Angus Forbes
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 261
- Location
- Raleigh, NC, USA
Myth: in the good old days, employers cared about their employees rather than money, and the workers were loyal to their employers. In fact, they worked together, like a family, unlike now when it's all about money.
Fact: there has never been more conflict between employers and employees in Britain than during the '20s. The British economy slumped and tensions ran high.
I quote the National Archives' home page for a summary:
The golden era of employment in the United States ran from about the end of WWII until about 1980, when many major corporations were indeed like families, employers were loyal to employees, and employees were loyal to the employer. Prime examples included AT&T, IBM, and General Electric, especially for salaried people. IBM, for example, did not lay off any employees even through the great depression, and assured each employee of stable, long-term employment with high wages and generous benefits (this was savagely ended circa 1994 by Lou Gerstner, who came to IBM from the cigarette industry). Before Gerstner, Jack Welch worked the same magic on GE, brutally ending the era of civilized employment within GE, and by precedent ending it even for many people outside GE. Bell Labs, which was part of AT&T, was good beyond belief to its employees for most of its existence (up until the breakup of AT&T in 1984), and in return became arguably the best research lab in human history.