Amid the current SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, a look back at the importance of labor unions…and if they did anything to change the course of working conditions.
While Hollywood is currently facing one of its largest and multi-sectoral strikes in decades, America as a whole has seen an uptick in labor union strikes. Just look at the latest study conducted by Cornell University finding an increase in strikes from the year 2021 to 2022 by nearly 52 percent. Without question workers in America are experiencing an overwhelming sense of frustration towards employers. Whether it’s due to meager pay, staffing shortages, safety concerns, or job security (especially in the era of AI replacement), unions are beginning to demonstrate, whether employers like it or not.
Unions as a whole in the United States have existed for nearly 200 years, taking origin during the Industrial Revolution. Due to incredibly dangerous working conditions and a stunning 70-hour work week, it was unions that saved the workforce in the early 1900’s from an economically alienating society with little to no labor laws. In fact, unions were responsible for some of the earliest American legislation in fostering more fair labor conditions, even organizing the creation of the Department of Labor in Congress in 1913. Needless to say, without unions or their implementation throughout the workforce, many issues regarding safety and fair compensation for work would have gone unsettled. Which is why when we see a decrease of only 10.1% of the share of workers represented by a union compared to about 20% in 1983 , this so-called “progress” is eroded.
And of course, it isn’t the workers themselves who've become less idealized on unionized jobs with evidence suggesting that in 2022, “more than 60 million workers wanted to join a union, but couldn’t” (Economic Policy Institute). Therefore, the issue lies within their employers.
Companies like Amazon, Apple, and Starbucks, each notorious for their anti-unionization strategies, have recently experienced an uproar of union efforts. Workers have cited higher pay and fair staffing as some of the biggest reasons for this but have only been met since with firings of employees backing such unions. And while success was achieved in several Starbucks locations as well as within Amazon warehouses and select Apple stores in forming local unions, none have even materialized their first contract with their employer. And despite the fact that many of these companies are facing charges by the National Labor Relations Board for their actions in firing or shutting down unionized workers and locations, perhaps the most devastating tactic would be what they haven’t done.
Agnes Torregoza, who recently took a job at Starbucks because she was attracted by the company’s benefits, explained in a New York Times Op-ed by Megan K. Stack that despite all of its actions to prevent unions, Starbucks has also done a lot of nothing:
"Time-buying, morale-eroding, innocent-seeming nothing. The company dedicated to caffeinating the world turns out to be very good at moving slowly, and the inaction is devastating for the workers, many of whom are economically vulnerable. Starbucks, on the other hand, faces little risk. Even if the company eventually ends up losing cases on the final appeal — a stage that could take years — the N.L.R.B. is barred from imposing monetary penalties…” (Stack).
Despite the fact that many labor laws have come a long way since the era of child labor and malignant working conditions, companies are time and time again able to dodge consequences for their role in cheating their workers. And that’s where the issue of change seems to lie for without real and imposed measures preventing companies from stalling the process, only the workers suffer.
In February 2021, President Biden and house Democrats introduced the PRO (Protecting the Right to Organize) Act in order to solve these very issues of delaying contract negotiation and captive audiences. Though it would address the same tactics people like Agnes Torregoza have witnessed, it was never passed; making it through the house but stalled at the senate. Which means that unless any significant partisan change is made to the arrangement of the senate, the only true way to end such deeds of corporate greed is by public action. Whether it's boycotting businesses or pressuring heads of companies to stand with their employees, taking a stance to fight for the basic right to organize is incredibly important and adds to the overall construct of our shared economy.
On that note, many often argue that unions prove to be more of a strain on the economy rather than a boosting power towards growth. In fact, with the introduction of Right to Work Laws throughout a bulk of historically pro-union states decades ago, workers themselves taking union jobs were able to choose whether or not they even wanted to be a part of it in the first place. However, what many often forget about the definition of a free-market economy is that its role is to level out the playing field when negotiating for standard benefits or pay. Rather than having the government interfere similarly to more socialist economies, unions are supposed to be the driving voice of the workers when it comes to prioritizing fair pay and just treatment. By fostering equality and better cooperation between the worker and the employer, unions not only allow more voices to be heard, but a more efficient and energized economy.
So while an increasing number of workforces begin going on strike, remember, they’re fighting for more than only better pay and benefits; they’re testifying to the importance of unions. As much as the elite would enjoy continuing to reap the benefits of their workers, unions will continue to show they won’t be taken for granted. Whether it's Hollywood, Amazon, UPS, Starbucks, Nurses, or the slough of other billion dollar industries, unions have and will persist in being the voice of the undermined through collective and cooperative action.
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