Big Labour wouldn’t exist if big business hadn’t incited it. The balance of power swings back and forth between them.
Before big business, peasants’ labour made wealthy Lords richer. They say the feudal manor system grew by robbery and usurpation.
The industrial revolution widened the gap between owners and peasants creating Dickensian dystopia. The state supported concentration of power and enforced work discipline.
Unrestrained greed kept workers under heel. It’s no wonder Marx’s ideas flourished.
Finally workers united.
They struck back with clenched fists. Workers fought against greed and usurpation. They held high moral ground.
They got laws changed.
Big Labour Won!
Unions gave us:
- Weekends
- All Breaks at Work, including your Lunch Breaks
- Paid Vacation
- Sick Leave
- Social Security
- Minimum Wage
- Civil Rights Act/Title VII (Prohibits Employer Discrimination)
- 8-Hour Work Day
- Overtime Pay
- Child Labor Laws
- Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
- 40 Hour Work Week
- Worker’s Compensation (Worker’s Comp)
- Unemployment Insurance
- Pensions
- Workplace Safety Standards and Regulations
- Employer Health Care Insurance
- Collective Bargaining Rights for Employees
- Wrongful Termination Laws
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
- Whistleblower Protection Laws
- Employee Polygraph Protect Act (Prohibits Employer from using a lie detector test on an employee)
- Veteran’s Employment and Training Services (VETS)
- Compensation increases and Evaluations (Raises)
- Sexual Harassment Laws
- Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
- Holiday Pay
- Employer Dental, Life, and Vision Insurance
- Privacy Rights
- Pregnancy and Parental Leave
- Military Leave
- The Right to Strike
- Public Education for Children
- Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 (Requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work)
- Laws Ending Sweatshops in the United States
“History became legend. Legend became myth…”
Time has passed. Society changed.
Today, Big Labour acts like manor Lords. Closing factories means nothing if Labour doesn’t get its way. Unionists inflame workers with Dickensian tales. Unions control politicians even more than the industrialists before them.
Big Labour appeals to envy and greed.
“Not fair!” comes out of a child’s mouth hardly a year after learning “No!” and “Mine!” Unions appeal to atavistic passion inciting guttural cries over our peers.
Another Revolution?
Like so many revolutions before – Russian, French, Cuban – despots get dispatched to make room for dictators.
Do we need a movement to limit Big Labour?
Who will save us? Who will restore balance to the insatiable greed driving unions to put self before customer? Who will speak for patients?