Over100 years ago, there was no such thing as nationally organized labor unions. Many of you right now are saying "Good! Wish it were that way now." To be quite honest with you, I used to feel the same way. If you didn't already know it, I was a Republican until 2003 (long story, I'll tell you all about it later if you ask). I had a friend who kept challenging me on everything I said. Now, I'm no dummy, but I never thought I followed the party line.
And so, although I wouldn't have an answer, I would do the research, fully expecting my findings to support my beliefs; after all, I was no "sheep" like the lefties were saying we conservatives were. Heck, I even listened to Rush Limbaugh. Unfortunately, every answer I got contradicted some of my dearest beliefs. Even in the last year, I'm still learning things, especially about my beloved Ronald Regan, that bring me to tears. These are not lies; these are facts that anyone can get from any library. (And if you are relying on blogs without doing the follow-up, don't pretend to have a discussion).
So I did the digging, especially in history. George Santayana said in Reason in Common Sense, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Looking back 100 years, there were no unions, no EPA, no OSHA. The robber barons were in charge. You worked for a company who paid you in scrip that you used to purchase your personal needs from the company store, which were seriously overpriced, you went deeply into debt with no way to come out from under, unless, of course, you had something the company boss wanted.
Before organized labor, there was no middle class. It took FDR to finally stand for labor and make it a priority. Funny thing is, what few people don't realize is, FDR was alive when both Russia and China fell to Communism. He saw what happened when people were starving. I know he ran charities, but I believe more that he supported labor to protect himself from a major labor revolt. We were in the middle of the Great Depression, with little way out of it. People were starving. Unemployment was about what it is now. So whatever you think about the man, I believe that he saved us from Communism, a very real possibility if the rich kept living on the backs of the poor.
Thanks to the labor laws, we had the greatest prosperity we have known as a nation. This ran from the end of World War II through the 1960's. Getting rid of the Gold Standard was one of the triggers; there's more, but that's another discussion. Then there was the initial undermining of unions here and there. Word had to get out and be repeated very often to make people believe it (and my dad always said, believe none of what you hear, little more of what you read, and only half of what you see) that unions were BAD AND EVIL.
Except that union insurance paid for my godfather's wife's cancer treatment and home care. When his son was in a car accident, it paid for his full treatment, including almost two weeks in the hospital. He worked hard, but he was paid decently and could give his family a nice home. I forgot that. I forgot that people got decent wages because of unions, and now the only way for the robber barons to get back in power was to under-cut the unions one step at a time. Yes, there is corruption in some unions. But you can say that about anything -- corporation, politics, churches. Where there are human beings, there is the potential for corruption. There is also the potential for great good.
There's more -- I'll edit this later.
