WEBVTT

00:00:10.540 --> 00:00:13.090
Today, let's start our
little look at history.

00:00:13.090 --> 00:00:15.350
We've actually
been here before is

00:00:15.350 --> 00:00:17.320
sort of the theme
I want to develop,

00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:21.410
because I want us to put us
back as if you are entering

00:00:21.410 --> 00:00:24.520
the labor force around 1930.

00:00:24.520 --> 00:00:28.270
You've just come off what
we call the roaring '20s.

00:00:28.270 --> 00:00:31.380
And while you should feel better
because the economy was going

00:00:31.380 --> 00:00:34.520
so well in the 1920s
and profits were up

00:00:34.520 --> 00:00:36.760
and the stock market
was at record levels,

00:00:36.760 --> 00:00:39.460
you probably don't
feel very optimistic.

00:00:39.460 --> 00:00:41.630
Because despite
all this good news,

00:00:41.630 --> 00:00:47.110
family income was falling
in the 1920s as it is today.

00:00:47.110 --> 00:00:50.600
Most of the income
went to the top 10%,

00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:53.430
just as it is today
in our society.

00:00:53.430 --> 00:00:56.950
And then of course
1929 comes along,

00:00:56.950 --> 00:00:59.850
and we get the Great
Stock Market Crash,

00:00:59.850 --> 00:01:03.380
and everything starts
to fall to pieces.

00:01:03.380 --> 00:01:06.010
At that point, over
the next several years,

00:01:06.010 --> 00:01:09.630
if you were entering the labor
force or an existing, more

00:01:09.630 --> 00:01:13.780
mature worker, you were
expected to lose between 8%

00:01:13.780 --> 00:01:15.720
to 20% percent of your income.

00:01:15.720 --> 00:01:20.480
If you got unemployed, over
25% of the labor force,

00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:23.090
you were really in dire straits.

00:01:23.090 --> 00:01:27.480
There was steady loss of income,
especially for those people

00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:29.520
who were working
in small businesses

00:01:29.520 --> 00:01:32.020
or working on the farm.

00:01:32.020 --> 00:01:34.910
Well, this created all
kinds of pressures,

00:01:34.910 --> 00:01:37.380
and it led to the election
of a new president.

00:01:37.380 --> 00:01:39.560
President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt

00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:43.670
was elected in 1932 with
pressure from the population

00:01:43.670 --> 00:01:45.280
to bring us out
of the depression

00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:49.670
and find new ways to protect
workers' jobs and incomes.

00:01:49.670 --> 00:01:52.320
Well, he had quite
a job on his hands--

00:01:52.320 --> 00:01:55.030
so many people out
on the streets,

00:01:55.030 --> 00:01:57.840
looking for a job, homeless.

00:01:57.840 --> 00:01:59.730
A new term was
invented, something

00:01:59.730 --> 00:02:02.420
called Hooverville,
people pitching

00:02:02.420 --> 00:02:05.250
tents in our major
cities because they

00:02:05.250 --> 00:02:06.810
had nowhere else to live.

00:02:06.810 --> 00:02:11.270
The Great Dust Bowl occurred, so
people from Oklahoma and Texas

00:02:11.270 --> 00:02:13.330
started to migrate
with their families

00:02:13.330 --> 00:02:15.890
to California in search
of a better life.

00:02:15.890 --> 00:02:19.360
The Grapes of Wrath,
written to describe

00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:21.920
the plight of these
people who were moving

00:02:21.920 --> 00:02:25.340
to try to find a better job
and a better opportunity

00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:28.890
was probably the best
selling book about that time.

00:02:28.890 --> 00:02:30.820
And so something was needed.

00:02:30.820 --> 00:02:35.360
Well, we actually did get some
change in national policy.

00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:38.790
This is a picture of
the first woman cabinet

00:02:38.790 --> 00:02:41.540
member in the United
States, Frances Perkins,

00:02:41.540 --> 00:02:44.190
who was chosen to be
the Secretary of Labor

00:02:44.190 --> 00:02:46.930
by President Roosevelt.
But she warned him.

00:02:46.930 --> 00:02:49.850
When he interviewed her
about the job, she said,

00:02:49.850 --> 00:02:53.470
Mr. President, you don't want
to choose me as a secretary

00:02:53.470 --> 00:02:57.690
unless you're willing to think
about new forms of unemployment

00:02:57.690 --> 00:03:01.910
insurance and minimum wages
and social security for people

00:03:01.910 --> 00:03:03.270
when they retire.

00:03:03.270 --> 00:03:06.040
Well, Roosevelt said,
that's exactly why

00:03:06.040 --> 00:03:08.570
I want you for this job.

00:03:08.570 --> 00:03:13.000
And so we did see what was
called the New Deal come

00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:17.440
to pass in the 1930s, with a
lot of work with the Congress

00:03:17.440 --> 00:03:19.400
and with the Roosevelt
administration.

00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:21.850
And building on many
of the innovations that

00:03:21.850 --> 00:03:24.680
occurred at state and
local government levels

00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:28.780
in the previous 20 years, we got
much of the labor legislation

00:03:28.780 --> 00:03:32.550
that still is the
foundation for labor policy

00:03:32.550 --> 00:03:36.000
today, starting with
unemployment insurance.

00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.310
Unemployment insurance
was first put in place

00:03:38.310 --> 00:03:40.930
to try to provide temporary
assistance for people

00:03:40.930 --> 00:03:44.060
who were out of work who would
get called back to work when

00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:45.540
the economy got better.

00:03:45.540 --> 00:03:47.470
Well, that worked
for a long time,

00:03:47.470 --> 00:03:50.630
but today almost nobody
who gets unemployed

00:03:50.630 --> 00:03:52.590
expects to be called back.

00:03:52.590 --> 00:03:56.510
Job loss is permanent, and so we
need to update the unemployment

00:03:56.510 --> 00:03:57.600
insurance system.

00:03:57.600 --> 00:04:00.760
It's not just to provide
temporary financial assistance

00:04:00.760 --> 00:04:02.410
for people out of work.

00:04:02.410 --> 00:04:04.400
We need to help
them find new jobs

00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.300
and get new training
opportunities

00:04:06.300 --> 00:04:10.260
and assistance to move to
where the jobs happen to be.

00:04:10.260 --> 00:04:10.520
In 1938, we passed the first
minimum wage and overtime

00:04:10.520 --> 00:04:10.600
legislation, called the Fair
Labor Standards Act. $0.25

00:04:10.600 --> 00:04:12.350
an hour was the minimum
wage at that time.

00:04:21.550 --> 00:04:26.490
That has moved up now to
$7.25, but the bad news

00:04:26.490 --> 00:04:28.530
is it hasn't kept
up with inflation.

00:04:28.530 --> 00:04:31.680
So we are worse off
today at that level

00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:34.940
than we were in the mid 1960s.

00:04:34.940 --> 00:04:37.090
And we need to update
the minimum wage

00:04:37.090 --> 00:04:40.040
at the national level to keep
up with the rate of inflation

00:04:40.040 --> 00:04:42.010
and the growing cost of living.

00:04:42.010 --> 00:04:44.550
The same with rules
around overtime--

00:04:44.550 --> 00:04:50.000
through the '40s, '50s, and '60s
over 60% of salaried workers

00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.240
were still eligible
for overtime.

00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:55.070
Today that number is
down to about 10%.

00:04:55.070 --> 00:04:58.410
And so we've got to
find ways to allow

00:04:58.410 --> 00:05:01.970
low-wage salaried workers,
assistant managers

00:05:01.970 --> 00:05:05.960
at McDonald's and other places,
to be able to get overtime

00:05:05.960 --> 00:05:09.340
if they're working 50 and 60
hours a week, as many of them

00:05:09.340 --> 00:05:10.280
are.

00:05:10.280 --> 00:05:12.660
The National Labor
Relations Act provided

00:05:12.660 --> 00:05:17.010
for collective bargaining
legislation in the 1935 act.

00:05:17.010 --> 00:05:19.460
That law promised
workers a right

00:05:19.460 --> 00:05:22.110
to gain access to a union
and collective bargaining,

00:05:22.110 --> 00:05:24.090
and it worked quite
well for many years.

00:05:24.090 --> 00:05:27.210
But today it's
broken beyond repair.

00:05:27.210 --> 00:05:30.270
Today if an employer wants
to resist a worker's right

00:05:30.270 --> 00:05:33.060
to organize, over
90% of the time

00:05:33.060 --> 00:05:34.610
the employer is going to win.

00:05:34.610 --> 00:05:36.710
And the workers
will be frustrated.

00:05:36.710 --> 00:05:40.120
So we need to find new
ways to modernize that law

00:05:40.120 --> 00:05:43.030
to provide workers with
the voice that they want.

00:05:43.030 --> 00:05:46.260
We passed the Social
Security Act in 1935

00:05:46.260 --> 00:05:49.580
that provided a retirement
income for all workers,

00:05:49.580 --> 00:05:51.460
based on the hours
that they worked

00:05:51.460 --> 00:05:53.990
in the labor force over
the years and the salaries

00:05:53.990 --> 00:05:55.120
that they earned.

00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:58.490
And that law still provides
a good retirement income

00:05:58.490 --> 00:05:59.810
for most workers.

00:05:59.810 --> 00:06:02.610
But that law, too,
needs to be updated,

00:06:02.610 --> 00:06:06.140
because we're living
longer; we're not

00:06:06.140 --> 00:06:10.790
able to cover all of the
debts of the next generation,

00:06:10.790 --> 00:06:13.620
and therefore, we're going to
have to tweak that law a bit

00:06:13.620 --> 00:06:17.230
in order to avoid going
bankrupt with social security

00:06:17.230 --> 00:06:18.890
over the next 20 years.

00:06:18.890 --> 00:06:21.920
All of these laws need
to be updated to catch up

00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:25.690
with the changing workforce and
the changing nature of work,

00:06:25.690 --> 00:06:28.080
but perhaps we
have to go farther.

00:06:28.080 --> 00:06:32.020
Maybe it's also time to
pass some new legislation,

00:06:32.020 --> 00:06:34.930
to recognize that today
it takes two working

00:06:34.930 --> 00:06:38.120
parents to earn a decent
living for their families.

00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:41.380
So maybe it's time
for the United States

00:06:41.380 --> 00:06:45.410
to become the last country
in the developed world

00:06:45.410 --> 00:06:48.930
to provide some
form of paid family

00:06:48.930 --> 00:06:52.510
leave if we have to stay home
and take care of a sick child

00:06:52.510 --> 00:06:55.740
or take care of an elderly
parent that needs help.

00:06:55.740 --> 00:06:59.610
It's time to modernize our
labor and employment relations

00:06:59.610 --> 00:07:00.450
policies.

00:07:00.450 --> 00:07:04.080
So, yes, we've been there
before in the 1930s.

00:07:04.080 --> 00:07:07.600
And we can do it again if
you put your creative ideas

00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:10.030
and your collective
energy together

00:07:10.030 --> 00:07:13.620
to modernize employment
policies to fit today's

00:07:13.620 --> 00:07:16.320
economy and today's workforce.