Did You Know: What is Solidarity and Why it Really Matters?
Did You Know: What is Solidarity and Why it Really Matters
Maybe you’ve come to this career with a knowledge of the Labor Movement, maybe the Labor Movement is just a byproduct of the career you’ve found yourself in. I want to speak to all of you, but especially to that second group. In a nutshell, you might’ve heard the analogy that I could take my index finger and poke you in your forehead. It’ll be uncomfortable—a nuisance--, but you’ll be fine. However, if I were to combine that one finger with four more, I’ve got a fist and then you’ve got a black eye. That’s the quickest way to get someone to come around to the notion of solidarity and it’s true, but it’s also so much more than that.
I don’t think anyone who doesn’t understand the history of the Labor Movement can apply the proper gravitas to the subject. People—many people—died for our right and responsibility to have and preserve our Union. It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about plumbers, steamfitters, steel workers, railroad workers, meatpackers, etc. These are all workers who united to stand against employers that would seek to exploit workers—all brothers and sisters in the Labor Movement.
As this country industrialized, a divide was created between the largely immigrant work force and the patriarchs of business. Historically, government has, more often than not, fallen in on the side of Business (Management, if you will). As long as things were going well for Business, Government tried to turn a blind eye to the struggles of Labor. That meant Labor had to fight like hell to be heard, let alone be taken seriously.
I am an historian, but I won’t subject you to a History lesson here. Just do a Google search on Henry Ford hiring Pinkerton thugs to beat any Union organizers that were discovered at his automotive factories. Do a Google search on the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago (this one is particularly interesting, given the near indentured-servitude conditions of the workers and the involvement of Terre Haute native and presidential candidate, Eugene V. Debs). Read “The Jungle,” by Upton Sinclair. The Labor Movement has taken significant blows over the years, but we are carrying the torch of thousands of brave and solid brothers and sisters. It’s not just a shrug and a, “Yeah, I guess I pay $30 bucks a check, but I don’t know why …”
I worked in the pizza biz for many years during college and, as such, I’ve developed an analogy that’s kind of my go-to on this topic. Imagine there’s a rich guy—let’s call him “Dan”—that decides to open a pizza joint. He’s never cooked or done customer service, but he has the capital to buy the pizza oven, the ingredients and pay for the rental of the storefront. So, Dan brings in a guy named “Giuseppe,” from the old country. Giuseppe is the real deal. He schmoozes with the clientele, he is one with the dough, he knows the proper ratio of basil and brown sugar to make their “sweet,” marinara everyone loves. Dan starts making tons of money, but none of the customers know him, none of it is because of him. No one is appreciative of Dan, they all know Giuseppe—the guy who makes that pizza joint worth visiting. No matter how great a boss Dan might be, there is no way Giuseppe is getting his fair share for what he’s done to grow that business. Giuseppe is the craftsman. Dan is just the backer but, in some people’s opinions, the backer deserves a bigger share of the profits than the craftsman. That’s not an opinion a person in the Labor Movement could abide without retching and asking for a shot of Listerine.
In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan dealt one of the most crushing blows to the Labor Movement when he threw the Air Traffic Controllers Union under the bus, deeming their strike a national security issue because it impacted interstate commerce. Well, by the 1980s, basically all commerce was interstate commerce. It could’ve been the death knell for workers as a whole. But it wasn’t. We’re still here and, even though there are less unions today than there were then, President Joe Biden has at least leant some credence to the plight of the working man. But it is tenuous.
So, when you pay your $30 a check, when you see a fist raised in the air or when I call you, “brother,” “sister,” or “comrade,” these might seem like the cosmetic posturing of a Union representative to the cynical … No. I’ll assure you, I’m going into the trenches with you. All I ask is for you to be there with me, and to know what it means. How important this thing is which can be taken for granted or seem mundane.
We’re writing history with each grievance we file. Each time we tell management they’re out of line. Each time we attend a Union meeting, the spirit of those who came before us is an attendance as well. On paper, we shouldn’t ever struggle to come up with a quorum but, in spirit, we’re never in danger of falling short and we’re in good company.
-Nic