Asked what his members wanted the answer of union legend Samuel Gompers was simple. “More.”
Despite being encouraged by liberal interests, unions are the most conservative institutions society has. They advanced most during the 1930s, when manufacturers sought to control input costs and keep production going. Remember, too, that the Great Depression was caused by deflation. Labor assured limited inflation.
While Cloud Czars like Google and Amazon create deflation, they also fight unions because unions limit the flexibility they see as essential to their mission, fostering rapid change.
Some act surprised that Amazon is fighting this battle in Alabama. Bessemer is next to Birmingham, the state’s industrial heart. Birmingham was first called the “Magic City” because the steel mills there seemed to spring up by magic. It’s not an antebellum town. It was, for many years, a union town.
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