We all know the answer to this question. They aren't fooling anyone. And it's not just about the immediate increase in profits they get from automation and downsizing. It also weakens unions. But there is one upside to all this: those angry asshole customers are now more likely to have only an inanimate machine to vent their rage at instead of people. And if you're quick, you can sneak out the automated gate behind another customer without paying.
Today in Labor History June 15, 1914: Westinghouse strike, Pittsburgh. The Allegheny Congenial Industrial Union (ACIU) struck against Westinghouse. They were demanding union recognition and protesting against the "scientific management" theories of Frederick Taylor. They also wanted an eight-hour day, reinstatement of fired workers, and higher overtime and holiday rates. Women played a major role in the strike and many of the striking workers were women. Bridget Kenny organized marches and recruited workers to join the ACIU and rose to become one of the main spokespeople for the union. She had been employed by Westinghouse but fired in 1913 for selling union benefit tickets on company grounds. The Pittsburgh Leader, one of the city’s newspapers and one that hired numerous women writers, including Willa Cather, nicknamed Kenny “Joan de Arc.” And the women in this strike provided some of the inspiration for the workingwomen characters in Willa Cather’s short fiction. The Westinghouse plant on Edgewood Avenue was one of three they possessed in the Pittsburgh region, and one of the main sights of strike activity. In late June, the company used armed thugs to intimidate the workers, leading to a violent exchange in which several workers, and the East Pittsburgh police chief, were injured.
I was discussing average #wages in the US and our declining living standards yesterday with my mother and just saw this cute meme that makes the point well. Take these figures, then look at https://livingwage.mit.edu/
#Wages were strong: Avg hourly #earnings rose 0.4%, up 4.1% from a year earlier. That was also stronger than expected, since #WageIncreases have been easing since early 2022.
The household survey, from which the #unemployment rate is drawn, showed 408k fewer people #working in May than in April. That data has been out of joint for some time w/the survey of #employers, from which the #JobGrowth figure is tallied, suggesting revisions down the line.
Today in Labor History June 2, 1780: The Gordon Riots began on this date in England and lasted through June 9. The riots began as a pogrom against Catholics. However, it grew into a mass worker insurrection that included ex-slaves, impressed sailors and debtors, English, Irish, Italians, Germans and Jews. The insurrectionists liberated two thousand prisoners and destroyed every major prison in London. They wrote on the prison walls, “Freed by the Authority of His Majesty, King Mob." Rioters also destroyed the homes members of the ruling elite, as well as toll houses and the Bank of England. The rich fled the city in terror. It was the most destructive protest in the history of London. The military was called in. They slaughtered up to 700 workers. The political context for the insurrection included low wages and inflation due to England’s wars with the U.S., Spain and France, as well as the desire for universal suffrage.
Today in Labor History May 15, 1917: The Library Employees’ Union was founded in New York City. It was the first union of public library workers in the United States. One of their main goals was to elevate the low status of women library workers and their miserable salaries. Maud Malone (1873-1951) was a founding member of the union. She was also a militant suffragist and an infamous heckler at presidential campaign speeches.
Today in Labor History May 6, 1937: Four hundred black women working as tobacco stemmers walk off the job at the Vaughan Co. in Richmond, Virginia. It was a spontaneous revolt against poor working conditions and a $3 weekly wage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwtg2mWrGdk
Today in Labor History May 5, 2018: Capping several weeks of teacher unrest across the country, public educators in Arizona won raises of 10 to 20 percent. Just prior to this, Oklahoma teachers struck for nine days and won roughly $6,000 in annual increases. And before that, teachers in West Virginia, won a five percent raise after their nearly two-week walkout. However, in almost all of the teacher strikes that occurred that year, the unions negotiated sell-out contracts that gave workers a fraction of what they demanded.
Today in Labor History May 5, 1931: The Infamous Battle of Harlan County, Kentucky occurred. Also known as the Battle of Evarts, the strike began in response to wage cuts implemented in February. On May 5, a scab accosted a union worker, resulting in three deaths. Governor Flem Sampson called in the National Guard, which killed several more union miners. The Harlan County class war was the inspiration for Florence Reece's famous union song "Which Side Are You On?" The strike continued for years, with the miners finally winning in 1940.
Today in Labor History May 4, 1926: Workers started a General Strike in the U.K. Unions called the strike to force the government to prevent wage reductions for 1.2 million locked-out coal miners. The strike lasted until May 12. Over 1.7 million workers participated. However, the TUC (Trades Union Congress) limited participation to just a few unions because they feared the revolutionary potential of a full blown General Strike. In their newspaper, they wrote: “The General Strike. . . is the road to anarchy.”
Instead of thanking a teacher, praising 'em for their hard work and courage, how about the following, instead:
*Pay them enough to live comfortably in the cities where they teach so they don't have to live in their vans, or share a studio with roommates
*Treat them as the professionals they are, having passed rigorous training and certification processes, and respect that they are the most qualified people to make decisions about curriculum and pedagogy
*Stop imposing fundamentalist religious and bigoted rules and curriculum on them
*Provide schools with enough funding so that all classrooms have sufficient and functioning books, media, art, athletic, musical and scientific equipment
*Restore &/or provide funding for librarians, nurses, wellness counselors and clinics
*Remove armed cops from campuses
*Provide all low income families with secure, stable housing, supplies of food, medicine, clothing. The #1 cause of student failure is poverty, and the host academic and social disadvantages that come with it
Today In Labor History May 1, 1946: The three-year Pilbara strike began in Australia. In this strike, indigenous Australian pastoral workers demanded recognition of their human rights. They were also fighting for better wages and working conditions. The bosses often treated indigenous workers like slaves. Many didn’t even pay them in cash. Rather, they paid them in tobacco and food. And if indigenous workers tried to quit or leave, the police forced them back. Sometimes they massacred entire families. The strike was one of the longest in Australian history. And it was a major event in the struggle for indigenous rights.
Today in labor history April 29, 1894: Jacob Coxey led a group of 500 unemployed workers from the Midwest to Washington, D.C. They demanded federal jobs for the poor. The authorities promptly arrested Coxey and many of his followers for trespassing on Capitol grounds.
The Return of Coxey's Army (By Eddie Starr)
When they busted all the unions,
You can't make no living wage.
And this working poor arrangement,
Gonna turn to public rage.
And then get ready . . .
We're gonna bring back Coxey's Army
And take his message to the street.
The financial panic of 1893 caused one of the worst depressions the country had ever seen. The depression lasted five years and caused unemployment to reach 18%. Banks failed and currency supplies dried up after Congress repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act. Coxey owned a sand quarry and was personally wealthy. But he was outraged at the government’s lack of response to the poverty he saw around him. So, he organized a march on Washington, to demand jobs for the poor.
Today in Labor History April 23, 1910: IWW farmhands went on strike in Yamhill, Oregon, when some were fired for teaching and talking about Industrial Unionism. The workers were demanding a 30-cents per hour raise and a decent bunk house. Farmers tried unsuccessfully to hire strike breakers and started slandering the strikers' wives. Fellow IWW members from Portland helped bring supplies and sabotaged some of the farmers' trees.
Today in Labor History April 12, 1934: The Toledo (Ohio) Auto-Lite General Strike began on this day. Initially, 6,000 workers struck for union recognition and higher pay. In late May, there was a five-day battle between the strikers and 1,300 members of the Ohio National Guard. The militia fired on workers. They shot tear gas, which the workers threw back at them. They attacked with bayonets and the workers retaliated with bricks, injuring several soldiers. The “Battle of Toledo,” left two strikers dead and more than 200 injured. The strike lasted for two months and resulted in a win for the union. It was one of the most important labor struggles of the 20th century. During that same spring, there were also General Strikes in San Francisco and Minneapolis.
"According to economist Steven Rattner of Morning Joe, the United States has now had 26 consecutive months—more than two years—of unemployment under 4%, the longest stretch of unemployment that low since the late 1960s.
Rattner pointed out that immigrants have helped to push U.S. growth since the pandemic by adding millions of new workers to the labor market."
"As native-born workers have aged into retirement, immigrants have taken their places and 'been essential to America’s post-COVID labor market recovery.'
Heather Long of the Washington Post added that wage growth has been 4.1% in the past year, which is well above the 3.2% inflation rate.
@GottaLaff
The article points out that prices might go up, they might employ fewer workers, or they might automate those unskilled jobs. There's no free lunch, but if workers can't make a living, the system was going to fall apart anyway. Learning skills, a trade, or a profession is still the way to go no matter your age. At least until they automate or AI that away, too.