A century ago, there was a need for a vast number of laborers in a particularly low-status, ill-treated, and rather poorly paid line of work. Society, as it was configured at the time, could not function without them because so many new innovations that were driving the economy forward depended on what they produced. Those were coal miners.
Today, there is a need for a vast number of laborers in a particularly low-status, ill-treated, and rather poorly paid line of work. Society, as it is presently configured, cannot function without them because so many innovation that are driving the economy forward depend on their services. These are material handlers, or warehouse workers.
Are warehouse workers the new “slave base” of the economy, that lower rung that the higher echelons cannot function without but who are treated with disdain and abused on a regular basis? Will unionizing them pave the way for a resurgence of the labor movement?