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Developments in the workplace for labor

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David Hopper

Posted on: Thursday 22 March 2007 7:00:14 pm

Most of the tensions between labor and management in the last couple of centuries have been around workplace and benefits issues. In the US workplace, the employee is expected to work and produce more. In many other countries, the motivation and expectation is often not quite as strong and thus their ability for producing more goods and services is less. It wasn’t until the latter half of the 20th century that the skilled worker began to be seen as a valuable asset to the company. Often companies and corporations were controlled by greedy and authoritarian bosses who were unwilling to share the companies’ prosperity, largely made possible by that individual worker. Gradually, as the decades passed, the worker has gained more benefits and shared in the company’s success.

With the main weapons of the union being able to organize and strike, they forced many companies to grant the average worker benefits such as more reasonable working hours, better pay and better working conditions. In the post-WWII era, labor unions continued to exist but began to lose control because some of them became too greedy. Today, labor unions in the US still exist but are considerably weaker in influence. What remains comprise mainly the teamsters union of truck drivers, warehouse workers, auto plant workers, United Farm Workers and Teacher’s unions.

Educational facilities also grew and with this came the demand by the laboring classes for better living conditions, higher pay and more leisure. This the employers have constantly fought; they organized themselves against the demands of the awakening mass of men and precipitated a condition which forced labor to take action.
Problems of Humanity, p 75

The unions were largely successful in creating better working conditions and better benefits for the average worker. There have been however, some unforeseen negative consequences for American workers. Now that the worker gets paid more, has better working conditions and benefits, this has cost the employer more money to operate. As a result, this has contributed to the company not being able to profitably operate in the US anymore. Consequently, many manufacturers in clothing, computers, tools and equipment have relocated offshore to other developing countries such as Bermuda, China, India, and Central America. This allows the company to operate and make a product for a fraction of what it would comparatively cost to make in America. The net result, dozens of manufacturing plants and warehouses have been closed across the US, particularly in the South and New England where thousands have been put out of work.

Another recent phenomena in the last 10-15 years in the US, has been a shortage of engineers to work in the technical fields. This issue is most visible in the flourishing computer industry where thousands of highly skilled people from India, Pakistan, Singapore, Southeast Asia and other countries are competing for American jobs. Many of these workers are highly skilled and will work for considerably less than their American counterparts. This has caused considerable tension in the white collar community in the US as the competition and demand for highly skilled jobs increases.

With the further expansion of the globalized economy, many companies in the US and Europe that own and manufacture technical products, such as computer software and hardware have expanded the offshore practice of hiring highly skilled technical support personnel. Just in the last 10 + years, India for example, supplies a significant share of workers who provide both excellent and cheap labor for computer manufacturers. “Offshoring” labor to India is largely a result of companies not wanting to pay the higher salaries and benefits to the similarly trained workers in America. This practice only benefits corporations for the short term. Over the long term, labor markets in both Europe and the United States will be hurt. This will inevitably cause less of a demand for jobs in the technical fields in the future and will ultimately limit the amount of research and development in the US.

David Hopper