Workers’ Rights as an Evolution
In our present-day society, the subject of workers’ rights is always changing and is normally led by unions. And while “workers’ rights” sounds like it would be something guaranteed, there is also some discrepancy in what is believed to be a right and a privilege. The corporation is normally thought to only follow a bottom line, but in our society now, it is normal for corporations to provide incentives in many shapes to encourage their employees to stay. The goal is not just profit, but also staff retention, as with many large corporations that we see today, namely Amazon, Tesla, as well as USAA Insurance. And while this may seem common practice, this was not always the case. So, let us take a brief look at worker’s rights as they have evolved into how we see them in our modern society.
If we look back at the origins of worker unions, we have to go backward to the industrial revolution. When the industrial revolution began, it completely shifted the process of manufacturing products. It was now easier than ever to produce materials in a cost-efficient and fast manner, with the help of the steam engine. However, workers were still needed to run, maintain, and supply these machines, and the work was not easy. The workers would work anywhere from 14–16-hour days and 6 days a week. Only Sunday was given off because that was the day that the workers were supposed to go to church. Additionally, with these long hours and hard work, the workers were being paid very little wages for their effort. The wages would typically take the form of $8-$10 per week, with women receiving 1/3 of that of men, and child laborers barely receiving anything, according to Ankur Poddar (Working and Living Conditions — The Industrial Revolution). It was clear that something had to be done.
The very first labor union was founded in Philadelphia for shoemakers. Titled the Federal Society of Journeymen Cordwainers, this would be the birth of the union and would set the tone for later unions of all professions. The main goal of the union was to merely protect workers’ rights. If a company proposed cutting wages or increasing hours for their workers, the unions had the power to step in and limit the power of those companies. Just as our government has the Judicial system to ensure that the other branches act constitutional, the union was there to prevent unfair actions taken by the company against those workers. Eventually, in 1866, the National Labor Union was founded, which would work to limit the workday for federal employees. And from here, the outlook would continue to improve for workers.
After the birth of the first union and the National Labor Union, there would be many more unions to follow, as well as legislation on the federal level. In 1881 the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions was formed, and 5 years later, the AFL would follow. Then, the Department of Labor would follow in 1913, and a federal minimum wage would be mandated as of 1938, including extra pay for overtime as well as basic child labor laws, as stated by Ronni Sandroff (The History of Unions in the United States — Investopedia). The federal minimum wage is the basis of our worker’s rights laws that we have today, and while states still have their minimum wage laws, they cannot be less than what is federally mandated. Therefore, unions were instrumental in ensuring that everyone in the U.S. was eventually paid a minimum fair wage.
Now that we know some background about worker’s rights and how companies have tried to stifle the worker, let us move to the modern-day. A prime example of a battle between the worker and the corporation is the lawsuit filed by Uber employees against Uber in California.
Rideshare drivers for Uber are not unionized, but that does not mean that they don’t have the power to change things themselves. With the help of the California government, rideshare drivers had filed a lawsuit about Uber refusing to classify their drivers under California’s new AB-5 bill, which sought to add more people under existing labor protections. And while a new proposition passed that labeled drivers for Uber as “independent contractors”, this was only a temporary setback. Since the new proposition went into effect after the AB-5 bill was passed, Uber was still on the hook for reimbursing business expenses, paying minimum wage, etc. for the time when rideshare drivers should have been classified as employees (California Uber drivers score a win after court partially allows a class-action lawsuit for pre-Prop 22 payments — Insider). This shows that even in our modern world, and with new companies like Uber that utilize regular people, there is still a battle going on.
While our society continues to advance, our world changes around us every day. The original unions sought to minimize the abuse of employees by their employer, and overall improve the workers’ quality of life. And even though I world moves forward around us, the way employers treat their employees hasn’t changed much. The employers are more limited in what they can get away with, but they will still find loopholes. However, with the power given to the workers, or a more beneficial work environment, worker rights can still be improved. Corporations like USAA Insurance have already started to centralize themselves towards the worker; providing incentives for owning gym memberships, making healthy food cheaper in their cafeterias, contributing to retirement for their employees, stepped increases in pay, a clear line to move up the ladder, etc. Some companies like USAA are looking out for you, and some other companies, like Uber, are looking out for their bottom line. And with the technology at our disposal, we can group people together, and help make a change. So, the question now becomes, do you work for a company that cares about you individually, or can you fundamentally change your company for the better? The choice is yours, not theirs.