Labor Day; In 1882 various members of the New York Central Labor Union gathered in New York City to protest dire working conditions and grueling non-stop hours they were working creating goods that were selling on an open-market. Soon thereafter there was a huge national fight between organized labor and business owners, subsequent legislation such as an 8 hour working day and laws against child labor were enacted after much resistance in Congress. I cant help but think that if Fox News were around during this time, theyd tell these brave carpenters and brick-layers to simply Go find another job and let the Free-Market fairy work his magic. Granted weve come a long ways and numerous labor laws have substantially cut back on the presence of Labor Unions in this country but one fact remains: You can draw a straight line between the average median wage of the American worker and the decline of unions beginning in 1979 moving forward. Obviously correlation isnt attributed to causation but we have seen productivity rise in all sectors of commerce all while the average worker, doesnt see any kind of increase in his real purchasing power.Blame automation, blame a complex tax code, blame globalization, blame Congress but in the midst of all this blaming remember to thank a group of people who were willing to take a stand nearly 132 years ago for the average Working man.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 13:32:11 +0000
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