By Clyde Ussery / Chronicle contributor
Since the early days of our republic, the struggle of American workers to improve their lives in the workplace has been an uphill fight against rich and powerful conservatives whose primary goal is to maintain a ready supply of cheap labor. In order to keep workers “over a barrel,” they have done their best to destroy one of the most important protections of working people—unions.
In their efforts to defeat organized labor, conservatives mobilized support from the economically comfortable who suffer from the delusion that they are part of that rich and powerful circle, and from workers who are hard-wired to oppose anything designed to improve their lot in life.
Despite the best efforts of rich “cheap labor” conservatives, from the late 1930s through the mid 1970s, working Americans had bargaining power. It has been called by some labor’s golden age. Unions had significant clout with Congress, and through legislation they were able to get the 40-hour workweek, the 8-hour workday, overtime pay, medical insurance, pension benefit protection and safety protections in the workplace. Not just for union members, but for all workers, even those who had fought them every step of the way.
For those who preach that lower taxes on wealthy investors is the only route to prosperity, it should be noted that in the years Americans were experiencing wage growth and improved working conditions, taxes on the wealthy were the highest in our nation’s history.
Since workers had attained power, investors and corporate executives wooed them with promises. They said help make us more productive and profitable, and we will share our prosperity. Wealth will trickle down to you.
So American workers trusted the investors and CEOs, after all, wasn’t the U.S. a Christian nation with high moral standards. The workers kept their end of the bargain and made this country the most competitive and most prosperous in the world, not only with hands-on labor, but also by contributing their creative talents to develop superior production techniques.
But alas, what the workers didn’t have was enough money to buy politicians. Wealthy investors did, and they began their rise to power. Pro-business, anti-worker politicians were elected, and politicians who had the interest of our total society at heart became an endangered species.
When the rich and powerful gained control of our government, all their promises to workers—the people who built this country—were forgotten. The investors were rewarded with special tax breaks, enormous subsidies, regulatory advantages, and political privileges—a welfare state for the rich. They got these favors on the grounds that everyone would benefit from the advantages they were given. Nothing trickled down.
Our best jobs have gone overseas, factories are sitting idle, and communities are decaying. Fairness to workers is no longer a moral standard. All that counts is profit for investors. The wealth has been redistributed.
Have a good Labor Day. If you have the day off, or if you have to work and collect time and a half, just remember, some old liberal fought hard to get that for you.
