Oregon City Falls – Projecting Power by Marilynne

Musings of a Museum Junkie – The Slave Economy

Art expresses volumes. Note this picture I painted of the falls in Oregon City marking the end of the Oregon Trail. A vibrant tribute to industry is crumbling, yet at one time this was a dynamic center for enterprise and change in the U.S. In 1889 history was made when the first DC electricity was transmitted through wires over a distance of distance 14 miles to Portland. AC transmission followed on its heels and in short time commerce throughout the country was electrified.

We all are aware of the changes that electricity brought to working people. Industry expanded and fortunes were made. Waves of immigrants became employed in sweat shops, toiling for low wages and initiating bitter fights over hours, safety conditions and wages. Woody Guthrie sang. Unions held bloodied rallies before eventually winning the right to bargain collectively, eventually securing a 5 day work-week, health benefits and vacation time……..


Move forward to today. …. My husband and I have been mentoring a street boy who successfully graduated from Job Corps and completed his first apprenticeship year as an industrial painter. He is employed by a reputable company, makes a fair salary for an apprentice, but he and his fellow workers are treated like chattel. Awakening between 4:30 and 5 he is often at work by seven after driving 60 miles. For 30 days he labored without a break of even one day. I wonder how he will ever meet a woman, become a caring husband or start a family? When his car broke down we had to help because he could not get time off to pick it up from the repair shop. I care about this young man and want him to live a fulfilling life but wonder if it will ever be possible.

As an apprentice he is not the exception among his comrades, for the journeymen working alongside him are treated just as poorly. I started asking questions and discovered that most painters working for this company are divorced, single, or willing to live a life separate from their loved ones. How many women will put up with erratic long hours that often span months? Good-by to family dinners, companionship or watching little league games. Hello to drugs and beer snatched in the car between work sites. The men were being exploited……or were they?

I was riled. I thought we had labor laws against this type of practice so immediately went on-line to review state and federal wage and hour laws. It turns out that employers still have most of the power and toilers very little. Bosses can demand that their workers labor overtime seven days a week as long as they are paid time and and a half after forty hours. If an employee does not want to comply with the demand, he or she can be fired unless covered by a union contract.

So, next step…. to investigate unions. It became obvious in short order that with rare exceptions, unions today have little power. Their negotiation sessions are like stirring wet noodles. 24 states have passed right-to-work-laws which remove the requirement for workers to pay union dues to work on unionized jobs. There is no starch to the men who negotiate contracts for they have no clout with the legislators who bend to threats by big business to move elsewhere. According to a Pew Research Center Survey, private sector union membership has dropped from from 16.8% in 1983 to 6.7% today. Despite this decline, 51% of Americans have favorable opinions of labor unions and feel that they are necessary to protect working people. Public feeling, however, holds little sway on outcome.

Big national organizations and money are leading the way to increased free trade, lower minimum wage, the right not to pay sick leave and everything else that union contacts used to be about. I have come to the conclusion that laborers are not much better off than slaves. If they complain they lose their job. “Oh, but they can resign,” you might respond. Sure but even if they are lucky enough to find a new job it will not make a difference. In fact, the new employer may be worse than the last.

As a past museum director I know how important it is to bring quality and passion to a task. Trained workers need to be respected. They are professional craftsmen who spend four years as apprentices in weekly training sessions. They learn to care about what they are doing and take pride in their work. Yet, instead of hiring these disciplined men and women, most people go for the lowest priced contract. I hear my friends and husband constantly complain about quality of workmanship of the plumbers, painters and carpenters they employ. Sloppy, incompetent, no attention to detail are words that come to mind. It may be time to rethink our attitude towards hiring the lowest common denominator for the job.

For more information go to :

http://www.edisontechcenter.org/HistElectPowTrans.html – History of electric power transmission.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/11/us/union-power-analysis/ — Why America’s Unions are losing power

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/02/20/for-american-unions-membership-trails-far-behind-public-support/ – American Unions membership declines

http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/workhours/breaks.htm – For Federal labor laws

www.employmentlawhandbook.com/wage-and…laws/…laws/oregon/ – Oregon laws…find your own state.

http://employment.laws.com/oregon-overtime-laws – Oregon…many states do not even provide for overtime pay.