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When my Kansas uncle came out to visit us, he tried to tell us we were wrong about FDR's Agricultural Adjustment Act. He had a minor management job in a bakery company. We were just wanting to get enough cash from wheat, beef and eggs to allow us to sell them. This was in 1936 and his guy lost--famously Alf Landon carried only Maine and Vermont. Uncle Chet was a fun fellow but just didn't know that folks had to have a chance to make a living regardless where they were. (Reminds me of the problem we have currently. How many little country towns would dry up if they didn't need the Guard and outsourced prison personnel?)Henry Ford's conveyor belt mentality became a marvel of production. He bragged that the Model T should be cheap enough for his workers to afford it. And I suppose Uncle Chet was ecstatic over sliced bread, wrapped warm enough to seal the package.
The moral to the story--if there is one--is that as economic conditions change, so should culture and politics. Was that the reason that labor unions were beginning to feel their muscle even as Franklin Roosevelt was preparing for his second term? The General Strike of 1935 in San Francisco is cited as a raucous example of workers asserting their rights. Curiously, I learned many years later when I moved to East Tennessee that there was another equally important strike right here in Maryville. The Aluminum Company of America was struck by its workers--demand was to have equal pay and rights with those at headquarters in Pittsburgh. They won, despite the fact that Tennessee is still a "right to work" state.
History clearly showed that industries associated with major products and goods became union shops. During World War II, we were amazed at the photographs, touting production, taken by Margaret Bourke-White of Time/Life. After the war, labor strife was big in American history, dealing with such well known groups as the United Mine Workers and the United Auto Workers. Especially since the Reagan era, some splintering happened in the labor movement. However, the discontent and political rankling remains.
The global company which replaced ALCOA as the premier place in Maryville to get a factory job is now Nippondenso. Denso has just added a large new facility. During the economic tsunami, there was a short time that it shut down one shift. That made news. For salary and perks there is no better place to work. For those who have line jobs, they discuss how boring it becomes. Everything has been computerized but there are no back bending jobs. The assembly line mode prevails. There is no union, it takes a year to get permanent status, which is made bearable by good health insurance benefits. Friends I have spoken with about their work change from being moderately satisfied to a point where, if they get a minor supervisory position, they are ready to take flight from hours of overtime.
Working people make things or perform services, sometimes in a humdrum way. If they are remunerated sufficiently, they may be content as long as they have free time for vacations and family needs. We are stuck somewhere between horse and buggy days and the cybernetic/ aeronautic reality in front of us.
What kept corporations and the counterpart labor unions in something like equilibrium does not seem to be effective in today's society. Yet there are many vital elements in early 21st Century personal lives which are not being served. The elderly frail who are not sick enough for round the clock medical care should not be shoved off into nursing homes. A newborn should be allowed to enjoy homelike conditions even if his mother and father are compelled to work. Where does the human element fit in? How can it be possible to gain enough pay from these so-called menial tasks?
Biggest question of all! How can society accommodate all workers without forming a whole overlay of labor law and compliance oversight? The first time I ran into a possible solution is when Thom Hartmann posted his article on OpEdNews, suggesting that to relieve the strain between the Haves and Have-nots, push instead of pull. By that I mean, don't beg for sporadic minimum wage laws which do not change the overall equation. Instead aim to cut out the exorbitant overpayments to those who are dealing with the government.
In Britain there is a discussion similar to what we have in the US about the greedy CEOs, glad to take government handouts, who then proceed to hand out fat bonuses to the same CEOs who caused the problem in the first place. MAXIMUM WAGE is the thinking behind what is happening here and in Great Britain. We find articles from Sam Pizzigati. It seems appropriate that incomes should be measured according to output of employees and managers. In that respect, Congress would probably need to determine ratios between management and help, based on outcome--at least in respect to contracts between corporations and workers.
Sam Pizzigati is with the Institute of Policy Studies. His bio there gives this background information:
"IPS associate fellow Sam Pizzigati has edited Too Much, an online newsletter on excess and inequality, ever since the publication first appeared in 1995. He has written widely on issues around the concentration of income and wealth, with op-eds and articles appearing in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Miami Herald, the Los Angeles Times, and a host of other newspapers and periodicals.
"A veteran labor movement journalist, Pizzigati spent 20 years directing the publishing operations of America's largest union, the 3.2 million-member National Education Association. Over the course of his union career, he has also edited publications for three other national unions and co-edited the primary text on trade union journalism, The New Labor Press (Cornell University ILR Press). His latest book, Greed and Good: Understanding and Overcoming the Inequality that Limits Our Lives (Apex Press), won an "outstanding title" of the year rating from the American Library Association (Choice, January 2006). Greed and Good examines just how concentrated wealth is poisoning every aspect of our contemporary lives, from our economy and politics to our health and our happiness.
"Pizzigati, 59, lives in Maryland. He has served on the boards of directors of Progressive Maryland, the state's most important voice for working families, and United for a Fair Economy, the Boston-based national economic justice advocacy group."
