Jessica Wang

HONORS 230 - 4 December 2014

The Labor Movement is Dead
The labor movement has its roots in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, a
period of time where large advancements in the industries of agriculture, mining, metallurgy, chemicals,
and machine tools, just to name a few, brought about numerous new jobs in these areas [1]. While
technology and products flourished from the increase in efficiency brought by new machinery, working
conditions were hard in these factories and sometimes dangerous. Many employees, some of them
children, would work 10-12 hours a day and yet make 20-40% less for what was necessary to make a
decent living [2]. There were few regulations regarding the working environment and worker rights. In
this historical setting, the labor movement makes sensethere were fundamental safety and fairness
considerations that needed to be addressed to protect workers at their jobs. As part of the labor
movement, unions helped bring about standards that now govern minimum wages, working conditions,
and working hours. However, ever since the United States Department of Labor established clear
standards and regulations for workers rights with the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1983 [3], the labor
movements mission has been complete. In essence, the labor movement is dead because what is left of
the movement and workers unions, no longer have power and are no longer applicable in todays working
environments as the purpose of a union historically was to establish fundamental workers rights not
currently a part of status quo.
Modern day unions no longer have the same power they did in the 18th and 19th centuries. This
was established definitively in 1981 when President Ronald Reagan shut down an air traffic controllers
strike organized by the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO). Thirteen-thousand
PATCO workers went on strike with the intention of grounding air traffic in the United States. The
president of PATCO was found guilty of violating a 1955 law that states strikes by government unions are
illegal and fined $1,000 for every day the workers were on strike. In the end, President Reagan fired all
who did not return to work in 48 hours. Also in 1981, PATCO became decertified by the Federal Labors
Relations Authority [4]. This case made clear that strikes could no longer be used as a mechanism for
workers to negotiate their terms and conditions in the public sector. It is important to note that the terms
the workers were striking for included reduced working hours to 32 hours, a $10,000 pay increase, and a
better benefits package for retirement [4]. These requests are all additional benefits for a job that pays,
gives hours, and has safe working conditions. In other words, these workers were seeking to bargain on
top of privileges that were already granted to them by the terms of their employment, which makes their
organized movements no longer applicable to protecting fundamental rights. This case set the precedent
for the United States, and unions simply no longer have the same power in bargaining conversations.
In more recent pushes for labor movements, it is important to note the focus has been on
worker representation and regulation of current standards instead of changing a status quo. In 2009 when
President Obama established measures that would reverse the Bush Administrations limitations on union
power, his focuses were on three main objectives: notifying employees of their rights under federal laws,
the economy in government contracting, and the nondisplacement of qualified workers under service
contracts [5]. The focus of these measures is to inform current workers of their rights and restore the
productivity of the workplace in a diplomatic manner. This is different from the goals of the previous labor
movement which were to establish a new model of workers rights. The old labor movement is dead and
not the same as the current labor movements which prioritize democratic representation and
facilitating awareness over campaigning for rights.

References
[1] "Industrial Revolution." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution>.
[2] "The Struggles of Labor." United States History. Country Studies US, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014.
<http://countrystudies.us/united-states/history-82.htm>.
[3] "Wages and Hours Division." Compliance Assistance - Wages and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
United States Department of Labor, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2014. <http://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/>.
[4] "1981 Strike Leaves Legacy for American Workers." NPR. National Public Radio, n.d. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5604656>.
[5] "Obama Reverses Bush Labor Policies." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-reverses-bush-labor-policies/>.