His Bold Solutions To Burning Issues

Bernie Sanders has said it all! Everything, which HR and Industrial Relations professionals have been saying. He has said it in his book ‘It’s Ok To Be Angry About Capitalism.’ And here are my thoughts and feelings about it, and I am not reviewing this book.

I was following the United Auto Workers strike . Bernie Sanders openly supported the strikers, and finally President Biden did it too. I read the Senator Bernie Sanders’ story in The Guardian captioned ‘The United Auto Workers may soon strike. Every American should support them’. His article was quite bold with the subtitle ‘Workers at the big three carmakers earn less now in real dollars than they did 15 years ago – as their CEOs make more and more. Their fight is everyone’s fight.’

He wrote: ‘Unbelievably, over the last 20 years, the average wage for American autoworkers has decreased by 30% after adjusting for inflation. The reality is that autoworkers at the big three are earning less today than they did 15 years ago.’ (Unquote) (Added 13Oct2024) On paper, Britain’s tax system seems relatively progressive, with a headline rate of 47% for those earning over £3m. In reality, nearly a quarter of this ultra-wealthy group pays less than 12% in taxes. ( The Guardian view on taxing the rich: essential for economic fairness and growth – Editorial )

This is not a unique situation. It exists in many countries, including India. Recently I asked an eminent researcher from TISS if the workers real wages of Indian workers have increased in the last ten years. He answered, after taking two days to crunch data, that the real wages have decreased.

Bernie Sanders knows the pain of the workers; he grew up in a family with modest means; his father was a paint salesman. The trials and tribulations of workers’ lives resonate with him. That, I believe, is the genesis of this book ‘It’s Ok To Be Angry About Capitalism.’

Bernie Sanders makes his stance clear in the introduction to the book. ‘The uber-capitalist economic system that has taken hold in the United States in recent years, propelled by uncontrollable greed and contempt for human decency, is unjust. It is grossly immoral.’ (He uses the word ‘uber’ to mean ‘to a great or extreme degree,’ he is not referring to the Uber company.) This is the story of every country. Neoliberal capitalism has done it to all.

Bernie Sanders’ central issue is crisply spelt out in a paragraph captioned ‘Economic Rights Are Human Rights’: ‘One of the fundamental and ongoing debates in politics has to do with the role that government should play in our lives. And that discussion must necessarily involve the issue of human rights.’

The book offers a blue-print for progressive change – both economic and political, a glimpse of it comes in the chapter provocatively titled ‘Billionaires Should Not Exist.’ ‘The very existence of billionaires is not just about who has the money and who doesn’t. It is also a manifestation of a corrupt political system.’ (Well, ask any Indian!) He proceeds to explain, with supporting data, how ‘unfettered capitalism is not just creating economic misery for the majority of Americans, it is destroying our health, our well-being, our democracy and our planet.’

The gains of liberalisation are in the coffers of the wealthy, not in the bank accounts of a commoner. The income gap between the wealthy and a commoner has unbelievably widened.

Quick research on Google tells me that ‘In 2023, there were around 748 billionaires in the United States. This was a slight increase from the previous year’s total of 704, and a significant increase from the 66 billionaires in 1990.’

How many Indians are billionaires? ‘As of April 2023, India has 167 billionaires, which put the country third in the world, after the United States and China,’ informs Google. A billionaire is one who has a minimum wealth of Rs 8403 Cr!

Bernie Sanders’ recommends higher tax rates for the billionaires. Donald Trump had reduced the taxes on the rich. In 2018 the richest 400 families in the US paid an average effective tax rate of 23% while the bottom half of American households paid a rate of 24.2%. My economist friends approve higher tax rates for the rich.

He suggests that strengthening trade unions is the right way forward and says that ‘unfettered capitalism will never accomplish the goal of bringing dignity to work.’

Bernie Sanders says four steps must be taken, two in the short term and two in the long term in order to ease the immediate pain of working-class Americans: Short term steps, the first step is ‘Create Full employment economy in which every worker is entitled to a decent job.’

I am reminded of seminal work done by Anubrotto Kumar Roy popularly known as Dunu Roy; he has thought deeply about the issue of right to work. Read his article ‘Right to Work’ More Important Than ‘Minimum Income Guarantee’?

The second step is ‘Strengthen the trade union movement, empower workers and make unions a genuine counterbalance to corporate power.’

The long-term steps are to remove barriers to worker ownership and increase presence of workers on the boards of corporations that are privately owned.

Now let us do a reality check, look at the developments at the Samsung in Chennai. The only demand the Union has been that the Samsung should recognise it as the representative Union. The leftist union is fighting a battle on principle. In a way it has challenged the status quo, and policies of the Government.

Here are some excerpts from Frontline Article which carries interview of Mr. A. Soundararajan, CITU Tamil Nadu secretary.

Q: Many factories around Samsung in Sriperumbudur have trade unions. What new challenges have emerged while forming this union? How has the government responded to the workers’ protest?

A: We’ve faced the same issues elsewhere: companies refusing to allow unions, CITU, or “outsiders”. Samsung is known for its global “no-union policy”. They tried to break a strike in South Korea, but workers prevailed and established a union. In India, Samsung has plants in Noida and Chennai. They’re determined to prevent unions here, resorting to aggressive methods.

Q: What role does the Samsung workers’ protest play in the broader Tamil Nadu workers’ movement?

A: This strike is about workers’ constitutional right to form associations under Article 19(1). It’s not just about wages, but about collective bargaining rights. The government is blatantly supporting the company. We were shocked when three Ministers behaved like Samsung spokesmen during discussions.

This is the stark ground reality, and it is not a surprise why 2024 ITUC Global Rights Index rates India at 5. That means, ‘Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights, workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices.’ Incidentally, the same report rates USA as well as UK at 4 which means ‘Systematic Violation of Rights.’

And lastly, I will write about the caption of one of his chapters, it is ‘Which Side Are You On?’ I discovered (I was not familiar with English songs) that it is a worker union song. The title of his chapter, I felt, is apt when you read the lyrics.

“Oh, workers can you stand it?/ Oh, tell me how you can/ Will you be a lousy scab/ Or will you be a man?”

Scab means a worker who refuses to join a labour union, a union member who refuses to strike or returns to work before a strike has ended, a worker who accepts employment or replaces a union worker during a strike obviously a strike-breaker.

“Don’t scab for the bosses/ Don’t listen to their lies/ Us poor folks haven’t got a chance/ Unless we organize/ Which side are you on?”

The arguments in this book are powerful, backed by a lot of data, and the language is one of conveying urgency. Indeed, they deserves immediate attention. Uber-Capitalism is not just America’s problem. It is India’s too. It is of several countries. That is why this book, and its arguments appeal to me, and surely, they will appeal to any Indian. I would recommend it to all students of HR and Industrial Relations, all academicians, and every working person irrespective of status.

Salute, Bernie Sanders, for bringing out this book!

Vivek S Patwardhan

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others/ All work copyrighted.