So, we had it first, but it's still celebrating communism and commies aka "union labor".
Well, you have to put yourself in the place of a 19th century worker. Many of them worked in factories or mines performing repetitive, mind-numbing, body-destroying work. The phrase "repetitive motion injury" didn't yet exist. Many people must have suffered from constant pain and crippling injuries. They were known as "malingerers". Yet they had to keep working if they wanted to avoid starvation and homelessness. There was no shortage of new immigrants fresh off the boat, dead flat broke, and eager to take their jobs.
A primary goal of the early labor unions in the late 19th century was the institution of the eight-hour workday. That was regarded as extremely radical at the time. Prior to that there were no limitations on the length of time a factory employee was required to work. It was cheaper and easier for employers to run two shifts of 12 hours each than three shifts of 8 hours each. Less down time during shift changes, you know.
Today we take the
eight-hour day for granted, but it was not always thus. So we might take a moment today to thank the early labor unions for that.
I've actually worked in factories, twice, for very brief periods, until I could find something better. Trust me, eight hours seems like an eternity. I can't even imagine working in that kind of job for 12 hours a day, every day, year after year, for my whole working life. It must have been pure hell on earth.
In both cases, if I had lasted past the three-month probationary period, I would have had to join a union. Both times I found another job elsewhere before I got to that point.
The second factory job I had was working a machine cutting metal slats for Venetian blinds. I was in my twenties and still very much a leftist. But I became friends with the woman working the machine next to me. She was twice my age and married, but she was a very nice lady and we hit it off in a friendly manner. She was a John Birch Society member and we had many interesting discussions, although we didn't agree on much. It was many years after that that I finally became a conservative, but I remember her fondly. I doubt that she ever knew how much influence she had on me.
I've never belonged to a union, and today I work for a small business. The business owner works longer hours than any of his employees, but that's
his choice, and it's not factory work.
This past Friday I spent most of the day working at the bindery machines, binding student handbooks for a local private school. It was very much like factory work, but it was not typical of the work I do on a day-to-day basis. I enjoyed it and felt the satisfaction of producing an end product, but I would not want to have to do that all day, every day.
