This video was made during the Great Resignation. Watching it now it is interesting to see how many of the points are still true and how little has changed for the American worker.
They’re calling it the Great Resignation.
Millions of Americans are out of work. But unlike the Great Recession and the Great Depression. This isn’t from companies laying off employees when times are hard. It is employees leaving companies when conditions are bad.
A minimum wage who's buying power peaked all the way back in the 1970s.
Food, housing, transportation all getting more expensive as the years tick by.
A shrinking middle class.
Unions losing their power and fading away.
Workers are producing more but being paid less.
For decades workers have tried to illuminate this plight. They have picketed for change. When corporations did nothing, they turned to the politicians. The same ones who continually praised the blue collars, praised the teachers, praised the front line workers.
But that praise was shown to be hollow.
Some claimed it was better to let people suffer than to lend a helping hand. Believing that a small amount of money would sap away all desire to work, to build a career, to get ahead, to reach for the elusive American dream.
What happened when those benefits ended? More Americans quit their jobs.
Businesses complained that workers were being greedy. Asking for wages that were too high, benefits that were too much, and flexibility that simply couldn’t be obliged.
These companies seemed to suggest that not being the ones to hold all of the power was capitalism failing. But this is capitalism at its best. Businesses have an excessive supply of low paying, hard jobs. But people aren’t willing to do that work for that pay.
It is a workers' economy.
Businesses have no choice but to offer more. To give workers what they need and what they want.
The companies who accept this reality will quickly get back to full production and pull ahead. Those who resist will fall behind, will struggle to catch back up, and may even fail.
Fair pay.
A better work life balance.
Avenues for career advancement and proper benefits.
An adequate standard of living in exchange for a solid day’s work.
Is that really so much to ask?
The Great Resignation