[Editor’s Note: Ms. Moore is President of the Culver City Democratic Club.]
So Jeb Bush thinks Americans just aren’t working hard enough. In a recent newspaper interview, the GOP presidential candidate, former Florida governor, and silver-spoon holder, criticized President Obama’s proposal to expand overtime protection to 5 million American workers.
“People are going to have to work longer hours and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families,” Mr. Bush said. Seriously, Jeb?
To the contrary, Americans work plenty. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Americans worked an average of 1,789 hours last year, higher than the average of all countries surveyed. Still, our wages have been stagnant for the past 40 years even though our productivity has increased.
Speaking of wages, Donald Trump, noted trust fund recipient and current (for the time being) GOP frontrunner, believes that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 is just fine at that level and “not a bad thing for this country.” So says a guy who has never had to, and likely never will have to, survive on $7.25.
Then there is Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. He gets handsomely rewarded with campaign cash as chief lackey to the billionaire Koch Brothers, all the while bashing unions as “special interests” and comparing them to ISIS. I could probably go on. More than a dozen Republicans are vying for the White House. But it would take more room than I have in our newsletter to outline all the ways the modern GOP disrespects the value of most people who have to work for a living (and downright disparages people who can’t find jobs).
The sad thing is that these people even have an audience for their retrograde attitudes toward the working class. A lot of that audience includes members of the working class. Some are even in unions. America’s schizophrenic relationship with laborers and the idea of whose work is valued goes a long way toward explaining why our nation’s workers are so ill-treated compared with the rest of the developed world.
The First to be Ill-treated
America was built on the exploited labor of African people. Then came the exploited labor of the poor — black and white — and of immigrants. Post-New Deal and post-World War II, the value of workers rose. They gained new rights that resulted in the middle class boom that lasted until the 1980s.
Today, we are in a new era of exploitation: Of unpaid internships that look a lot like fulltime jobs; of uncompensated contract workers and temps; of outright wage theft. We are a society where workers are expected to be on-call during what little vacation time they get, a society where many don’t get vacation at all. We stand out as the only country in the industrialized world that doesn’t mandate paid vacation or maternity leave. At the same time, Americans identify themselves through their work. The first question one always is asked at a social gathering is not “What are your favorite hobbies,” but “What do you do?” The idea of “working hard” as much as one can to achieve success, is seen as a badge of honor, no matter the consequences to one’s health and family life. The idea of working in our country is valued. However, the act of laboring — outside that of the corporate executive — isn’t so much valued. Every September we mark Labor Day with barbecues and shopping and beach-going, while the original reason for the holiday, a celebration of the achievements of the labor movement, lies mostly forgotten.
Ms. Moore may be contacted at President@CulverCityDemocraticClub.com
