Remember the Labor of Labor Day
The genesis of the holiday has nothing to do with shopping or barbecues, but it's to celebrate the gains unions won for all workers.
Photos
On Monday, politicians are pressing the flesh, people are swimming at the Shore or barbecuing with friends, shoppers are searching for bargains and children are beginning to lament the imminent start of school.
Labor Day has come to signal the unofficial end of summer, but it didn't start off that way.
It's called Labor Day for a reason. The U.S. Department of Labor calls it "a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country."
For labor, it's supposed to be about the contributions that unions have made to society, both in terms of the improvement of general working conditions and in terms of pay and benefits for workers.
These days, there's not a lot to celebrate.
“Union” has become a negative term, akin to liberal. Some politicians portray union members as money-grubbing, selfish, unwilling to sacrifice, responsible for at least some of the country’s economic ills.
In New Jersey, unionized public workers have had to make financial sacrifices, forced to pay more for health and pension benefits that are becoming less generous. The result amounts to a pay cut.
Not long ago, unions were considered untouchable, with tremendous power to sway politicians to give them favorable pay and benefit increases and working conditions.
But that power has been declining with the ranks of union membership.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, just 16.1 percent of New Jersey's workers were union members last year. That's a full percentage point less than a year earlier and the lowest rate since the bureau started keeping track in 1989.
The ranks of union members in the state peaked in 1991 at 24.3 percent, or 816,000. Including those represented by a union or similar association, but not actually a member, the height of union power in the state was in 1990, when 905,000, or 26.3 percent of all workers, were represented by a union. That number dropped by 260,000 to 641,000 in 2011.
Still, New Jersey's workforce is far more unionized than the rest of the nation, where the average is just 11.8 percent.
And as unions have declined, so have some worker benefits.
Health benefits used to be free, or almost such, and a guaranteed pension was common. Today, workers have to pay sometimes hefty amounts for medical insurance and, in the private sector, anyway, having a 401K with an employer match is now considered a luxury.
The latter is going to prove more problematic over time as few retire with a guaranteed pension and can't survive on Social Security (if it isn't gutted) and measly 401K funds that they either did not invest wisely or that lost value due to no fault of their own—remember the 2008 market crash.
Despite the recent losses, support for unions in New Jersey remains stronger than in many other places. That's fitting, given many believe a one-time secretary of a Paterson machinists union first proposed the idea of Labor Day 140 years ago. New Jersey was among the first states to pass legislation recognizing the holiday. It didn't take long for Congress to designate it, in 1894.
And there is reason to celebrate unions. They were instrumental in winning many of the benefits all workers take for granted today, including the eight-hour work day, five-day work week, paid time off, overtime, health benefits, minimum wage and safer working conditions. Prior to the labor movement, workers—including young children—slaved for 10 and 12 hours a day for little pay, often in unsafe, sweatshop conditions: Remember the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire?
But today, those gains are seen as negatives. Politicians complain that American jobs have been lost to countries like China because labor is much cheaper there. They blame the minimum wage for some of the U.S. job losses. New Jersey's minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour, which adds up to $290 a week or $15,080 a year. Imagine trying to live on that, particularly when having to pay toward health benefits.
New Jersey Democrats tried, and failed, to raise that wage to $8.50 an hour earlier this year. Once fast friends of the unions, the romance has cooled of late. Many voted with Gov. Chris Christie on pension and health benefit give backs last year. Last June, the Assembly passed a bill to raise the minimum wage, but cowed by Christie's promised veto, the Senate didn't act.
Republicans call bills like that "job-killers." But how does having a job help a person if he can't live on what he makes?
An increase in the minimum wage is due. It’s also time to stop demonizing unions and give labor its due for its part in helping all workers lead better lives.
Anthony
11:47 pm on Sunday, September 2, 2012
Benefits used to be FREE? Nothing is free...you pay for it. One way or another. The union leaders were as guilty as those they were trying to protect the workers from. Unions have out-lived their usefulness.
Selene
12:05 am on Monday, September 3, 2012
You are clearly uneducated in history and politics. Unions provided the first chance for safe working conditions and benefits (healthcare and pensions) for it's workers. Your ignorant personage should google the Triangle Shirt Fire. Then get back to me. Unions set a standard private employers HAD to follow.
Anthony
11:49 pm on Sunday, September 2, 2012
Keep up articles like this and people will start to walk away from the Patch. Please start to label these as OPINION.
S.G.
7:55 am on Monday, September 3, 2012
Upper left corner, in blue, just above headline "Opinion".
I have no problem with this article.
Selene
11:50 pm on Sunday, September 2, 2012
Bravo Collen!! Your points are well taken. Bravo Unions!!! The Unions were the only source of supporting the worker. Now we have a Governor who wants to destroy the foundations of that work. He doesn't care, he caters to the Millionaires. Just like the rest of the Repubs!!! $8.50?? Really?? Even $12.00/hour barely makes the grade for workers. Labor Day should be an event that the middle class upholds as a day to support and empower the workers.....but sadly they do not...they are too busy BBQing, drinking and watching unreality TV.
Selene
11:59 pm on Sunday, September 2, 2012
So walk away Anthony. People like you are useless and ignorant. Hope you are a millionaire.......NOT...stupid is as stupid does.
john nalepka
7:40 am on Monday, September 3, 2012
How many union retirees have had reduced benefita due to scandal by union trustees?i know way too many.sad the sheeple work for safety and protection and in the end get slaughtered. My point is be proactive n keep your eye open as know your master
The Watcher
9:33 pm on Monday, September 3, 2012
The "sheeple" that got "slaughtered" by the banks got nothing in return. The bank execs walked away with the money and the "sheeple" were forced to bail them out. They got to keep the money and keep their bonuses. The banks were then allowed to raise the interest rates on credit cards and foreclose on homes. No prosecutions, or attempts by the government to get some of the money back.
M.A.Dawson
9:42 pm on Monday, September 3, 2012
You can thank Obama for that.
S.G.
9:02 am on Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Mr. Dawson, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (AKA the bank bailout, Troubled Asset Relief Program -TARP) was signed by President Bush on October 3, 2008.
M.A.Dawson
9:28 am on Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Who are you calling Mr.?
notwhoyouthink
8:12 am on Monday, September 3, 2012
Unions have lost their way. Selene is correct about the early days. Unions did drive many of the benefits we have now...but they also managed to drive most of the manufacturing jobs offshore with their ridiculous wage and benefit demands...companies are in business to make money, period. The unions have persisted in demanding more and more for low skilled jobs to the point where US companies can't compete and make a profit.
If companies could operate profitably in the US they would manufacture here. The unions are a big reason they can't. You cannot ignore this fact.
Eventually unions won't exist in the US as there will be no unionized jobs here.
Catherine Vajtay
9:25 am on Monday, September 3, 2012
Let's get real about minimum wage. It was never meant to be a "living wage" but rather an entry wage as one enters the work force and through experience develops a work ethic and begins to learn some marketable skills. Government dictated minimum wage minimizes these opportunities as it prices touch jobs out of the market. The shop owner who would pay a high school kid $5/hr to do some filing for a few hours a week, has to cut that job because $7/hr puts him into the red. Another job bites the dust. So let's not kid ourselves that government dictated minimum wage helps people earn a living wage. That happens when one moves up the skills ladder either through experience or school and qualifies to make a significant contribution to the success of a business.....thats where the living wage negotiations come in. Luckily government has not tried to mess that negotiations phase up yet. And let's not forget that no-one is stuck I their job, you need A job but not necessarily the one you have. You don't like it or the pay, go look for another. That's the human drive to self-improvement! Government dictated entitlements (what else is the minimum wage edict!) kill that drive!
Susan
10:11 am on Monday, September 3, 2012
It would be nice if we would all quit posturing and listen. Let's grant that some union leaders were corrupt and that union demands certainly contributed to the offshoring of jobs. Let's ALSO grant that in a quest to make the most money for shareholders or owners, companies were + are willing to work people to death, to hire little children for pennies and to do nothing for worker health and safety, unless they and all their competitors are required to. We can thank and blame unions, and business, for both. But the situation we are in now is troubling: to say "no one is stuck in their job" is to pretend that another job is available. When it isn't, the worker needs protection because the employer has little incentive to. When our workers are competing with people willing to live 6 to a dorm room to work, we really can't just let "the market" determine how things will work out. Call out union excesses; require integrity among union leadership, but what the world's workers need is more unions. Unless workers are empowered, our grandchildren will be living -and dying - like the Triangle Shirtwaist workers.
Dan Grant
9:22 pm on Monday, September 3, 2012
We have become way too selfish a people to understand the concept of the benefits of Unionizing and Collective Bargaining, of safety in the work place or fairness in wages. There are way too many Anthonys out there and it provides a benefit to the Stock Holders and the profits to have a population that works for cheap wages. The Labor Movement was built on the blood and sacrifice of Union Members but it also benefitted those workers who were not Union. It increased the working wage and allowed for a disposable income that allowed small business to prosper. People have gotten selfish and scared and as a result many of the gains of the Labor Movement vanish as Unionized Labor disappears. The Conservatives want to attack Unions as led by thugs but don't recognise the corruption in the board rooms of the Business Community. Sooner than later this trend is going to effect their profits as more workers have less income to spend and the anti-Union fever will prevent the type of consumerism that fuels the ecconomy which we are in desperate need of . The simple fact is that you can't sell products or services to people who don't make a living wage.
M.A.Dawson
9:41 pm on Monday, September 3, 2012
Well then you have Andy Stern, Dick Trumka and Jimmy Hoffa with their hands out waiting for you suckers to make them richer all the while Obama takes care of them too.
Why do you choose to be suckers?
Nose Wayne
10:31 pm on Monday, September 3, 2012
Sorry,We don't where Jimmy's hand is sticking out of !!!!!!
The Watcher
12:09 am on Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Thought it was from between the goal posts !
Josh Dubnick
8:01 pm on Thursday, September 6, 2012
Great article Colleen. I have one "bone" to pick however. Neither "Union" nor "Liberal" have become negative terms. Both are portrayed as negative by politicians (and some of their followers) who have decided that they have to "take our country back". Back from whom, I don't know. I, myself am a proud Union member and I am proud to wear the "Liberal" label as well. (don't forget that "liberal" shares the Latin root "liber" with "liberty"). As for Unions outliving their usefulness, nothing could be further from the truth. As Colleen reports, jobs that offer health care and secure retirements are few and far between. Jobs that pay a "living wage" have become scarce as well. New Jersey's web site listing eligibility for SNAP (food stamp) benefits lists a household income limits under various situations. One example is a household of 3 (think single mom with 2 kids) with a gross monthly income limit at $1,984.00 which is equal to an annual salary of $23,808 or $11.45 per hour for full time work. Short of that, we, the taxpayers are subsidizing that family's income by up to $526 per month ($6,312 per year). So, by arguing that the "job creators" should be freed of government regulation, we are basically offering to subsidize the employer's stinginess with taxpayer money. Unions, by guaranteeing fair pay reduce the burden on government. Shop Rite is unionized, Wal Mart is not. Compare food prices at Shop Rite and Wal Mart. The savings goes to management not consumers!
The Watcher
9:03 pm on Thursday, September 6, 2012
Back to basics, do you know unions were also responsible for getting doors put on bathroom stalls in some companies. Yes, it seems hard to believe that working conditions in America were once that bad. Wal Mart calls their employees "associates" (so they can skirt regulations), and fights unionization because "associates" would become "employees" and be entitled to certain rights. Remember things made in China do not have the same regulations as products made in America. When was the last time you remember a product (actually) made in America that had to be recalled for lead?
yzw1314
2:45 am on Friday, November 23, 2012
http://www.coachoutletonlinest.com Coach Outlet Store
http://www.coachoutletonlinescoach.net Coach Outlet Online
http://www.coachoutletstorexd.net Coach Outlet Online
http://www.coachfactoryoutletonlinewb.com Coach Factory Outlet
http://www.coachfactoryoutlettx.com Coach Factory Store
http://www.coachfactoryoutletrb.com Coach Factory Store
http://www.coachfactoryonlinefc.org Coach Factory Online
http://www.coachoutletwy.com Coach Factory Online
http://www.coachoutletaol.net Coach Outlet
http://www.coachoutletstoreonlinesl.com Coach Outlet Store
http://www.coachoutletonlineybw.com Coach Handbags Outlet
jiangng
8:43 pm on Sunday, November 25, 2012
http://www.coachoutletonlinest.com/ Coach Outlet Store</a></h1>
http://www.coachoutletonlinescoach.net/ Coach Outlet Online</a></h1>
http://www.coachoutletstorexd.net/ Coach Outlet Online</a></h1>
http://www.coachfactoryoutletonlinewb.com/ Coach Factory Outlet</a></h1>
http://www.coachfactoryoutlettx.com/ Coach Factory Store</a></h1>
http://www.coachfactoryoutletrb.com/ Coach Factory Store</a></h1>
http://www.coachfactoryonlinefc.org/ Coach Factory Online</a></h1>
http://www.coachoutletwy.com/ Coach Factory Online</a></h1>
http://www.coachoutletaol.net/ Coach Outlet</a></h1>
http://www.coachoutletstoreonlinesl.com/ Coach Outlet Store</a></h1>
http://www.coachoutletonlineybw.com/ Coach Handbags Outlet</a></h1>