Collective Bargaining Back to the Future

More and more these days I find myself thinking about The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. It is a 1906 novel based on the undercover work that Sinclair performed in 1904. In the novel Sinclair depicts horrific working and living conditions, misery resulting from the lack of social programs, the prevalent feelings of hopelessness among the poor, and the entrenched corruption of those in power in turn-of-the-century Chicago. Sinclair novel allowed the public to see, for the first time, the vulnerability of the individual in the work place, and the level of exploitation to which he/she can be subjected. It allowed the public to see the powerlessness and the helplessness of the workers to acquire basic human rights and dignified treatments in the absence of collective actions and public interventions. They are many historians who points to this novel as one of the reasons standards and laws governing safety conditions in the work place, the length of the work day, minimum wage, and other right of employees, including the rights to unionize and to collectively bargain, were implemented. And as a result of their implementation, our nation developed a vibrant, well-paid middle class, a very productive and robust economy, and a spirit of cooperation and collaboration between employers and employees that made it the envy of the world.

Yet, here we are, more than a century after Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle, and with each passing day, we are allowing the republicans to strip away the rights of workers and take us back to the miserable working conditions that existed in this nation over one hundred years ago.

It is also worth noting that the republicans are stripping the rights of the American workers at a time when many of the once-oppressive nations are granting more rights to their workers. Collective Bargaining, for example, is currently recognized internationally as a fundamental human right. It feels like we’re switching places: The once-oppressive nations are becoming the beacons of human rights, and the United States is replacing them by becoming the dark dungeon of oppression.

Once again the republicans are demonstrating that they truly do not understand the fundamental principles of our democracy, nor the importance of these principles for enabling us to remain a strong competitive nation. If the citizens of the United States continue to lose their human rights, their individual rights, and their rights to pursue, acquire and maintain their entitled quality of life and level of happiness, the United States will lose its soul, its spirit, its drive to excel, its unity, and a justification for existing. The destruction of our democratic principles will destroy America. And no one, including those who are currently rich and powerful, will win.