America Needs a Working-Class Resurgence


Back in the 1930s, the United States was weathering one of the worst economic downturns we as a nation have ever seen. This much-discussed Great Depression led to one of the most substantial and impactful realignments of politics and economics in our country's history. Elected as President in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt saw the nation embark on one of the largest working-and-middle-class-building projects in human history. The New Deal Coalition, as it came to be called, dominated political thought through to the 1970s, and still has a major pull on the Democratic Party today. Social Security for the elderly, banning of child-labor, setting a national minimum wage, empowering labor unions, setting a 40-hour standard workweek, requiring overtime pay and more were all accomplishments achieved during this halcyon era.

In these heavy-industrial days when the United States was truly making itself great, labor unions and worker protections allowed for the creation of one of the strongest and most empowered class of workers the world has ever known. The establishment of affordable housing, subsidized higher education and proliferation of the Interstate Highway System allowed for a new, suburbanized professional class to thrive alongside it. Collectively, this new Middle Class has been the backbone of the American Dream and economy ever since. Yet, starting in the 1970s under President Richard Nixon and made mainstream in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan, a new coalition took hold in American politics, one commonly referred to as the Neoliberal Order.

After decades of the working classes making historic gains in earnings, lifestyle and healthcare outcomes, the tide began to turn. Since the late 70s, American wages have stagnated or grown at a fraction of the pace seen during decades prior. The average American family today has the same buying power as they would have had in the 90s. When adjusted for inflation and buying power, the average American wage is on par with what one would have earned in 1978, per the Pew Research Center. Labor union participation has also deteriorated, dropping from 20.1% to 10.8% of the working population just between 1983 and 2020. Alongside an increase in automation and outsourcing of labor to other nations, this has collectively placed downward pressure on American wages.

So, a new reality has emerged for many: for the first time in modern American history, we are statistically unlikely to be as or more financially successful than our parents. The American Dream is increasingly out-of-reach. Home ownership is evermore difficult to attain. Our average life expectancy has not only deviated from that of other advanced nations, but has actually fallen in recent years. Higher education costs, and student loans with it, have ballooned. Huge amounts of political money leave our politicians awash in priorities which increasingly do not match those of the American people. If this all seems dark and bleak, it's because compared to our past and where we could be now, it is. America has so much more potential.

Fortunately, there are many ways to empower the working people of this nation again. Universal Community College and Trade Schools would allow millions of Americans access to quality, real-world skills to help fill the massive need we have for trade workers in our nation. Passing legislation to not only re-empower labor unions, but actually universalize collective bargaining rights through regional and industry-specific Labor Councils would give workers of all types a huge and lasting tool to have a say in their wages and workplace conditions. Reworked trade-deals would favor the American worker and encourage the return of many high-paying industrial and service jobs to the U.S.

Universal childcare subsidies would help workers stay flexible and in the workforce. National requirements for Family, Medical and Sick Leave would protect worker's jobs and pay when they need time off. Narrowing down the use of Independent Contractors would prevent companies from shirking benefit responsibilities at the expense of the American taxpayer. Standardizing a living-minimum wage, automatically adjusted for inflation, would set a baseline for livable American wages. Universal healthcare would prevent worker's health insurance from being tied to their employer, allowing for workforce flexibility.

In addition to those mentioned above, there are plenty of other long-term adjustments which can be made to support America's workers. Immigration reform, criminal justice reform, universal basic income, a federal jobs guarantee, modernizing our electrical grid, universal pre-K, cancelling student loan debt, raising corporate and wealth taxes and more are all avenues which would collectively give American workers the leg-up they've earned in our modern economy. After decades of Neoliberal decline and stagnation, it's time the American People were presented with a refreshed New Deal Coalition, one that responds to the wants and needs of its vast working population, not simply the wealthy and connected who currently run D.C. This has been done before, and it can be done again. It's time for us to make history.


References:

1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Deal_coalition#:~:text=The%20New%20Deal%20Coalition%20was,response%20to%20the%20Great%20Depression.

2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_unions_in_the_United_States#:~:text=In%202020%20it%20was%2010.8,sector%20workers%2C%20at%2034.8%25.

3) https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/perspectives/stimulus-package-worker-protections/index.html

4) https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/04/20/how-the-american-middle-class-has-changed-in-the-past-five-decades/

5) https://time.com/6171292/middle-class-falling-behind-economy/

6) https://prospect.org/economy/neoliberalism-political-success-economic-failure/

7) https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/

8) https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/chart-collection/u-s-life-expectancy-compare-countries/#Life%20expectancy%20at%20birth%20in%20years,%201980-2020%C2%A0

9) https://justicedemocrats.com/platform/
Location: California, USA

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