Labor Day 2003

 

‘ANGUS BARKS’
By Jeff Francis
AEG Executive Board
LABOR DAY 2003
 
 
‘Expand or Die’ is the M.O. of big business. We’ve seen Home Depot
swallow Grossman’s and Somerville Lumber, after they had swallowed your
neighborhood hardware store. Staples and CVS wiped out the corner drugstore.
Domino’s delivers pizza across the country, and GE delivers capital around the
globe.
Not only are today’s businesses desperate to expand market share, they also
want to expand their control of the workplace. Labor Day is an appropriate time
to look at how this impacts the working stiff. After all, it is the manufacturing
worker, wherever their factory is located in the world, who does the work - that
adds the value - that creates the product - that makes the profit - for the big
businesses.
WORK LIFE – Recent tax law changes encourage work after age 65.
Booming health costs and fading pension plans push retirees towards employment.
GE’s pension plan changes in the past 10 years seem designed for older
workers to continue working.
WORK FAMILY – The standard middle-income family with one breadwinner
is abnormal these days. Double income families, divorcees supporting
two families, and single working parents are the norm now. Recent immigrants
need multiple incomes from family members to support a household. There has
been a dramatic increase in hours of work necessary to support one household.
WORK WEEK – Now that Blue laws are relaxed and people are getting
used to shopping and working on Sunday, weekends are more like regular
workdays. So it’s no surprise that the government is considering changes in laws
that protect overtime payments
WORK DAY – The Labor movement of the 1930’s won the 8-hour day in
union contracts, then got the 40-hour week for all workers in the Fair Labor
Standards Act. These provisions helped share the work, in the aftermath of the
Depression, when working families faced desolation row. Unchecked expansion
of profits and credit had caused the Depression. Overtime provisions were
designed to penalize Companies that were not willing to share the work.
Today GE would rather pay overtime than hire workers. Most areas of the
Riverworks run at 25% overtime. That means the work of 600 workers is being
done on an overtime basis by a shrinking workforce of 2400. If your personal
finances become dependent on this overtime, you are stepping into a vicious
circle that goes from farmout to headcount cuts to overtime, and back again.
Unions want kids in school, workers on good paying jobs, and seniors
enjoying retirement. ‘Solidarity Forever’ is the M.O. of the labor movement. But
solidarity has not been permanent since the 1930’s, and is hard to find today,
even between unions in the same industry, or workers on the same job. In the
world’s most productive country, we find that big business’ expansion of markets
and hours has meant our health care is in crisis, our schools are stumbling,
and our social security is threatened.
So if you see the handwriting on the wall, the solution is not to spend every
waking moment on the clock. The solution is to devote some quality time to
your Union.