What Value Labor?

Although primitive Unions of carpenters and other tradespeople can be traced back to colonial times, the early eighteen hundreds saw the formation of unions similar to the ones we know today.

(HARRISVILLE, N.H.) - As we celebrate Labor Day today, it seems appropriate to do a cursory review of the changes that have taken place for labor in our country since its founding and of where we are today.

The earliest settlements established groups that were primarily concerned with survival. Their time was split between building shelter, hunting, fishing, and clearing the land so that crops might be planted. As survival became more assured, people began to practice the trades they had brought with them from Europe and to develop a market for those trades.

Over the next 100 to 150 years, the change from an almost exclusively agrarian society to a more industrialized society took place.

The mid to late 1700’s saw the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and a shift from a primarily agricultural economy to a manufacturing one began. Our trade with Europe began to change from primarily furs and tobacco to goods created and/or manufactured by tradespeople.

Although primitive Unions of carpenters and other tradespeople can be traced back to colonial times, the early eighteen hundreds saw the formation of unions similar to the ones we know today. These unions gained strength during the 1820’s. During this time, workers banded together to reduce the working day from a grueling 12 hours to a more manageable 10 hours.

In 1866, the Nation’s Labor Unions persuaded Congress to cut the workday down to today’s eight hour standard.

In the early and mid-eighteen hundreds, the working conditions in the United States were abysmal. The workweek was usually six 10 to 12 hour days. For many workers, those days were spent working in dangerous conditions for wages that barely provided subsistence. There was no company provided health insurance or life insurance for the worker, much less his or her family. Holidays and sick days were usually taken without pay.

Things were so hard for families that many children were forced to work on farms or in factories and mines, to supplement the family income rather than get an education. It was not until 1938 that minimum ages of employment and hours of work for children were regulated by federal law.

Labor Day was officially made a national holiday some 117 years ago as a day to honor the workers who helped create the wealth our country enjoys. While we still celebrate Labor Day, we seem to have lost sight of why it was created and what it was intended to honor. Today it is viewed simply as the last picnic of the Summer when we grill hotdogs and hamburgers outdoors. We give little, if any, thought to the continuing effort expended by the workers of our country and of the world, that creates the REAL wealth we enjoy.

I have placed emphasis on the word REAL because much of the wealth we see Wall Street selling today is fictitious and creates the many air-filled bubbles we have seen burst in recent years. Much of the fictitious wealth sold by Wall Street is simply created by repackaging, renaming, and moving money around. REAL wealth use to be created by the workers of the world in the products, goods, and services they provided and once upon a time, it use to be exchanged for currency/money backed by something that held REAL and intrinsic value (like gold or silver).

When you boil it all down, the REAL wealth of the country and the world is in people/workers. Those individuals whose toil gives birth to corporations and the elite few who circumvent paying the taxes that 97% of the world is burdened with. However, it is no longer the labor that creates the capital so coveted by the elite that the world honors. It is the capital itself that is not only honored, it is worshiped... but, that is just my opinion.

_________________________________

Writer Robert Collinsworth is an American who isn't hesitant to talk about the good side of his country, and that is a welcome thing in this day and age. Salem-News.com admittedly, is very critical of both American politics, as well as those of other nations that we perceive is being wrong in their motives and actions. At the same time, within these structures we criticize, are many outstanding people who make each day a better place for all those around them. They embody and personify the American spirit that is sometimes fleeting, but always present.

These are some of the things Robert takes into account when writing commentary that is designed reach people, to "get them thinking" in his words, and indeed it does. Salem-News.com's goal is for all people to be on the same page, we appreciate Bob's more conservative approach toward that same goal."

You can write to Bob Collingsworth at this email address: colli2@webryders.net