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Today, let's start our
little look at history.

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We've actually
been here before is

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sort of the theme
I want to develop,

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because I want us to put us
back as if you are entering

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the labor force around 1930.

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You've just come off what
we call the roaring '20s.

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And while you should feel better
because the economy was going

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so well in the 1920s
and profits were up

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and the stock market
was at record levels,

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you probably don't
feel very optimistic.

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Because despite
all this good news,

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family income was falling
in the 1920s as it is today.

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Most of the income
went to the top 10%,

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just as it is today
in our society.

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And then of course
1929 comes along,

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and we get the Great
Stock Market Crash,

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and everything starts
to fall to pieces.

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At that point, over
the next several years,

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if you were entering the labor
force or an existing, more

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mature worker, you were
expected to lose between 8%

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to 20% percent of your income.

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If you got unemployed, over
25% of the labor force,

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you were really in dire straits.

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There was steady loss of income,
especially for those people

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who were working
in small businesses

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or working on the farm.

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Well, this created all
kinds of pressures,

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and it led to the election
of a new president.

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President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt

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was elected in 1932 with
pressure from the population

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to bring us out
of the depression

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and find new ways to protect
workers' jobs and incomes.

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Well, he had quite
a job on his hands--

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so many people out
on the streets,

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looking for a job, homeless.

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A new term was
invented, something

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called Hooverville,
people pitching

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tents in our major
cities because they

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had nowhere else to live.

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The Great Dust Bowl occurred, so
people from Oklahoma and Texas

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started to migrate
with their families

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to California in search
of a better life.

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The Grapes of Wrath,
written to describe

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the plight of these
people who were moving

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to try to find a better job
and a better opportunity

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was probably the best
selling book about that time.

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And so something was needed.

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Well, we actually did get some
change in national policy.

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This is a picture of
the first woman cabinet

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member in the United
States, Frances Perkins,

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who was chosen to be
the Secretary of Labor

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by President Roosevelt.
But she warned him.

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When he interviewed her
about the job, she said,

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Mr. President, you don't want
to choose me as a secretary

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unless you're willing to think
about new forms of unemployment

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insurance and minimum wages
and social security for people

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when they retire.

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Well, Roosevelt said,
that's exactly why

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I want you for this job.

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And so we did see what was
called the New Deal come

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to pass in the 1930s, with a
lot of work with the Congress

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and with the Roosevelt
administration.

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And building on many
of the innovations that

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occurred at state and
local government levels

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in the previous 20 years, we got
much of the labor legislation

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that still is the
foundation for labor policy

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today, starting with
unemployment insurance.

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Unemployment insurance
was first put in place

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to try to provide temporary
assistance for people

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who were out of work who would
get called back to work when

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the economy got better.

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Well, that worked
for a long time,

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but today almost nobody
who gets unemployed

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expects to be called back.

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Job loss is permanent, and so we
need to update the unemployment

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insurance system.

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It's not just to provide
temporary financial assistance

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for people out of work.

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We need to help
them find new jobs

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and get new training
opportunities

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and assistance to move to
where the jobs happen to be.

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In 1938, we passed the first
minimum wage and overtime

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legislation, called the Fair
Labor Standards Act. $0.25

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an hour was the minimum
wage at that time.

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That has moved up now to
$7.25, but the bad news

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is it hasn't kept
up with inflation.

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So we are worse off
today at that level

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than we were in the mid 1960s.

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And we need to update
the minimum wage

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at the national level to keep
up with the rate of inflation

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and the growing cost of living.

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The same with rules
around overtime--

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through the '40s, '50s, and '60s
over 60% of salaried workers

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were still eligible
for overtime.

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Today that number is
down to about 10%.

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And so we've got to
find ways to allow

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low-wage salaried workers,
assistant managers

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at McDonald's and other places,
to be able to get overtime

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if they're working 50 and 60
hours a week, as many of them

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are.

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The National Labor
Relations Act provided

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for collective bargaining
legislation in the 1935 act.

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That law promised
workers a right

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to gain access to a union
and collective bargaining,

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and it worked quite
well for many years.

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But today it's
broken beyond repair.

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Today if an employer wants
to resist a worker's right

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to organize, over
90% of the time

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the employer is going to win.

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And the workers
will be frustrated.

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So we need to find new
ways to modernize that law

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to provide workers with
the voice that they want.

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We passed the Social
Security Act in 1935

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that provided a retirement
income for all workers,

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based on the hours
that they worked

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in the labor force over
the years and the salaries

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that they earned.

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And that law still provides
a good retirement income

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for most workers.

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But that law, too,
needs to be updated,

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because we're living
longer; we're not

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able to cover all of the
debts of the next generation,

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and therefore, we're going to
have to tweak that law a bit

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in order to avoid going
bankrupt with social security

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over the next 20 years.

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All of these laws need
to be updated to catch up

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with the changing workforce and
the changing nature of work,

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but perhaps we
have to go farther.

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Maybe it's also time to
pass some new legislation,

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to recognize that today
it takes two working

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parents to earn a decent
living for their families.

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So maybe it's time
for the United States

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to become the last country
in the developed world

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to provide some
form of paid family

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leave if we have to stay home
and take care of a sick child

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or take care of an elderly
parent that needs help.

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It's time to modernize our
labor and employment relations

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policies.

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So, yes, we've been there
before in the 1930s.

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And we can do it again if
you put your creative ideas

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and your collective
energy together

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to modernize employment
policies to fit today's

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economy and today's workforce.