zlacker

This pandemic could possibly be an historical event for labor policy in the U.S. akin to the miner's strikes in the early 1900s. Laying the groundwork for labor protections, unions and the New Deal.

https://www.iup.edu/archives/coal/unions-and-mining/the-coal...

https://iup.edu/archives/coal/unions-and-mining/the-windber-...

>>jdkee+(OP)
It also could do the opposite, as small businesses get crushed and only larger businesses recover -- creating more income inequality and leading to the most powerful having even more power over our economy. Workers may have less ability to negotiate for raises, thankful just to have any job at all. Unions themselves may see losses as people are laid off and have even fewer resources to put into organizing workers, etc...

Even non-union protections directly by government like sick leave could be harder as businesses lobby that they can't afford to provide it at this time. (In my view, this pandemic shows we can't afford NOT to. But it's a debate to be had.)

I think people have a lot of control over how this goes, I'm not saying it's hopeless. Just saying that I don't think it's a naturally-occurring phenomenon. The Great Recession wasn't great for the labor movement.

>>jdkee+(OP)
Let's hope so, but frankly I doubt it. I see more concentrated wealth/power in fewer hands after this turns around.

I really truly hope all the light this pandemic sheds on huge systemic issues in this country are realized by the population at large and acted upon.

The sad state of healthcare in the US being the most obvious issues on the forefront, but also the decline of labor in general, rampant cronyism, and disgusting societal priorities/incentives favoring concentrated economic growth above all else. A vibrant economy is important but it's not the most important aspect of a society, not when it comes at a cost of physical/mental health and pitiful standards of living for massive portions of the population.

>>elicas+o2
Not necessarily because the monopolies themselves are then more prone to disruption.

If Amazon’s the only game in town and Amazon workers go on strike, you have problems that can’t be resolved by competitors rushing in to fill the gaps.

>>claude+43
My experience is that the more powerful the employer, the harder it is to organize.

To your direct point, this is why you organize entire industries within a given geography for service work rather than employer by employer. (It's also why there's been a big push over the last year towards sectoral bargaining.)

>>Frost1+A2
I was born in the early 90s so I don't think I don't think I'll ever understand the earlier 20th century on a personal/emotional level, but do older folks feel that some of these issues are neoliberal attitudes becoming a bit long in the tooth? I feel like they've likely resulted in a lot of growth, but the pain points of their paradigms are starting to seem really apparent to me.

I can understand how those visions of the world felt fresh a few decades after the New Deal, Keynesian economics, etc. (especially due to big events like hyperinflation or the oil shock). These days though whenever I hear a neoliberal demagogue online saying that we need to press the gas pedal of the market to the floor and it feels so tone-deaf. I can't tell if it's my lack of experience or I'm looking at the progressive era and New Deal with rose-tinted glasses.

>>jdkee+(OP)
Would have to sack 80% of congress first.

>>elicas+o2
That is fundamentally a political issue. Amazon, and Instacart and other direct to consumer business models could easily be nationalized. This event is fundamentally different that the structural issues that undergird the 2008 financial crisis. This is a supply shock followed by a demand shock, not a structural financial shock as we witnessed in 2008. Conflating the two does not do anyone any good.

>>elicas+f4
Facebook.

>>jdkee+h81
That this is a different type of shock than 2008 doesn't change the reality that things only happen if enough people work to make it happen. If you don't think a really bad path is possible where things get worse (just like a good path is possible!) then you're only fooling yourself.