State of the Unions (sort of)

        This was written in response to a Facebook post of a photo of Trump pointing to a sign which proclaims that “Unions are Ruining America. The poster than makes a statement to the effect that this is a black and white (not a racial comparison) issue – a sort of, “All unions do good things,” statement.  Having lived through the various Congressional committee hearings, I know that to be as questionable as Trump’s statement, ergo this humble screed. My first sentence (I was going to post this as a comment/reply, but it got waaaay too long) is in response to the All unions are good, comment.  

        In many, maybe even most cases, but historically, like Casinos, some Unions have been infiltrated by persons who care little for their members and a lot about how much money they can personally amass, (Teamsters, several UAW heads, Longshoremen?) In the postwar boom of the '50s unions were the beneficiaries of "welfare capitalism" Promoted by business leaders during a period marked by widespread economic insecurity, social reform activism, and labor unrest, it was based on the idea that Americans should look not to the government or to labor unions but to the workplace benefits provided by private-sector employers for protection against the fluctuations of the market economy. Of course, a key "if" here is the assumption of the good will and largesse of the employer! Companies employed these types of welfare policies to encourage worker loyalty, productivity and dedication. Owners feared government intrusion in the Progressive Era, and labor uprisings from 1917 to 1919—including strikes against "benevolent" employers—showed the limits of paternalistic efforts. Remember, these were autocratic men who saw the labor pool as "My workers." For owners, the corporation was the most responsible social institution (a canard as we have seen) and it was better suited, in their minds, to promoting the welfare of employees than government. Welfare capitalism was their way of heading off radicalism and regulation then.

       In the end, welfare capitalism programs benefited white-collar workers far more than those on the factory floor in the early 20th century. The average annual bonus payouts at U.S. Steel Corporation from 1929 to 1931 were approximately $2,500,000; however, in 1929, $1,623,753 of that went to the president of the company! (Yeah one man got 63% of the "bonus." Real wages for unskilled and low-skilled workers grew very little in the 1920s, while long hours in unsafe conditions continued to be the norm.

       To forestall open rebellion during the Depression the government passed significant legislation which caused a sea change in the labor/ownership playing field. The National Industrial Recovery Act (1933) provided for collective bargaining. The 1935 National Labor Relations Act (or Wagner Act) required businesses to bargain in good faith with any union supported by the majority of their employees. Meanwhile, the Congress of Industrial Organizations split from the AFL and became much more aggressive in organizing unskilled workers who had not been represented before. Strikes of various kinds became important organizing tools of the CIO.

      Just as The Robber Barons (Morgan, Rockefeller, Gould, et al) of the last decades of the 19th century had used their stranglehold on markets and production to keep workers in check, some unions, now empowered by depression era gains, swung the pendulum back, Rather than returning to a centrist position however, some unions (UAW, Teamsters, Longshoremen are prime examples) used their new found clout (they could paralyze commerce or damage major industrial conditions by strikes) to extract concessions for workers which were, frankly, in the case of the UAW for example, ludicrous in scale.

       Without taking too much space, I'd advise one to look at the concession granted auto industry unions during the boom of the 1950s. Manual labor became more highly paid than some highly skilled, but non-union positions, not because it was really worth more, or (even in a Marxian sense), because it added more value, but simply because unions had strong-armed major car manufacturers with threats to shut down production lines at a time when the USA was the world's leading car manufacturer and profits were huge.

        Consider also, the un-American blatant racism of most unions from the start of the Labor movement into the 1960s. The early Knights of Labor actively accepted and organized Black workers at a time when racism in America was intense. The AFL also started out in the 1880s with a nondiscrimination policy, but founder Samuel Gompers later came to see Blacks as a "convenient whip placed in the hands of the employers to cow the white man."

        Fear that Black workers would take whites' jobs dogged the labor movement for generations, especially as employers capitalized on racial divisions by recruiting non-organized Black workers as strikebreakers. In a 1917 incident, employers in East St. Louis, Illinois, recruited Southern Blacks to take jobs for low pay to drive wages down. White workers organized a whites-only union in response. Racial tensions mounted and in July, an attempt to drive Blacks from their neighborhoods led to a riot in which 40 Blacks and 9 whites were killed.

        American Federation of Labor (AFL) craft unions became solidly racist. In 1902, W.E.B. Du Bois, the influential Black spokesman and historian, found that 43 national unions had no Black members, and 27 others barred Black apprentices, keeping membership to a minimum. Du Bois spoke against both "the practice among employers of importing ignorant Negro-American laborers in emergencies" and "the practice of labor unions of proscribing and boycotting and oppressing thousands of their fellow toilers."  Even today, Unions such as he IBEW (electrical workers) are “white heavy” at the top although their membership rank and file is multi-racial.

        There were of course other reasons. In the boom of the 50s, giving in to unions just to shut ‘em up was in vogue. Working conditions, including being paid when you didn’t, were granted, health care provisions far beyond what most American workers had or would ever have were granted.  One result? Real wages in U.S. motor vehicle manufacturing have fallen 24 percent since 2002, according to the U.S. Labor Department. Meanwhile, the average cost of their healthcare benefits has risen to $16,000 a year. About $2000 of the cost of each car made in America is the employer’s cost for health care concessions made in better times. Of course, this is also a strong argument for universal single payer health care.

        By no means are all unions corrupt but, like every organization, they have their zealots who, like Samuel Gompers, when he was asked, “What do you want,” responded simply, “More!”

        Of course, the unions with whom Trump has had conflicts are primarily those in the construction trades. His issue has nothing to do with righteous causes like rooting out Mob influence or corruption, since he’s a mobster himself and really cares nothing for honest laboring persons. His issue is that he hates to pay for work he has contracted to have done and has stiffed several union contractors, daring them to sue him.

       Sadly, if all labor unions were, like Caesar’s wife, beyond reproach, Trump’s nattering would be groundless. Many are just that, honest broker/agents as representatives of a group of persons in a particular trade or profession. The idea that such honorable organizations should be legally restricted or restrained is simply Fascist in nature. Would that all were clean, but sadly for every NEA, there’s a Teamster’s Union. It matters little that most Teamsters are probably honorable, hard working people, although if true it would gut Trump’s attacks. Sadly, one bad Hoffa spoils the whole barrel.

        Perception is reality, as the adage goes, but public perception, as we have seen all too painfully exhibited recently is sometimes NOT reality, but simply the shaping of malleable and receptive disaffected minds in the hands of a liar and master manipulator.  Is Donald Trump a race baiter, bigot, misogynist and union hater? Of course. Are All American unions honest brokers who consider the good of the member first? Now that’s harder question.