Remembering the Legacy of Labor Day (2019)

by E.J. Dionne Jr., September 2, 2019, The Washington Post

It was known as the Treaty of Detroit, but it did not end a shooting war. In 1950, Walter
Reuther, the legendary leader of the United Auto Workers union, and Charlie Wilson,
the CEO of General Motors, agreed to a historic labor contract that bought the
automaker five years of labor peace.
5 After more than a decade of sometimes violent conflict and short-term contracts,
Wilson wanted stability so he could expand his company. The result was a trendsetting
deal that included not only substantial wage increases but also generous pension and
health-
Those were the days. At the peak of its power at the end of World War II, the American
10 labor movement which had cooperated closely with management and government to
fundamentally altered the social contract in the

The story of the Reuther- Beaten Down,

15 Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor

Greenhouse, who spent 19 years covering labor and workplace issues for the New York
Times, is unabashedly pro-
20 shortcomings. His essential point is that, while we can talk all we want about how
technological change and the decline of manufacturing work have undercut the living
standards of many Americans, the truth is that better wages and benefits are almost
always the product of bargaining power. Building that power was the work of tough-
minded idealists such as Reuther, backed by New Deal-era labor laws rooted in an
25 understanding that mass purchasing power underwritten by decent wages was good for
the overall economy.
In the years since the Treaty of Detroit, the negotiating leverage of American workers
has been vastly diminished. In the absence of powerful unions, we have yet to find an

30 We have also lost the sense of solidarity that originally inspired Labor Day. Greenhouse
recounts a conversation with his then-86-year-old mother when he was in Wisconsin
covering Republican then- offensive to gut collective bargaining
and cut public employee benefits.

35 and benefits that people in a union have. I w

How did we get to this point? In another must-read book for ou The
se Prophets, Free Markets, and the Fracture of Society
40 Binyamin Appelbaum argues that the growing role of professional economists since the
late 1960s fundamentally altered popular understandings about how the world should
work.
We have moved, Appelbaum argues, from a healthy respect for what markets can
-
45 come at the expense of economic equality, of the health of liberal democracy, and of

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 of Americans as producers to the interests of Americans as consumers, trading well-

50 Appelbaum, who writes about economics and business for the New York Times editorial
page, values what economists do, but the ones he respects most are those who
understand the limits of a purely material understanding of what matters. He quotes the
an end in itself.
Development has to be more concerned with enhancing the lives we lead and the
55
The financial crisis of 2008, as Appelbaum suggests, will be seen historically as
dropping the curtain on a period of market supremacy and radical individualism. The
transition to the next act is not pretty. The rise of right-wing nationalism is part of the

60 ties and, yes, thriving economies

depend on sharing the fruits of our productivity and rebuilding a solidarity that can
overcome our fractiousness.

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