200 Years; The American Worker

from communication center the university of texas at austin this is two hundred years in the year nineteen seventy six the american republic celebrates its two hundredth anniversary as a part of the us bicentennial program at the university of texas at austin two hundred years explores the past present and future dynamics of history's longest living democratic society this weekend two hundred years we will be talking about the history of americans who work with us are overblown professional lyndon b johnson school of public affairs at the university of texas at austin vernon briggs university professor of economics and you'll be france professor of history at ut austin many people consider the employment statistics the most important indicator of the health of the american economy and we very avidly count the millions of americans who are included in the labor force is important that we know who's being counted in these statistics let's start with the historical

perspective that front i think it's important because it shows two or year saw spots are and employment at day give you some idea the general health of the economy we just got rid of the idea of full employment that they would like to keep it up to the point where it does indicate that the country moving ahead of this i'm sorry now inflation or eight that we can handle an urban economic one of you dr riggs well the statistics are labor market or violence that they're a prada public policy in much of public policy is based on these what these decisions are these statistics disclose and it's one of the four preps they both politically and influential statistics a lot of the employment and unemployment of the labor pool movement's point of view it's important in part to know who to organize and what areas of their difficulties but also in terms of looking at the total labor force to see the changing lives of that labor force the more white collar people now than they used to be and more people in

the service industries in this affect what they're going to do in the future so the labor force compared to day with that at the beginning of the country two hundred years ago since this program is dedicated to the bus into new monarch out on that we don't really have a labor force at the beginning of this country in the year since as radioactive people are largely a seven part are were craftsman who wandered you unintelligible actresses complain when that we begin to get a real labor force day we had some unionization and first union and franco was about and something there is one that made new yard a unionized to protect themselves against a husband there mistresses and then we had other groups the town's council elements that wages now are it's usually a had a minimum ronan bennett lifting four cents a

day the basic wage was really was away was about if it's a it's a day to day it's a rather depressing labor situation and we didn't have the calls for labor and therefore within the strength of labor to get whatever you can explore the person's going to be labor movement evolved in this picture to his greatest strengths beginning with the industrial revolution we got the day the labor movement really from that one and when factories began to develop when you have groups of workers joining together that also was affected by the changing market structure and do stop brewer producing item just for the president came in to order on a bespoke basis on the basis of watering for yourself but when you look at the mass produce them and you began to have the importance of paying it managers point of view the lowest wage as possible so they can charge of the lowest prices possible to compete in a marketplace and at that point workers began to organize to protect themselves against

this change in their economic status and you might also science labor movement as we know it today was really big event of the fall of the civil war and reconstruction period and south ferry which the nation began to urbanize and going dutch revolution simultaneously and in the northern states and it's largely from the group would not have a lot of basic postal worker approximately what percentage of our labor force bridge will codify matter labor force is we sit today belongs to unions will it there is some ways of looking at that and this is rather the difficulties you can opener is the percentage of the labor force which would be all votes counted in the labor force who are ready willing and to work and this would be a probably twenty five percent another level guinness a percentage of non agricultural planted and this goes back historically to the week that farmworkers could be organized that believe that business

and their parents some when the thirty percent figure important factors on those bases of the labor movement was declining as a percentage of the labor has been steadily declining since the fifties with some minor exceptions but that doesn't mean it hasn't grown in terms of total members that has bought them or people working as a percentage of the kind of grown in the public sector that would say that i would we are differentiated member of the labor force from another press well we got some definitions of who the labor force and they have lots of testicle definition of that is so that don't really reflect hardship that they reflect to tell you anything about what numbers and so that we have about the wheel of people or employers are loans that people actually seeking bail able to work are counted as employed or unemployed or people who cannot find work for one hour for pain during a given week in which make an estimate of what china labor force but those people have to be able to actually seeking available for work

undone and so we put those two together we get our call the labor force were employed in the unemployed now it doesn't unfortunately people who are discouraged and people may have given up seeking work or we estimate that's over and two million people that they weren't given up looking for work but would like to manage our deadline will be involuntarily part time unemployment people who work working one hour for a paper like the working forty hours and are there counseling full employment doesn't include a lot of groups and low income groups where it's very difficult to quote reliable they are low income areas in egypt do the people have the highest wealth unemployment rate don't really know the official unemployment rate is very conservatively estimate the real unemployment rate is probably maybe ten percent here in nineteen seventy five as opposed to official rate of eight point two with readers and interpol presented what is the distinction between a white collar worker

josh ellis as they were white collar presented a wall once i keep my sense of objectivity is so and so non official definition obviously the europeans at that it turns ordinary day you use of the emanuel nine one manual workers in them blue collar factory workers operate machines through his skill level from laborers through a skill called a why congress will be a retail on current retail workers clerical workers managers and professionals and technicians and there is a sales figures and then that then there is a third category service in which young people rebellious stations and domestic now it's the latter two groups are growing that has treated the white collar and service bucco and generalized decline in the united states say a hundred years ago was was a blue collar worker the mainstay in the country we still may be the mainstay of the flow

of the mets earns but the percentage may notice is because it reduces something that you can spot ten and major car as they apply carried him not nor in a circus person and a special holy innocents countries will move to earlier has been uneven from the blue collar occupations are industries have put us way that have high proportions of blue collar workers and everybody in industries blue collar worker with the manufacturing mining construction in rio home of humanism and only in the other except in the transportation industry with these of industries which employment haven't fallen in terms of percentages of the labor force of the labor movement now in greece the term offender registries and now it's being forced to look into why color category yasser of the landmass employers and insurance companies thousands of employees but they don't and they may in our terms white collar and then therefore they're not phone what is amenable to a musician

that's actually other countries want in iran that there's nothing in the white collar or somalia montana that inevitably prevents up and running in the snows of antibodies believe that all of the teachers julio were not organized and fifteen years ago now since the nineteen sixties the heavily that may even come to professor sun this of this event as a potential place for unionization unions and their answers are paying attention to those who some people think that adequately but nonetheless they are paying attention there have been gross mr ross also because these people who've had even a white collar areas of song theme song been part of a management team or something which leaders and some anti american opinion opposed to what they're susceptible to exactly the same in florida and in fact one very important part of things happening on a white collar occupations is the admin computer for example coming into the white collar occupations and how they find themselves in they have to do shift work computers can work eight hour days and they can work

on just on monday through friday after work on weekends when you're going to get the issue how to get off the midnight shift and that are not clear the union does that they would often as white collar people because of the computer where the evidence is so mixed on this island group who would have on ones with the computers also re skills now i do think the problem is that for a long time the computers came into the marketplace at the time of rising demand and so like how people have to keep jobs in inhabiting the skills workers but now because of the confusion with this last recession less the current recession so it's really hard to really hard hard to hire these people and as a result i think the computer in the long run will have the impact that the unions hopefully much more sugar on the high unemployment of a nation drowning on seems unwilling to tolerate now become increasing scarcity of jobs

more competition for a job which raises all the questions of white collar workers blue collar workers a very controlling else who get laid off putting our regulator guitar back especially large to fool voters and where they can be seen by management employee is no difference between one secretary another for work when school teacher you know on public employee asks time anyone in regards of the people's even song portman expect to be dealt with in such inhumane bring brings that and i think it's wrong partly i think the whole history or american leaders been pumping some effort to try to escape from the problems of competition and threats of competition isn't american industry and others have tried overly history to escape from competition and i think the effort in it to try to get some regulation of work conditions work habits and that to try get some regulation of social one historical fact i think it's really important and that is the nature of the american labor movement has to be close to the principles of free enterprise system has expanded and that in a simplistic economics text

it's opposed to wage is being determined in the marketplace union contract tries to go and sell to wage it tries to control the entry into the marketplace by workers by controlling job hiring and bishop robinson why it's composed to an individual contract tries to develop a group contracts what this has meant that i think is that the labor movement has been one of the major forces that helped bring about what happened in the nineteen thirties in the united states will we change from the free enterprise of the city allergy on this speak to a mixed economy that state and the labor movement didn't do this directly in a single one thing also the nfl which is a key moment in our history if you look at their speeches in the same speeches in terms of spoiler free and the president argues any progress of numerous a chicago might at the present time in terms of talking about this idea but in practice and what they'd did by signing contracts by protecting workers from the workings of the marketplace indeed help bring about what happened and i think that is a whole host of legislation

athens in fact the first piece of labeling law being labeled relations occurs in nineteen thirty to accept the role late night before and that that will work as hell of pride to nineteen thirty two in a common law system which was basically hostile to look at the movement two roll history until it fit into the live with the united states were at a tremendous disadvantage in the courts you still have a very hostile audience over much of the united states for example in texas yes it has become much more acceptable most polls part of it has been the hand raising wages and the fact that lenders have a fair shake and from an ensemble all that i can recall when having a union man move into a nice neighborhood with the block busting for blacks and some of the last year why could not delay that day this man to come and i really value revenue children and no one thinks about that now

people are recognizing that there are increasingly that we our previous employer in life is to be a nation it's an enormous target employees at one time was dr francis alluded we have we're a nation of agriculture and farmers and small craftsmen on the north but it's true the nation than one of becoming increasingly more concentrated power and which most people are only workers all lives inland house committee began to be concerned about conditions and things on the allies don't think it's any accident that labor really come the thirties in terms of its and its efforts to try to extract itself from competitive forces simply because of the flooding power the corporations haven't done that over their lifetime have always happens ben trade though by the fact that the american labor has stayed within the system never had a a first class labour party that sen and real impact it has in other nations and i have stayed with a two party

that they have picked and chose an unknown to a certain extent a basic philosophy were just both go back to the american federation of labor in senegal prices to get a fairer shake within the system as it exists right now and under the system in europe the local unions for equal you were a product of the political party that he should have a social democratic party the socialist party that with beef would be first it would then form a national trade union very closely tied with it with being with the pot and then the local unions before them frequented geographic bases and the reason for that they obviously they went interest include the change that with negotiating for us and say saudi the union structures based upon for his local unions being created but there are exceptions but at a low begins based upon a company upon a market and then issues and then if of cod of bell and then these geographic big unions the national semifinals you know our political animals or i guess they will just the state afl cio the

local air city centers but not the local unions layla collective bargaining understand there to negotiate for better wages and this is why they work within the system you can't really be a marxist and try to overthrow the system and at the same time titan a rather cut the bottom a really did secede guess it's all a feeling that because the one ethical cooperate with management to get a contract the other eu path of trying to destroy a management change the system and the fallout of marxists in america labor ended up as most conservative trading of its own to how many years you know many really really eleven republican convention affect our love and our great concern of the most influential labor leaders the twentieth century than republicans dr mccary great when the military thought he gets something out is a labor union and

greatly different from a very strong professional association we had no stigma attached to the fact that you are a member of the american bar association american medical association etcetera etcetera they present the guy we look down on no abuses certain parts of the electorate what are the differences between these major professional one difference of course is one in all one group many of the medical complaints work for somebody else professional association on the normally people of self employed to a professional association least theoretically i suppose the record of ethics tradition that involves a standards of behavior for the profession group around him smiling at this point and i guess we all think of certain professions we doubt have these things but i do think it's important that a well to do for example would be saved a huge universe is a model a professor it has a sort of split loyalties one to his university has a place of employment but the other two his

own field of discipline and these kinds of conflicts are very difficult to make a different organize professes a pop the question i really show wayward way way you having a problem with it is an engineering professor liu professor working at a university or you an engineer why engineer so i think these are some of the difficulties of the difference is that there are some common elements obviously says some professional associations tried to control the marketplace right at the time when prices and wages in those areas should come down what sort of impact do we anticipate for the immediate future of our labor force you you mention the fact that we're coming to expect the find more white collar workers involved in and unions what would you anticipate over the next few years and the labor for some long visceral reaction is the current labor is and that may know some real militancy and has gotten them that come from all ended last year some of its appeal

it's a bit too cozy and that it's just arrived as the afl was when the seattle came along and dr barnett argues that no more trust as of the moment well to as labor been ahead of the camden for example human rights women's rights and so forth are actually like that take this perspective of law i think that the labor movement was gently and the thing in the vanguard of pushing for the issues around him from some practices on a local level though the new look over american afl cio what they do is something most other groups whose are these things don't do that is that they actually are down can raise the level of consciousness of a mass numbers of people that does take some time to some convincing mean liberals tend to talk to liberals conservatives other deserve the radicals other radical but the very few people in the country a really down every day to write newspaper article a newspaper or magazine fine and struck the workers country what does that report say

health insurance program which invariably what we needed what the world what is the country that we don't know what is a future without it look like trying to raise the consciousness of the same thing on civil rights which is an ending as really are a thing that they've fought for these things on it made a low and trying to raise the consciousness of the rank and file workers which are after all in large numbers or population and take some doing some time to do this this poses one of the reasons why many of the votes in iowa did not support local governments and the scanners in seventy two there are there are other political reasons but one of the reasons was the government and some of his associates treated with the afl say leadership condescending as if they weren't involved a new online of fighting for civil rights and fighting for jobs and the event was going to say they oppose hero is probably the major largest single pressure group on the left of center that is i'm not quite sure you understand but nonetheless and it and resented very

much of the leadership over it also resented very much and mcgovern staff particularly for treating them you know if somehow foreigners to the democratic party who would somehow have not been involved the struggle of the they had been going to resolve our policy and discuss the bets about that these snakes with their first hour more optimistic about the future really that sense it is going to increase in size and it's now moving toward doing white collar areas the garment workers moving into the south areas that are the remainder and i think we see unionization percentages reversed and penalties around here since nineteen fifty the reader earlier that very likely to increase rather sharply in the next year two thousand and that the many occupations over unionism and welcome because it does give them way of dissipating and answering the rules regulations affect their daily life optimistic than i am i do think one of the great hopes the unions will be their management tool will make

mistakes in the end not be as accepting his union disagree with implied earlier i don't think of the natural necessarily react wisely and will try to be hostile in unions will feel themselves forced to organize it doesn't pass at this and the great hopes that isn't the new thing and respond and thirty to say to our history managerial oppression which i had read part of this might be one of them there's also an advice first given from and personality which is a growing problem in a world and with those fearless predictions about the future of a labor movement and our labor force in this country we will bring to a close this week's edition of two hundred years our panelists today have included howard blum professor in the lyndon b johnson school of public affairs university of texas the boston garden and reducing university professor of economics and you'll be france professor of history at ut austin

this is rex we're for two hundred years two hundred years as part of the united states bicentennial program at the university of texas austin is a continuing series of weekly conversations about the past present and future dynamics of history's longest living democratic society two hundred years is produced by katie this is