The recent Wal-Mart strike on Black Friday seems to have galvanized the labor movement. To what outcome, we shall see, but I suspect they are operating with some huge misconceptions.
As I drove to the train station, I heard an interview with one of the leaders in today's strike of fast-food workers here in NYC. He has a pleasing workers' story which he is spouting about 'living wages' and the need for workers at these companies to make trade-offs between a Metrocard and dinner. I'm all for 'living wages', but I think people have to remember when they take a job they need to determine if it's going to require them making tough choices. If I live so far from work that the cost of getting there deprives me of a meal, then maybe I need to find something closer to where I live.
In their appeal for 'living wages', which they have defined as $15 an hour, the organizers shared a oft-told story about Henry Ford knowing that he had to pay very high salaries in order to get the most out of his laborers. This is an old and popular myth among organized labor. Ford's pay raise had more to do with the cost of
losing labor and training replacements, rather than offering them a reasonable lifestyle. More importantly, gaining access to the very tidy sum he offered meant giving up some personal rights in the process. I wonder if these strikers are willing to take on the same requirements Ford's did to earn their wage?
I believe workers have the right to organize, if they feel it is in their best interest. I also think it's wrong for management to threaten or otherwise make life difficult for those doing the organizing, unless it is impacting their job performance. But invariably, the organizing leads to fewer jobs and increasing demands on the part of the work force. A quick history of the auto manufacturing industry shows the negative impact of labor demands, which ended up in taxpayer bailouts (which, despite much government PR is still not at break-even). Even now, with the auto industry still struggling mightily, labor is already stepping up to take back what they view as rightfully theirs. (I do not believe the recent reports of high profits is an indication of a healthy auto market. Sales are still far below peak levels, costs are low but rising, competition is greater than ever, and most importantly - these 'profitable' firms all had their debts assumed by the taxpayers.)
Modern management has tended to take workers' needs and requests into consideration and has often worked hard to keep good relations. This is not always true, and I cannot speak for today's fast-food strikers, but it is part of the modern corporate management for which I've worked. Although a management group which claims it can work with labor often finds itself dealing with unintended side effects.
