What you should get out of your 40-hour work-week

Oklahoma state motto. Photo provided.

by Dustin Woods
Visionary Columnist

Labor Omnia Vincit, or “work conquers all.” It’s the Oklahoma state motto and is a great example of the progressive socialist origins of the state.

But this Labor Day I can’t help but think we have forgotten the wisdom of these words in the pursuit of such ideals as capitalism and religious liberty.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, there are 22 states (and D.C.) which prohibit private employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. For workers in the 28 other states in the union, we can be fired just for loving someone of the same gender. 

Speaking of gender, only 21 states prohibiting private employment discrimination based on one’s gender identity. Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas have zero protections for workers who are discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Where will we the workers of this nation choose to go from here? Missouri recently voted to strike down its “right-to-work” law, a roundabout way of saying you have the right to get protection from a union without contributing to that union. 

The politically motivated proletariat of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas could all decide to take a page from the book of their Missourian counterparts and take active steps to further their interests.

But why stop at “right-to-work”? Can we not imagine even greater possibilities for our lives beyond our immediate needs for nondiscrimination? 

According to Business Insider, the 40-hour work week became the standard for a wide range of businesses about 78 years ago. We’ve gone almost 80 years without a single increase in the amount of time in a regular work week a worker receives to progress their own lives, build their own families, or further their communities. 

We have certainly had momentous shifts in employment practices in the last 80 years. Some 320 years ago, my great-grandfather was able to work a full-time job and support an entire family while my great-grandmother raised six children. 

Now you can’t afford to live on minimum wage without having two jobs. It used to be there was a social contract in society that if you were going to be able to profit off the labor of another you would ensure the laborer was able to have a comfortable life, be able to have a family and retire while they would still be able bodied enough to enjoy their time off. 

This unwritten agreement was tossed out the window in search of higher profits for shareholders along with any real concern for the lives or livelihood of those who create the profit.

The real tragedy is a great many of those people who are working their lives away for minimal wages have fought so hard to continue a system keeping them on the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. Their hopes are they may one day miraculously end up at the top of that ladder.

There is an unlimited number of advances in workers’ rights we could champion. A maximum disparity in highest paid worker wage versus lowest. A 32-hour work week. An entire month off every year on top of time off for sickness. 

These simple requests could be possible if we decide we all deserve better lives. It could be a reality if we just remembered: “labor conquers all.”
We can have workplaces where we are not discriminated against us for loving someone of our gender, but we have to organize workers under bigger banners than just the LGBT+ rainbow one. 

Copyright The Gayly – September 3, 2018 @ 1 p.m. CDT.