Powerless in a modern economy

Many Americans feel powerless in our modern economy.  Those in the middle class fear their children will have less success than they enjoyed.  As a country, we have lost jobs, good, high-paying ones over the last several decades.  This had bred many to fear what the future will bring to their families; a fear that hangs over our Presidential campaign with a palpable pall.

There are many nurse maids to this fear.  Some blame trade deals, some blame the expatriation of corporations, and  some blame government.  All have played a part, for sure, but there are two “dirty little secrets.”

The first is that, whatever the cause, the reduction in high-paying union jobs is at the core of this fear.  It used to be that, with the power of a union behind workers, they could bargain for work conditions and pay that permitted even those with limited post-high school education to comfortably raise a family.

Union membership was at its peak after WWII, when the great American industries were dominating the world economy.  But, numbers dropped from this peak, until, finally, the “Reagan Revolution” ushered in an era of open antagonism towards unions.  President Reagan broke the back of the union movement when he fired all of our air traffic controllers.  Coupled with domestic anti-union sentiments, the “flat” world economy has denuded American workers’ leverage (unionized or not) in work conditions and pay negotiations.  As a result, union membership is far less “industrial” and also a shadow of what it once was; with that decline, the American worker has less clout in our national debate about economic policy.

The second “dirty little secret” is that the pressure to deregulate our market-economy has left the American worker exposed on a second front.  This is why hedge fund managers get to pass through their profits, taxed at a much lower corporate rate, instead of having to pay taxes as personal income.  Miners die, as states have become more lax in their regulation of the mining industry.  The same is true of agribusiness like animal processing plants.

The end result is that American workers are being trampled and real wages have steadily declined over the past 40 years.  This political season is filled with stump speeches expressing empty concerns for the American worker.  If we are to have real change, we need less fluff and more changes to our legal system.

Some of that change is coming.  The boundaries of the umbrella of union protection is constantly being pushed forward.  College student-athletes tried (although failed for now) to qualify to collectively bargain over their “work” conditions.  While we celebrate the gore and glory of American College Football each Saturday in the Fall, and many of our favorite college gridiron stars might go on to fame and riches at the next level, others are left physically and emotionally broken by a brutal sport.  They had won the right to organize, then had it taken away, to have some power to negotiate with godlike College head-coaches, their administrative protectors, and the all-powerful NCAA.

Graduate students have had different, but equally valid complaints about their work conditions.  Many are paid a pittance to research and teach classes for the glory of tenured professors and institutions pressuring the latter to “publish or die.”  The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently reversed its past position and granted graduate students at Columbia University the right to collectively bargain.  The institutional argument that unionization was inconsistent with its academic purpose is now a dead one … for graduate students.

If this might signal a more favorable environment for unions, at least in academic institutions, the hammer of Federal oversight may be used to improve working conditions for employees of federal contractors.  In 2014, a Senate report was released lamenting the unregulated world of federal contracting, where labor laws have been ignored and companies were not being held responsible for their transgressions.

Possibly, no more.  If a new rule becomes law, when applying for federal contracts of more than $500,000.00, companies will be required to disclose  past labor law violations and have plans to prevent them going forward.  Past transgressions, particularly if not voluntarily disclosed with a plan for corrective measures, will be weighed against a company in the award of future contracts.

The American worker is the world’s best and most productive; the heart of “American Exceptionalism.”  Unfortunately, we have been losing clout, pay, benefits, and toiling under increasingly harsh work conditions for decades.  It looks, though, like some legal changes are breathing new life into our labor movement, maybe lifting the veil of fear.

Local attorney Jim Rockefeller owns the Rockefeller Law Center and is a former Houston Co. Chief Assistant District Attorney, and a former Miami Prosecutor. Visit www.rockefellerlawcenter.com to submit confidential legal questions, and to review former articles and  Frequently Asked Questions.

A James Rockefeller 478-953-6955 ajr@rockefellerlawcenter.com

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