Lexington Herald-Leader op-ed: This Labor Day, a question: ‘Are the corporations the masters or servants of the people?’
By BILL LONDRIGAN
The war on America’s workers and their unions is now in its fifth decade. Beginning in the 1970s corporations launched an assault on the building trades unions to weaken their bargaining power and de-unionize the construction industry. Next, union-busting in the manufacturing and industrial sectors became the norm and unfair trade agreements killed millions of unionized manufacturing jobs. Then came the third wave of anti-unionism financed by the likes of the Koch Brothers and their corporate allies against the fastest growing sector of the union movement – public employee unions.
The undisputed result of the corporate war on workers and their unions has been an ever-increasing disparity between the wealthiest one percent and everyone else, resulting in the highest level of income inequality in history. Wage stagnation is now a constant feature of our economy with workers squeezed at every level. Millions of workers are employed in low-wage jobs with few benefits and millions are forced to work multiple jobs in order to feed their families.