Changes In Labor

If Labor Day didn't already exist - that is, if it hadn’t become a federal holiday in 1894, or any time since then - I'd be hard pressed to suggest it would be a concept in today’s United States.

Such is the state of affairs in today’s Washington, D.C. and in today’s union universe.

Yes, 129 years since President Grover Cleveland gave his stand of approval, much has changed in the world and the nation - including the rise, apex, and gradual decline of organized labor. The brainchild of one Peter McGuire, a carpenter and union leader, Labor Day was initially a way to pay tribute to the worker, who toiled long hours for minimal pay in often dangerous conditions.

The union helped change many things about employer-employee relations, many for the good of both parties. For example, unions gave us the weekend; in 1870, the average workweek for most Americans was 61 hours (almost double what most Americans work now). By 1937, labor actions (specifically, strikes demanding shorter workweeks so Americans could be home with loved ones instead of constantly toiling for their employers with minimal leisure time) created enough political momentum to pass the Fair Labor Standards Act, which helped create a federal framework for a shorter workweek that included room for leisure time.

Unions also helped end child labor. The very first American Federation of Labor national convention  in 1881 passed a resolution calling on states to ban children under 14 from working long hours in less-than-stellar conditions. The previously-noted Fair Labor Standards Act regulated child labor on the federal level for the first time.

Further, organized labor resulted in fair wages and relative income equality. When most Americans belonged to a union - generally, the 1940’s and 1950’s - income inequality in the U.S. was at its lowest point in the history of the country. Nowadays? Not so much; there is a huge divide between the top and bottom of the economic spectrum. The decline in the middle class’s share of the national income parallels the relative decline of unions.

Today, the union is being attacked on all sides. States such as Wisconsin and Michigan, once considered unbreakable union states, are now right-to-work. They joined Florida, which has been a right-to-work state since 1944, in having less-effective unions than previously. According to The Washington Post, in right-to-work states, unions don’t have the same power they do in other states, mostly because the unions can’t force workers to pay union dues (which leads to more free-riding behavior among employees, a decline in unionization drives, and ultimately in overall union density) and because workers lose out on economic growth (trickle-down economics doesn’t work).

This doesn’t mean we should ditch Labor Day, though. It’s true that labor has changed since the first national celebration, but many of the workplace battles McGuire & Co. fought for still exist. Today’s work force is more diverse than a century ago - more women, more ethnic minorities, more older workers - and we still have the five-day workweek (with leisure-time weekends), the eight-hour workday, paid vacations, sick days, and - yes - three-day holidays such as Labor Day Weekend. These - and so much more - were the fruits of their labors.

All the opposition in the world can’t change that.