Pay is terrible in Asheville because there’s often no real protection for workers’ rights. To fix that, this city needs unions.
Above: The rights assured to all workers under federal law, a key part of what unions help to enforce.
Asheville has a wage problem, and a bad one. We’re making national lists as one the most unaffordable areas in the country. Wages for the service workers that make up a large share of our economy are far below the living wage for the area or even the proposed new minimum wage of $10.10 an hour.
Previously, I’ve noted that low wages will break Asheville because they hurt the people that form the foundation of our economy and future.
The seemingly bizarre paradox is that even as mainstream publications acknowledge that we have a pay problem here, our economy’s supposedly growing by leaps and bounds. Asheville, in all its quirky glory, is a more attractive destination than ever.
That money’s going somewhere.
Thing is this situation isn’t bizarre at all, or that hard to understand.
Business owners don’t pay better wages because they don’t have to. They do so because an unorganized workforce, desperation and an ability to ignore the few rights that do exist mean that they’re unlikely to face any negative consequences for doing so.
This is possible because we still live in the least-unionized part of the least-unionized state in the country. Power unchecked becomes power abused, and that applies as much in the workplace as in the halls of government.
It also, progressive illusions aside, applies in Asheville, where labor rights are all too often considered forbidden from serious discussion.
Contrary to popular belief it’s absolutely, perfectly legal to organize and join a union in North Carolina. Those rights are protected by federal law.
Without a union workers’ livelihoods — even at a highly profitable company — will usually come in last to the owners buying a new house, opening another location or taking that trip to learn the meaning of compassion from mystics in Nepal. The exceptions will continue to be just that; exceptions, and all it takes is a bad day or a change of ownership to throw all that into doubt. So far, attempts in Asheville to address this have mostly relied on convincing people that it’s good idea to do the right thing and pay better wages, and to shop at businesses that do so.
That’s laudable, and those efforts deserve support, but right now overwhelming pressure remains on the other side: wages stay terrible because it’s easy to have them stay terrible.
This isn’t a new situation, sadly. It’s one that’s happened throughout history. It’s the reason we have Labor Day (this one or the more widely-celebrated May 1 variety). After Grover Cleveland called in federal troops to brutally suppress railroad workers’ demands for better conditions, the holiday was part of the public backlash.
Fortunately millions of Americans, including in the mountains, kept up the fight in the face of violence, terror and intimidation. Thanks to their sacrifices and fighting spirit some real strides were made, conditions improved and wages finally started rising. By countering owners’ money with numbers and organization, unions ensured that a better life for millions became a real possibility.
Asheville’s not exactly seeing the street clashes of those days, but our economy has a huge number of underpaid workers in increasingly precarious positions while a supposedly growing economy ignores them. There’s plenty of desperation, and no amount of natural beauty makes up for pay too paltry to afford a decent life.
Without the kind of organized power a union brings, even the rights the law is supposed to protect can prove hard to enforce. For example, you can talk about how much you’re paid with your co-workers, ask for better and organize to bring your issues up publicly, all without any retaliation from your employer.
If anyone’s ever told you that you can’t, they’re either severely mistaken or lying. Your right to do all this, and more, is protected by federal law, and exists regardless of if a state, like North Carolina, is “right to work.” It’s also possible to join a union here — there have been unions in WNC for over a century — and if you have concerns about your workplace, now’s a damn good time to call one.
Fortunately, it looks like public opinion on unions is finally turning around. That’s good, especially for Asheville. The fact is, I have never seen supposedly progressive employers drop their facade faster than when asked, even politely, about wages or working conditions. I have also personally witnessed a union stand up for my rights and those of my co-workers. Fighting an employer is never easy, but without their help and commitment, we would have had no protection at all.
With unions there’s more assurance that some of Asheville’s prosperity will go to the people who actually make this city possible. With unions, there’s a check on the often-terrible decisions business owners make when they don’t have to listen to feedback or consider the consequences of their actions.
Rights don’t emerge from nowhere, and they’re never granted by goodwill. Rights exist when enough people protect them with enough ferocity that continuing to violate them becomes a really bad idea.
The right to earn enough to live on, to have a future, to be free from harassment and the fear of being fired on a whim are basic. Without them our city is headed for some very dark times.
Fortunately, alternatives exist. More power for Asheville’s workforce — the people that make the city possible — is a must, and there is power in a union.
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