kind of analysis is why Clinton lost and Biden will lose if he is nominated.
Clinton fundamentally undermined whatever liberal talking points she had by supporting the continued power of the financial elite to effectively rule the day. As does Every candidate who does not explicitly address the problem of big money control of the democratic party. Though it is expressed in different terms, (such as "limousine Liberal") that corrupt corporatist politician is Never again going to enjoy robust support. Quite the reverse. Young people and and those not completely blinded by brand loyalty are acutely aware of the divided interests of almost all democratic politicians.
The party either moves left where it has historically been or it loses. That necessarily means shaking off control by big money.
That corporatism was the issue that sent the white blue-collar voters in the rust belt from Obama to Trump and why Clinton lost. It is a real and central issue that "centrist" democrats either address honestly or continue to lose.
7
@trebor
"by supporting the continued power of the financial elite to effectively rule the day. "
That is a Bernie talking point but does not reflect her actual policies.
Clinton supported overturning Citizens United (btw Citizens United ads were directed against her) --all Democrats in the Senate voted to do that and were blocked by Republicans
She also had a more comprehensive and broader strategy than Sander's "break up the big banks" slogan---hers included reigning in Hedge Funds
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/wall-street/
and other economic justice issues: a subset here:
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/campaign-finance-reform/
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/a-fair-tax-system/
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/labor/
In this column, Mr. Kristof, you write, "This [appointing Eugene Scalia as Labor Secretary] is a bit like nominating Typhoid Mary to be health secretary." In your recent newsletter you declare that it's "like appointing Lysistrata to be secretary of war, or Genghis Khan to be minister of culture."
Good, clever analogies, all. In the here-and-now, however, it's like appointing Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor, Tom Price as health secretary, Scott Pruitt or Andrew Wheeler as EPA director, Ryan Zincke or David Bernhardt as interior secretary, Anthony Scaramucci as director of communications, Ben Carson as HUD secretary, Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary or Rudy Giuliani as -- anything -- each one of them combining in major measure the attributes of incompetence, dishonesty, corruption and an overt dedication to destroying the agencies and offices they have been appointed to head.
This is a short list of what President Trump has done, making a mockery of his own administration. But he didn't appoint himself. We did that.
1331
@John LeBaron Thanks for your comment on my column. Yes, you're right: It's difficult to exaggerate how inappropriate many of Pres. Trump's appointments have been--down to the roles of family members to solve the Middle East conflict. And of course Rick Perry seems to have been appointed Secretary of Energy by mistake, because both he and the President thought that it was primarily about energy, when in fact much of the job revolves around nuclear issues. Sigh. Perhaps we should be grateful that this administration's venality is often constrained by its incompetence.
699
@Nicholas Kristof. Thanks very much for your response. I am honored by it. I forgot Rick Perry, so to quote him directly, "Oops!" As for Javanka, nepotism is the icing on the president's noxious cake of appointees. I hope to help reverse the pattern in 2020.
247
@John LeBaron. Not surprised he responded. I once had a question about one of his statistics and one of his staff members got back to me within hours. But my favorite thing about Mr. Kristof is -- and I say this as a Christian -- is that he refuses to create caricatures of Evangelicals while still asking the hard questions. He makes me think and that deepens my faith...and for that, I am grateful.
74
Nick, Secretary of Labor has very little to do with unionization. The rules on organizing are set largely by the NLRB, not the Labor Department. We had 8 years of an Obama NLRB that did everything it could do resurrect the labor movement with very little success. The law today is the same law that was in effect 70 years ago, so don’t blame flaws in the statute either. The labor movement just can’t organize.
BTW, Obama’s Labor Secretary Perez, had multiple regulations (fiduciary Rule, overtime, persuader Rule) struck down by the courts. He is the same failure who is now head of the DNC, so no surprise at today’s disarray.
1
A tired and false argument. Perspective makes all the difference. Come to Boston and tell me how unions, and their puppets Walsh and Warren, are a positive force. Five times the cost, five times the time, shoddy materials poorly installed and falling apart before the over budget over due project is done.
31
@Daphne Sorry, but that’s just not true. The reasons that shoddy materials are poorly installed have more to do with greedy corporate managers overseeing a shoddy job -- and ordering shoddy materials -- than with unionized labor. That same unionized labor, if on a job, is more likely to complain of shoddy materials and rushed installation than workers with no protection from management.
The generalized lack of quality in today’s products (and I’m talking about everything from household goods, furniture, and building materials to major construction projects like the Boston tunnel roof) is due to cost-cutting on the part of corporations who produce products or provide services. It is pandemic, and it’s about time consumers revolted.
357
@Daphne
Being a member of a union for thirty years has permitted me to be a productive member of our middle class, given me fair working conditions, and legal protections that I could never afford on my own. In addition, it has created one of the best pension funds in the country, that is funded by its members and very little contributed by employers. This will help me to maintain my middle class life when I am retired.
If you are talking about construction unions, I doubt they actually choose the materials to build a project with, and are not the building inspectors. Perhaps you should choose a different company that will give you the product you want, or demand a give back. Slamming the workers is not the correct way to get what you want.
Interesting that here in the NY area, projects built by the Trump family are considered all glass and glitter from the outside, and falling apart, shoddy construction on the inside. Guess whose fault that is?
408
@Daphne As my column suggests, I would have been more sympathetic to your argument a decade ago. But the worst abuses we've seen have been by unchecked corporations: Think of pharma companies peddling opioids so that 70,000 Americans die annually from overdoses. And while union featherbedding historically was a problem, look today at CEO featherbedding and the way it drives up costs. So I agree that out-of-control unions can abuse the system, but these days the problem is far more likely to be out-of-control corporations. And unions are part of a check-and-balance system to rein them in.
834
It's no surprise that Trump has chosen an anti-labor Secretary of Labor; this is consistent with nearly all of his other cabinet choices. And, it seems to be working out well for him: his job approval rating is rising.
But the sad truth is that labor unions were often complicit in their own demise.
Traditionally, trade unions demanded concessions from employers, but offered something extremely valuable in return: workers who maintained the highest level of skills and integrity for a particular task. The words "Union Made" on a product meant that you could rely on its quality. This is how it works in Germany, and why German automobiles are in high demand worldwide.
But in the US, unions got lazy. In the '70's, they were often much more concerned with adding benefits and keeping jobs than they were about maintaining their traditional standards. Laziness and incompetence were rewarded. Relationships between management and labor became adversarial rather than cooperative, as they are in Germany and Japan. Eventually, unions reached the sad point of defending a teacher who had passed out drunk in a classroom.
Solutions must be incremental: first, of course Trump and his cronies must go. Second, unions must return to their former bargain of providing highly competent labor in exchange for the higher pay and earned benefits they seek. This can only be accomplished by cooperation between business and labor, with strong laws to support the process.
26
@TL Mischler
Relations between unions and companies were always essentially adversarial in the U.S. I never heard of any implicit bargain like what you say existed. It's true that unions have overreached, as have businesses; if we assume the overreach is proportional to the available funds, we would expect business overreach to be about 1000 times the union overreach in normal times. And that is about what we see nowadays (of course you understand that the number is metaphorical, as there is no way to measure overreach numerically).
6
@TL Mischler
A recent NYT's article this year , focused on the collapse of construction/municipal unions in New York area. The reporter witnessed how a track crew supervisor would alert the crew of undocumented workers ( performing RR track repairs ) with a whistle of the approach of RR inspector, so the crew would scatter and hide from sight in the weeds until the inspector moved on.
The idea that ' NY is a union town ' and not a place where companies can hire 'scab' labor, is no longer accurate as readers learned from this reporting .
4
@TL Mischler The case of the inebriated teacher is an outlier, and I am sure she ended up losing her job and pension, if applicable . She paid dues to the union, and they had the legal duty to defend her. The union would be negligent if it did not offer her legal counsel.
2
"Union featherbedding and rigid work rules have been real problems. Yet without unions to check them, C.E.O.s engage in their own greedy featherbedding and underinvest in worker training, thus undermining America’s economic competitiveness."
Name me one cabinet official where the president hasn't named someone ready to do the bidding of corporations affected by the mission of said agency.
Why should labor, and Eugene Scalia, be any different? It continues to boggle my mind that America's workers from coast to coast are still largely supportive of a president who routinely thumbs his nose at their needs through his agency appointments.
Like you, Mr. Kristof, I took a dim view of unions until I began reading about their demise and what has been lost along with the protections they routinely afforded workers. It's staggering to read that only 10% of workers in the US now belong to a union, down from the halcyon days of 35% in the 50s.
But even more staggering is that worker wages, adjusted for inflation, are actually lower than they were 50 years ago.
We truly are an oligarchy at this point.
683
@ChristineMcM Great minds think alike--even if we both acknowledge having been wrong earlier. I recommend the new Steven Greenhouse book mentioned in my column. It is a great read about labor unions and the role they play in society.
193
@Nicholas Kristof
I'll take your recommendation. You might also encourage folks to read some of Philip S. Foner's History of the Labor Movement in the US.
30
@ChristineMcM
Christine--everyone loves to lash out at unions, but here's the truth. During my engineering career, there was a length of time when I worked as a construction manager. When union workers were on the job, I slept at night. Otherwise, things tended more toward sleepless nights.
Are unions expensive, annoying and sometimes corrupt? Yes, but in construction the union labor force can't be beat, at least in my experience. There's a certain pride in workmanship that is often lacking elsewhere--those non-union Boeing workers in South Carolina leaving garbage, tools, metal shavings, etc. in airplanes comes to mind. Those are workers who have not been adequately trained the way union workers are (cost cutting has a lot to do with that, I'm sure) and their sloppiness speaks for itself.
As for wages--I have a master's degree in engineering, yet the guy who operated the construction elevator made four times what I did. We were working double/triple shifts and the union workers were being paid time and a half and double time, while we salaried folks got, well, a salary, no matter how much time we put in. Did I mind? Quite simply, no. In the old days, everything in life wasn't about money. It was about building stuff and the satisfaction that goes with a job well done.
That was long ago and much has changed. "Greed is good" has ruined this country. A happy country is one where the rank and file are happy--big business has forgotten that.
368
We have the potential of greatness and on occasion have shown it to the world, but when push comes to shove among us we still prefer the shiny object to any other, a fundamental disconnect between the fantasy our politicial and religious leaders spin and the reality we daily face.
Ignorance of our own national history coupled with acceptance of unfounded belief in the supernatural at all levels will continue to tug at and fray the hem of our adolescent culture.
Some of us may feel it now, but those who will suffer are our kids and theirs.
Mr Scalia has one job which is to maintain, widen and solidify the gap
19
Aside from a comment on the nominee's father, I see nothing in this column, good or bad, about the qualifications of Mr. Scalia. What, specifically, does Mr. Kristof feel are the reasons why Mr. Scalia should not be nominated. And no, I do not believe in visiting the alleged sins of the father on the son.
A reasonable paean to the value of unions, which I do not completely agree with nor do I completely dismiss. A true nothing burger about Mr. Scalia, however.
@michaelscody I believe that the statements that Mr. Scalia is "a corporate lawyer who has spent his career battling workers....who has fought unions on behalf of Walmart and other companies" should answer your question.
86
@Judy Fletcher It's amazing, even frightening how people will only see &/or hear what they want to...only that which matches & reinforces what they already believe.
1
As a supporter of unions, living in Canada, i have seen some of the other benefits of strong unions: education programs, health and safety on the work place surveillance, a sense of control over one’s life and community engagement for working men and women related to their every day existence -raising moral and political issues for debate and discussion. It is not JUST. About money although that is certainly part of the issue.
78
@Barbara Scales As a former US citizen & a retired Canadian labour activist, I agree.
Historically, I think a number of unions (leadership and members) bought into the corporate fairytale that their interests were aligned. They bargained away increased wages, benefits, holidays etc for shares in the company. The result was believing that what was best for the company & shareholders was therefore best for the workers. Turned out not to be true.
Having said that, I'm proud of all the benefits unions have brought to workers & citizens in general. "The folks who brought you the weekend" (and much more) is not just a slogan.
Today, many unions are increasingly campaigning on issues, moral & political as you note, affecting all workers (fights for increased minimum wages, laws to protect when working alone etc) and the well-being of communities (homelessness, public education & health care etc). I sincerely hope that the tide against unions is changing.
18
Unions are the direct result of a strong Democratic system overall, so it is no surprise that the marginalization and disintegration of unions are leading to the demise of our Democracy as a whole (or rise to specters)
Having said that, areas (or countries) where there are strong unions, not only have strong support for workers (for benefits and the like), but generally have strong Democracies that foster politicians that will reinforce, and not let there be daylight for top down rule.
It all comes back to the maxim that if the workers cannot afford to buy the products they are making, then the products cannot be made in the end, because there will be no workers. We are seeing the effects on whole sectors that are reaching tipping points of the above.
Smart business leaders bring their workers to the table, and smart leaders of unions create a balance where demands are not beyond the capacity of the business itself. (as well as confronting abuse within the system from all sides)
It is a symbiotic relationship, and one cannot thrive without the other, although, there are still too many that try.
153
@FunkyIrishman
A most important question: Is it already too late? Trump has packed every position with right wing appointees who disdain the working man and favor the 1%:
When will his base see him for what he
is and how he is fundamentally changing
our economic system from a democracy
to a plutocracy?
Assuming a democrat is elected in 2020,
can we ever undo the damage Trump has
done to all our institutions?
19
@sheila
The fundamental question(s) is whether anyone will be allowed to vote, and ultimately, will that vote count to or for anything ?
I tend to err on the side of caution, but I think it will. First, it will be (as you said) a Democrat in the White House. I am a little bit more bullish and think that it will be a fairly Progressive administration, and the Senate might be taken back. It might be even a super majority within two years.
Fundamentally we need to get back to straight up and down votes across the board. That may be within the Congress (especially again for said Senate), and for everything else - in particular if one wants to implement a union. (coming back to me original comment)
I think we will get there. Keep the faith.
13
@FunkyIrishman
Corporate Democrats themselves did plenty to devastate unions beginning in the late 1970s in Arkansas with Bill Clinton’s policies of triangulation. Back then, Clinton wrote that unions were “disastrous for the economy of Arkansas.” It proved a winning formula for the Democrats for many years: work with liberals on social issues, which allowed them to keep the backing of the left and then adopt labor policies that resonated with business conservatives. More recently, the NYT observed that “[Hillary’s] show of support [of unions] contrasted with her long indifference to the concerns of organized labor.” Corporate Democrats sold unions down the river and ignored their concerns with free trade agreements that disproportionately affected the more heavily unionized manufacturing sector.
“Which Side are You on, Hillary?”
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/opinion/campaign-stops/which-side-are-you-on-hillary.html
4