|
Happy
Labor Day to America’s workers; for one day a year – this
is your day. The other 364 days belong to the corporate interest and the
robber barons – but today, it is your day.
The past eight years have found a war waged on workers from multiple fronts.
First there came the suppression of wages from the onslaught of trade
deals that either moved jobs out of this country or resulted in lower
wages and benefits as the result of these deals.
After a lengthy fight to raise the minimum wage in this
country, inflation has wiped out any real gains made
by the raise. At $6.55, the federal minimum wage is worth 40 cents less
per hour, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than it was a decade ago. The
Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations from Rutgers University
recently released a study concerning the plight of workers in the present
economy. The study found when adjusted for inflation there had been no
increase in real wages in the past ten years. It also showed that 10%
of all Americans are either unemployed or under employed. This is an increase
of 25% from just a year ago. The findings in the study were formulated
from data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
So what went wrong? How did we get to the place where
workers are more productive than ever, but fail to share in those gains?
It is called corporate control of the government. Those in power take
from the working and give to the rich. It is the appointment of an anti-union
lawyer to head the National Labor Relations Bureau, it is the appointment
of judges to the Supreme Court that consistently side with big business,
it is a war that takes dollars out of our schools and families and places
it in the hands of military contractors and it is a devalued dollar that
is helped the oil companies create an excuse for doubling oil prices over
a three year period.
This isn’t the first time America’s workers
have fought a war waged against the robber barons. Andrew Carnegie and
J.P. Morgan pioneered the concept of using the system against workers
over 100 years ago. These men manipulated the system to cut worker’s
wages then, while lining their pockets with the fat of the land. According
to “The People’s History of the United States” by historian
Howard Zinn, Carnegie merged his steel company with Federal Steel to create
US Steel. The company went public but sold $400 million more in stock
than the company was worth. To cover the extra dividends they cut
the worker’s wages to drive up profits.
A share of Carnegie’s profits were used to found
the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club above Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
The club contained 60 members of the richest industrialist in that part
of the company. The club built a dam to provide a lake for the wealthy
to fish from high above the city of Johnstown. In the spring of 1889 the
dam broke flooding Johnstown and killing over 2,200 people. A group of
club members created a fund to benefit the survivors to fend off lawsuits
from the disaster and in the process kept the incident out of the media.
The Homestead Strike of 1892 was another example of how
Carnegie took advantage of workers. Carnegie Steel decided to cut the
wages of their workers to again boost profits. Carnegie left the country
to avoid the publicity around the controversy. He left his right hand
man Henry Frick, a noted anti-union manager, in charge (the same guy who
orchestrated the Johnstown Flood fund to avoid lawsuits). The workers
were locked out by Carnegie as Frick shipped in strike breakers and the
thugs from Pinkerton Security. The locked out workers protested outside
the plant as the strike breakers were shipped in from the outside. On
July 06, 1892 a 300 member army from of thugs from New York and Chicago
complete with machine guns were brought in by Pinkerton. Seven of the
locked out workers and three of the Pinkertons were killed in the raid.
The company eventually returned to production with imported non-union
workers.
Carnegie’s reputation took a hit, but he threw enough
money around to gloss over the damages by building libraries and concert
halls. He was able to buy himself an historical label of industrialist
rather than a robber baron.
Today the equity fund managers and corporate raiders use
the same tactics to add to their trust funds at the expense of workers.
Delphi’s Steve Miller is an example of the type of robber baron
who uses the courts to fund his personal war on workers. Sadly, he is
not alone there are many others, including the Vice-President of the United
States Dick Cheney. The have their own media outlet in Fox News to spread
the propaganda to sell their ideas and lies to the American public.
We now have another one waiting in the wings, with the
self proclaimed “Maverick” in John McCain who wants to continue
the anti-worker ways of the past eight years.
So, to America’s workers I toast you on this one
day of the year that belongs to you. The robber barons and corporate raiders
own the other 364 days, but today is yours. Thank you to the billions
of nameless, faceless workers who turn the wheel that make this country
go.
|