The two tragic fires that have killed workers in Bangladesh remind us
of labor’s history in the early years of the twentieth century when the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire killed 146 garment workers most of them Jewish
and Italian immigrant women.
Capitalism actively condones the murder of dispensable
commodities like people who provide unskilled or semi-skilled labor. Now even
the sweatshops of China
are moving to even cheaper, less-regulated Bangladesh .
American companies like Wal-Mart and Apple have increasingly relied on cheap
third-world labor to produce their products as wages plummet and safety
regulations evaporate in the United States, our country will once again look
like a more desirable sweatshop location for vulture capitalists of all
stripes.
With the active collusion of some large city mayors like
Rahm Emanuel (Chicago ) and Cory
Booker (Newark ) both labor union
power and membership are diminishing. Unions have become an endangered species
and will soon go the way of the dodo.
Yes, labor unions fight for the safety concerns of workers.
These are paramount. Without your life, a job isn't worth much. But they also
fight for job security and retention. The “employment at will” doctrine that is
applied in the United States
means any worker can be terminated for any reason whatsoever, whether or not it
is job related.
If I had been unable to seek out union jobs, I could easily
have been a street person instead of a retired homeowner. As a political
activist and openly lesbian worker, I have been fired from employment in at
least three instances where I was dismissed with the comment, “Your work is
fine, you just don’t fit in.” Eating and having shelter are very important
factors for a decent quality of life. They are necessary for both those who fit
in as well as those who do not. It makes me angry and sad to think that LGBT
young people today, who are lacking family emotional and financial support,
cannot keep themselves out of poverty.
We desperately need international guidelines concerning
workers’ safety. We also need non-discrimination laws to protect the
livelihoods of non-traditional employees. Our lives and our jobs should not be
too much to ask. We must resuscitate the unions before it is too late.
