Posts Tagged ‘labor unions’

November 2nd, 2009 Worker’s lament / The power of tribes

    When employees are placed as contingent staff or taught to think of themselves that way, it forces them to maintain a preoccupation with the security of their livelihoods to a very unhealthy degree. We’re often told to think of ourselves as so-called “free agents”, a very interesting choice of words. I often wonder which set of conditions would alleviate the nearly constant need to either look for work or consider acquiring more skills in order to be more highly valued in the labor marketplace.

    Some think labor unions are the answer, and feelings run very deeply for or against attempts to establish collective bargaining. I’m ambivalent about the presence of labor unions. I was once a clerical worker at Harborview Medical Center when AFSCME was voted in and my job category was included under its “protection”. I was young and knew nothing about unions. The result was an additional deduction on my pay statement for union dues. Having my take home pay reduced by an additional amount made no sense to me for benefits to which I felt entitled.

    Rightly or naively, I believed that a society with common agreements about work in general would allow the application of laws to do the necessary work, making unions obsolete. Unfortunately, human history bears me out to be a fool in this belief. The power of tribes, (unions, the ruling class, the wealthy, etc.) and identity within them is stronger than the total collective altruism of any group of people, and laws are but blunt instruments for promising justice.

    How can this not challenge anyone’s belief in self-determination? Curiously, it seems only to reinforce it. By some accident of birth you fall into the rich tribe or the poor tribe and from there universally providence smiles on us and the paths at our feet are forever of our own choosing. But, we are like the pigeons in the reward/frequency psych experiment. If the pigeon pecks on a certain spot on the wall a speck of food will be released from the hatch below it. However, the pigeon’s desire to peck at that spot on the wall is reinforced to a greater degree when he is not rewarded with food every time he pecks. He never knows when he’ll get the food, but he’ll keep pecking just in case. We maintain the same belief about humans. Keep ‘em guessing and they’ll keep coming back for more. Can we act smarter than pigeons, and learn ways to create sustainable livelihoods that are not dependent on constantly seeking agreement from a second or third party on the value of our existence?

    Whether you are a direct hire, go through a staffing agency, or are represented by a labor union, is protection under the law uniformly applied and exercised? This is laughably not the case and works remarkably well at keeping efforts splintered in trying to maintain a sane, healthy workforce.