I’ve been involved in the labor movement for more than 25 years because it is a challenge and I enjoy adversity. I read Steve Chapman’s columns for the same reasons, especially his Sept. 2 piece, “The real ally of American workers.”
Mr. Chapman identifies our ally as American capitalism which, he says, has produced a “steady improvement in the lives and working conditions of ordinary people.”
I always find it interesting how apologists for American capitalism say that the economy has improved our lives, as if our economic system is a god with benevolent powers. I choose not to be so mushy in my thinking, and prefer to think that American workers, brought together by the forces of capital, have built this country into what it is and, in the process, also improved their own lives.
The railroads that linked the coasts, the steel that went into ships and cars and toasters, the buildings in which we live and the offices where bankers count our money–all of these things and more were built with our minds, backs and hands. We used these same “tools” but this time organized by our unions, to fight for the eight-hour work day, to end child labor, for unemployment insurance, for the right to join a union, for paid vacations, paid health insurance, paid holidays (like Labor Day), safe jobs and much more. These things helped make our lives better and enabled us to better provide for our families. And the forces of capital, big business and its allies in government, opposed us almost every time. Every law that made our lives better was at one time or other opposed by the capitalists. Only after we wrested these rights and benefits from them did big business turn around and, in the name of the “system,” claim credit for their creation.
The struggle for a better life goes on today, and it’s everywhere except in Mr. Chapman’s word processor. Seniors fighting for prescription coverage, 50 million Americans without health insurance, working families with both spouses working, Americans deeper in debt than ever before, unemployment rearing its ugly head in all sectors of the economy, and more.
Mr. Chapman, throwing one of many figures around, says that per capita income in America rose 51 percent between 1969 and 1996. What he doesn’t tell you is that real income, which is what your money will actually buy, did not increase until the middle of Bill Clinton’s term in office. Inflation (remember the ’70s and ’80s?) ate up what wage increases workers got, making Mr. Chapman’s figures meaningless.
Mr. Chapman turns the world on its head when he closes his article saying that the “American workers may owe a small debt of gratitude to organized labor. They owe a bigger one to capitalism.” I say that organized labor and capitalism owe everything to the American workers–maybe someday we can collect on this debt.
