In U.S. Unions Do What Government Won't

I have posted about this in the past, but it deserves to be repeated. Note the reality contained in the chart above. Their is only one rich developed country in the entire world that doesn't guarantee that all workers are entitled to paid holidays and/or paid vacations -- the United States. The next least generous government is Japan -- and it still mandates that employers must give their workers a minimum of 10 paid vacation days each year.

Why is this true? It is because the corporate powers don't want the government to mandate paid holidays or paid vacations, and they have bought enough politicians to prevent it from happening. You may be thinking that many workers in this country do get some paid holidays and vacations, and that is true. But it is not because the government mandates it, and it is not because of corporate generosity.

Corporations don't have a heart -- only a bottom line. And they will do whatever they can to produce another penny of profit on that bottom line -- and that includes keeping wages low and denying benefits to their workers. So why do some offer paid holidays and paid vacations? There is only one reason -- because they have been forced into doing that by unions. And even non-union firms have had to go along so they won't lose workers to union firms. If you get paid holidays and/or a paid vacation, then you should thank the worker's unions in this country -- not government or corporations.

And don't think that employers, especially the corporations, wouldn't love to eliminate the benefits they now offer (including paid holidays and vacations) because those benefits cost money. And they are trying very hard (with the help of their congressional Republican colleagues) to destroy unions. Once the unions are gone, the corporations will be free to reduce wages and eliminate benefits, which they could easily accomplish in a poor economy like the present, where millions of people are out of work and desperate for a job -- even a low-wage job with no benefits.

We must fight to protect the right to unionize, and to protect the unions that currently exist. This is important because the government has abdicated its responsibility to protect workers, and create a fair environment where workers share in the benefits of a rising productivity. Unions are the only protection that workers have, and they have been left to do the job that government won't do.

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If you doubt what I have said above, and still believe in the myth of corporate generosity, then just look at the rise in income for 2009-2011. From 2009 to 2011, income grew by 1.7% in the United States, but it was not shared among all income groups. The top 1% got 121% of that income increase. How could they get more than 100% of the income increase? Because the income for the 99% actually shrunk by 0.4%. In other words, the richest 1% not only hogged the entire income gain in those years, they also stole a little more from their workers.

I repeat -- corporations do not have a heart, and generosity is a foreign concept for them. They care about nothing but profits, and will happily abuse their workers to turn a good profit into an exorbitant profit. That may sound harsh, but it is the truth.