This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1444420
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1444420
I have to wonder how long until the corporate overlords start doing the unthinkable, as we saw with the rise of unions in the early 20th century. How long until ‘security forces’ come out and start beating people in marches for union representation? How long until mass firings take place among those employees advocating for union representation?
Would the corporate overlords and sociopaths actually shut their businesses down, rather than employ people at fair wages and benefits? There’re a lot of big businesses out there that really crap all over their employees all day long. What happens when no one is that desperate for a job that they’ll demean themselves to come work for Starbucks, Fed Ex, Amazon, et al?
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Yes.
Just a little inside-baseball example, built on a strike that didn’t happen:
One of the major news periodicals was involved in major contract negotiations with… let’s call it the Writer’s Guild. (not to be confused with the Writer’s Guild of America). After three years of working without any contract, the union nearly staged a walkout1, but did manage to secure a contract (which includes a no-walkouts clause, alas).
And then, after agreeing to what were really generous severance packages as a ‘see, we’re not gonna lay anyone off…’… laid people off, including cutting a copy dept that was already cut to the bone and without a copy chief, down to 2 people. For a weekly. With an online presence. One of the people they laid off was with the company since the 1980s. No ‘hey, early retirement a thing we can talk you into?’ No nothing. Just ‘bye!’
Meanwhile, they’re hiring new staff for their expanded marketing department. Who cares about product quality when you’re trying to get more people to subscribe? Why would anyone give a damn about that2?
So yes, companies are more than willing to cripple their businesses in order to avoid giving their employees what they’ve earned. In a lot of cases, it’s because the company’s publicly-traded and it’s all about the short-term stock value. In others, it’s because the company’s privately-held, and most of the ‘entrepreneur’ class are really just looking to make a splash by cutting costs, and flipping the company to someone else before it can lose value from the gutting.
That copy dept I mentioned needed a dozen people a decade ago, and it’s been running on half that (and half of those, part-timers who are now all gone) for the last few years already.
1. The only reason they didn’t walk out was misfiled paperwork. One of the side effects of the weakened labor movement is that a lot of the union staffers aren’t as trained as they should be in how to actually do this shit.
2. Totally not looking at you here, TPM. HIRE A GODDAMNED COPY EDITOR ALREADY.
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The last time before 2022 that Gallup even asked people whether they would vote to join a union was in 1995? That in itself says a lot both about union strength and public narratives.
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I just got several adds for chipoodle on my facepage. I hope they have a worried mind.