Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: New US Labor Militancy

Date: October 8, 2020
Host: Richard D. Wolff
Guest: John Samuelson, International President of the Transport Workers Union

Overview

This episode of Economic Update explores a new wave of labor militancy and working-class consciousness in the United States, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Host Richard D. Wolff opens with international contrasts, highlighting Geneva’s bold move on minimum wage and systemic failures in US economic crisis response. In the second half, John Samuelson offers an insider labor perspective, discussing the pandemic’s impact, rising union interest, and differences between US and European approaches to worker security.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Geneva’s Historic Minimum Wage Decision

• Geneva voters pass Europe’s highest minimum wage despite the pandemic and economic instability.

• The minimum wage: $25.16/hour, $4,453.74/month, roughly $50,000/year ([01:33]).

• Wolff contrasts this “socially constructive” response with scapegoating and division in the US and UK.

  “Geneva... passed a law, a new minimum wage law... $25.16 per hour... that's $50,000 per year is the minimum wage. Please think how different this reaction is...”
  – Wolff ([01:15])

• Anticipated business backlash: threats to relocate for lower wages.

• Wolff suggests Switzerland seize departing companies' assets for public or cooperative use—a call for worker co-ops and national interest over private.

  “If Swiss industries go, no problem... we’re going to take your office and your machines... in the national interest... and convert many... into worker co-ops...”
  – Wolff ([03:40])

2. US Government Paralysis and Urban Crisis

• Congress is deadlocked (Pelosi vs. Mnuchin), unable to agree on desperately needed aid to states and cities ([05:00]).

• Local governments can’t borrow for operating costs; face inevitable cuts to vital services during a crisis ([06:30]).

• Wolff: Such political infighting leaves the entire economy at risk—examples from the US and UK illustrate economic myopia.

  “When a country goes like this, breaks apart and they fight... these political leaders, you know what loses? The economy as a whole.”
  – Wolff ([7:55])

3. Economic Crisis, Police Brutality, and Social Fabric

• Economic hardship disproportionately damages those at the middle and bottom ([08:20]).

• Spiraling instability leads to desperate acts, sometimes criminalized; society responds with policing rather than addressing root causes.

• Example: Luther Hall, undercover Black police officer beaten by white police—tied to systemic issues, not isolated ['no excuse'] ([10:50]).

  “Give everybody a job... It's cheaper to do that...than to have an army of police... Very expensive, killing people. That's why we have Black Lives Matter.”
  – Wolff ([12:24])

4. Historical Patterns: US Response Compared to Europe

• Wolff recounts the Great Depression’s legacy: the New Deal, then decades of rollback ([13:59]).
• Suggests present-day crisis will bring its own pendulum swing—anticipating coming demands for systemic reform.

5. The Profit Motive’s Peril During Crisis

• The pandemic exposes profit-driven system’s inability to prepare for public health emergencies.
  • Lack of stockpiles for masks, ventilators: “Because it wasn't profitable.”
  • Toxic hand sanitizers on the market: a result of profit “dictating all that behavior” ([15:00]).
• Critique: The profit motive is “a very mixed blessing at best.”

Interview: John Samuelson, TWU President

6. State & Local Funding—A Labor Viewpoint

• Samuelson: Blocking funds for state and local governments is “an anti-urban agenda” by Republicans.

  "It's politics at its purest and its most vile... a comprehensive bailout must include state and municipal money. It'll kind of implode upon itself."
  – Samuelson ([18:01])

• If only transit gets bailed out, states might siphon those funds away—comprehensive approach is vital.

• Wolff: "Shortchanging [public transport] is going to be self-destructive..." ([19:24])

• Samuelson: Urban transit underpins entire regional economies; domino failures loom without intervention ([19:51]).

7. Rising Labor Consciousness and Union Resurgence

• Wolff asks about a return to labor's militant past (e.g., Mike Quill’s era).

• Samuelson sees COVID-19 as a catalyst: unions have saved lives; worker awareness and organizing is growing fast ([21:46]).

  • “Our phones are ringing off the hook… about workers trying to join the trade union movement.”
  • More virtual organizing and collective resistance: “Workers have lifted their heads off the pillow... how important this trade union movement is.”

• Samuelson predicts “a new age of workers standing up to the bosses... not going to let the bosses kill them” ([22:43]).

8. Why Pro-Union Sentiment is Rising

• Bosses’ “indifference” during COVID—failure to provide safe workplace—pushed non-union workers towards collective action.

  “Workers in unions survived much better than workers not in unions. Workers in unions were able to get access to sanitary conditions and masks...”
  – Samuelson ([23:49])

• Unionized workplaces fared better economically and in safety; this is driving rapid organizing.

9. US vs. Europe: Worker Security During Crisis

• Wolff: European governments conditioned business aid on not firing workers—unemployment barely rose.

  • “In the US we forced 50 million plus people to go file for unemployment... it didn't have to happen.” ([25:20])

• Samuelson: Europe’s long tradition of social democracy, high union density, and robust social safety nets was key.

  • US Republicans resistant to these models, but ironically, European “socialists” did more to support business and families ([26:16]).
  • Loss of employer-based health insurance in the US made crisis worse.

  "The Republicans in the United States would call the European socialists, meanwhile these socialists in Europe did so much more to support businesses and families..."
  – Samuelson ([26:45])

• Europe is smoother in recovery; the US remains “in tumult, in chaos.”

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “The minimum wage is... $25.16 per hour... $50,000 per year is the minimum wage. Please think how different this reaction is...”
  — Wolff ([01:15])

• "If Swiss industries go, no problem... we will take these over and run them as government enterprises... convert many of them into worker co-ops..."
  — Wolff ([03:40])

• “When a country... breaks apart and they fight each other... the fallout from that will affect everybody. The narrow political advantage is swamped by the social damage, and that's a sign of a system falling apart.”
  — Wolff ([07:55])

• “It's politics at its purest and its most vile... comprehensive bailout must include state and municipal money. It'll kind of implode upon itself.”
  — Samuelson ([18:01])

• “There's going to be a massive organizing boom in America. We're seeing that already... workers have come to a full understanding about how important this trade union movement is.”
  — Samuelson ([22:16])

• “Workers in unions survived much better than workers not in unions... workers are going to look around and see... and they're gonna get it, too.”
  — Samuelson ([24:10])

• “In the United States, the Republicans kick people off the payroll where you basically had to stay on the payroll in order to maintain your health benefits, where it's absolutely backwards...”
  — Samuelson ([27:00])

Timeline of Important Segments

• Geneva Minimum Wage & International Comparison: [00:40] – [04:30]
• US/British Political Dysfunction: [04:40] – [07:55]
• Pandemic, Policing, and Social Breakdown: [08:20] – [12:30]
• History: US Capitalism’s 20th & 21st Century Pendulum: [13:59] – [15:00]
• Profit Motive Critique: [15:00] – [16:22]
• Interview – John Samuelson Introduction: [16:27] – [17:47]
• State & Local Funding Crisis: [17:47] – [19:51]
• Labor Movement Renewal & COVID-19 Catalysts: [21:46] – [24:35]
• US vs. Europe Worker Protection: [24:35] – [27:53]

Tone and Takeaways

Wolff and Samuelson maintain a forthright, critical, and urgent tone—calling out systemic flaws and failures, while highlighting the necessity of collective action and public investment. Their arguments are grounded in comparative analysis and historical context, calling listeners to reject ideological distractions and embrace pragmatic, solidarity-based solutions to labor and economic crises.

For those who haven’t listened:
This episode delivers a compelling mix of economic critique, labor history, and on-the-ground labor movement insights. It’s a call to recognize new stirrings of worker militancy and solidarity amid crisis, urging listeners to learn from both historical US examples and present-day European policies. Samuelson’s firsthand experience, paired with Wolff’s incisive analysis, paints a vivid picture of why and how labor militancy is now rising again in America.