FEAR

Fear is a horrible thing…unless you’re a writer. Then it’s a catalyst.

I know a bunch of people who are running on fear all the time. Mostly, they are afraid they will be laid off or fired for some unknown broken rule, or because they were late due to the fatal head on collision that happened two minutes before they arrived to the same spot. Or maybe because they were less than subservient to some narcissistic moron who isn’t sure what kind of latte they want, and whose brain is void of anything but the words ME. MY. MINE.

The veiled threat is always there, and that started me thinking - this was how the unions got their start. People were overworked and under paid and if they said anything about it, they quickly lost their jobs or maybe they just disappeared.

Unions leveled the playing field-for a while.

Sometime in the 1820’s the 12 hour work day was changed to a 10 hour work day thanks to the first labor union, then in 1866 the work day was actually cut down to an 8 hour day. Big business was not thrilled as this cut into their bottom line.

Private businesses don’t like Unions. They don’t want their feet held to the fire so their employees can have protection against poor working conditions, unfair wages, fake “management” jobs (so no overtime is paid. ) and let’s not forget health benefits, vacation days and sick leave. Employers say paying people is enough. Well if it is enough people wouldn’t be in the position they are in today.

I actually have paid little attention to the OCCUPY protests across the country, until someone posted something a little disparaging about young people and the movement in general, on facebook and someone else spoke up and said hey wait… we are just looking for a fair shake- not a hand out.

Now I know there are more than a few protestors showing up at OCCUPY because they just want to stir up trouble. I heard of people actually quitting their jobs to go. Well that’s nice but sort of dumb and won’t look good on their resume.

But here is the truth. There has never been a better moment for Unions to make themselves heard or grow their numbers. This is what Unions do, they fight for the underdog.

According to Science Daily The decline in fair wage is directly correlated to the decline in Union membership.
 
From 1973 to 2007, wage inequality in the private sector increased by more than 40 percent among men, and by about 50 percent among women. In their study, Western and co-author Jake Rosenfeld, a professor of sociology at the University of Washington, examine the effects of union decline on both between-group inequality and within-group inequality. Between-group compares people from different demographics and industries, while within-group looks at people from the same demographics and industries.

Focusing on full-time, private sector workers, Western and Rosenfeld find that deunionization -- the decline in the percentage of the labor force that is unionized -- and educational stratification each explain about 33 percent of the rise in within-group wage inequality among men. Among women, deunionization explains about 20 percent of the increase in wage inequality, whereas education explains more than 40 percent.

Part of the reason for this gender discrepancy is that men have experienced a much larger decline in private sector union membership -- from 34 percent in 1973 to 8 percent in 2007 -- than women (who went from 16 percent to 6 percent during the same period).

"For generations, unions were the core institution advocating for more equitable wage distribution," said Rosenfeld. "Today, when unions -- at least in the private sector -- have largely disappeared, that means that this voice for equity has faded dramatically. People now have very different ideas about what's acceptable in terms of pay distribution."

Interestingly, the study finds that union decline explains little of the rise in between-group inequality.

"Unions standardize wages so that people with similar characteristics -- if they're union members -- tend to have similar wages," Western said. "So, it makes sense that deunionization has little impact on between-group inequality, which, by definition, exists between groups of people that are different."

While the purpose of unions is to standardize wages for their members, Western and Rosenfeld find that even nonunion workers, if they're in highly unionized industries, tend to have fairly equal wages, partly because nonunion employers will raise wages to the union level to discourage unionization.

In terms of policy implications, Western and Rosenfeld think their study could help reignite the dialogue on labor unions, which they believe has disappeared from economic debates in recent years.

"In the early 1970s, unions were important for delivering middle class incomes to working class families, and they enlivened politics by speaking out against inequality," said Western. "These days, there just aren't big institutional actors who are making the case for greater economic equality in America."

While the purpose of unions is to standardize wages for their members, Western and Rosenfeld find that even nonunion workers, if they're in highly unionized industries, tend to have fairly equal wages, partly because nonunion employers will raise wages to the union level to discourage unionization.

In terms of policy implications, Western and Rosenfeld think their study could help reignite the dialogue on labor unions, which they believe has disappeared from economic debates in recent years.

"In the early 1970s, unions were important for delivering middle class incomes to working class families, and they enlivened politics by speaking out against inequality," said Western. "These days, there just aren't big institutional actors who are making the case for greater economic equality in America."

Cited: American Sociological Association (2011, July 26). Union decline accounts for much of the rise in wage inequality, study finds. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 13, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com¬ /releases/2011/07/110726092151.htm

A union can only be as strong as its numbers. But, big business and many small ones outfoxed people when they convinced them if they left the union they would be taken care of. They convinced them they would pay health benefits, 401K’s and that they would get yearly pay increases. Instead, in many cases all of those things went away and eventually so did the job.

If you are 25 years old and lucky enough to have any job, chances are you are underpaid, and have no benefits. If you are 60 years old and job hunting good luck. No jobs, no benefits, no government hand-outs. You will hear people say things like “You should have been prepared.” “You should have saved for that rainy day.” But maybe this isn’t your first rainy day.

It doesn’t matter anyway. Your savings should not be what you live on. If you are living on it and still working something is wrong.

I have been a member of many unions- some strong, some so weak they’re gone. I was never very pro union, I didn’t understand the history or the insurmountable odds they fought against to help people like you and me get a fair shake.

Fear will make people irrational. Fear will start riots. Fear will make people slip into depression and some will even kill themselves. I did some research on another subject a while back and while reading newspapers from the 1930’s depression era I realized almost every day in every  paper some mother or father were killing their children and then themselves out of shear despair. No jobs, no food, no heat. No hope.

I think Unions are in for a come back. I hope they can accomplish some good- without over taxing the business owners. There has to be some balance for everything to work.