CommentsTHE DOCTOR IS IN - A long time ago, shortly after I finished my Dermatology residency, one of my colleagues jokingly (but accurately) referred to me as a "corporate socialist". I did and still do take that as a compliment.
Employers have a role--keep you employed and keep your income stream and benefit stream coming.
Unions have a role, too--make sure that your income and benefit stream are sufficient, and appropriate, to the amount you need (and deserve!) while you make your employer more wealthy.
Right now, both employers and unions are stepping up as the Great Resignation and the Great Retirement becomes ever more powerful in our "we're fed up with being asked to do more, and we need to have a life after COVID".
Much of the reason why--even when it might not always make sense--so much of America is pushing away from the "hunkering down" mode of the COVID-19 pandemic is that they're burned out and want a life back.
(As a physician, I can also state that Pfizer keeps pushing its old vaccine when even the New England Journal of Medicine is stating that the second booster has significantly less benefit than previous vaccinations, which really complicates things.
At least Moderna is keeping up with a newer vaccine that covers Omicron, similar to the approach that annual flu vaccines change to keep up.)
But unions are on the rise, with Starbucks and Amazon and Apple jumping into the unionization of modern America.
Not hard to figure out here: as the rich/poor divide ever widens, the middle-class want to stay middle-class and not get poorer than they already are with inflation and the wild cost of buying a home.
Of course, Americans entirely ignorant about Fiscal Literacy (yes, that's a thing) and basic economics keep electing those who pretend or act like they're helping the ordinary Joe/Jane American...while enhancing the wealth and income divide of those who are powerful and influential.
Like it or not, this is particularly a problem in blue states where so much of the taxpayer/worker base wants someone ELSE to take care of them. The problem is that when you demand someone ELSE take care of you...they'll "take care of you" alright.
As in the enriching of themselves based on your ignorance of fiscal reality and economics, while throwing you a few crumbs to make you feel secure and "taken care of".
Unions, when they behave well and collaborate with management, can incentivize, and encourage productivity while making damn sure that the profits are shared by the workers.
Employers, when they behave well and collaborate with their employees, can also can incentivize and encourage productivity while making damn sure that the profits are shared by the workers.
And we've seen both unions and employers gaslight the begeezus out of the workers while saying they're protecting those workers.
If Amazon (which, to be honest, has exploded with wealth based both on its amazing consumer-focused operations and the COVID-19 pandemic) has to deal with employees who want their minimum wage to go up from roughly $16/hour to $30/hour right NOW, they'll find ways to outsource jobs, push for automated and robot-focused labor in ways that'll make our heads spin.
So the need to ask for paid leave, initiatives to work harder to get more, and have higher 401(k) matching and benefits...good.
Defying the laws of economics and inflation, and also keeping people employed based on seniority rather than productivity...bad.
Employers really DO deserve the thrashing they're getting with the Great Resignation and the Great Retirement, and there are just too many who think they're paying their employees just FINE, and at the median or whatever lying, gaslighting metric they bandy about...
...but arguably the carrot is better than the stick, so that offering employers tax incentives to help their worker might be the most effective approach to making sure that "trickle down" economics do really lead to a trickling down (and with both laws and transparency that ensure that trickling down).
Right now, we're all being told we're "being taken care of" by our employers, our unions, and our government. But they're "taking care of us" all right.
Because never in our existence have politicians, unions, and employers been led by a bunch of professional liars and B.S. artists.
And the only one who will TRULY EVER take care of you is that person you see in the mirror every morning while you muster the ability to go back to work and acquire the necessities (or even the luxuries) of our modern world.
(Kenneth S. Alpern, M.D, is a dermatologist who has served in clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties, and is a proud husband and father to two cherished children and a wonderful wife. He was termed out of the Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) twice after two stints as a Board member for 9, years and is also a Board member of the Westside Village Homeowners Association. He previously co-chaired the MVCC Outreach, Planning, and Transportation/Infrastructure Committees for 10 years. He was previously co-chair of the CD11 Transportation Advisory Committee, the grassroots Friends of the Green Line (which focused on a Green Line/LAX connection), and the nonprofit Transit Coalition His latest project is his fictional online book entitled The Unforgotten Tales of Middle-Earth and can be reached at [email protected]. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Dr. Alpern.)
