Introduction
According to Henry George, the author of “Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy”, the advancement in technology and industrialization that was experienced in the 19th Century widened the gap that existed between the rich and the poor. It is ironical that instead of technology and industry alleviating the suffering that human experiences, it worsened the conditions. On the other hand, John A. Fosum’s “Labor Relations: Development, Structure, Process” talks of the labor relations. Both authors have discussed labor laws that this paper will review. While George proposed a land value tax law, Fossum has touched on two public sector labor laws.
Discussing and Relating Henry George’s and John Fossum’s works on the Labor Laws
In his book, George concentrated a lot on the value of land and how this value was influenced by the advancement in technology and also social advances. With the rise of industrialization, the land was obviously expected to rise in demand. Eventually, landowners were expected to raise the value of land that was on demand. The rent on public services was also expected to be higher based on the quality of these services. The overall result of the rise in these charges was the decrease in the wealth that was set aside for labor. The author saw crisis ahead. The crisis involved enterprise facing depression that could have entailed a rise in the rate of unemployment, poverty, and foreclosures among other serious effects. For this reason, George came up with a proposal that could have prevented the occurrence of the crisis, especially unemployment and poverty. One proposal was the introduction of a single tax on land values. Under this law, a land value tax was to be charged on the annual value of land that was held as private property (George, 2005).
George proposed that this tax be set to a very high rate so that charging other taxes would be unnecessary. This meant that there would be no taxes on labor and production. By not charging labor and production, the benefits attained from investing in public services such as transportation would have greatly increased. In Progress and Poverty, George indicates how the law "single tax on land value" would have greatly helped the labor when technology ad industrialization was significantly advancing. Landowners would have been forced to utilize the land in an effective manner. For this reason, the demand for labor would have risen, and wealth would eventually be created (George, 2005).
In “Poverty to Labor Relations Development, Structure, and Process”, John A. Fossum mentions two notable public sector labor laws. The laws are the federal labor relation law and the state labor laws. The Federal Labor Relations Act was enacted in 1978, and it establishes the employees’ collective bargaining rights. The law applies to the employees who work for the United States federal government. On the other hand, the State Labor Laws, as a body of law mediates the duties and responsibilities of workers or employees, employers, and the labor unions in the US. The state labor laws also cater for the collective labor rights and the employment law. According to Fossum (2015), the state labor laws and the federal laws define and shape the rights and the responsibilities that the employers and the trade unions have in the process of employee representation and also in the collective bargaining. Fossum continues to say that for the practice of labor relations to be effective, there should be a contract that is negotiated and agreed upon by both parties (Fossum, 2015).
Comparing the proposed law that George put forward and the two laws discussed by Fossum, it is clear that both can harmonize the labor relations. According to George, a land value tax can guarantee workers their rights and fair wages because land owners will be ready to utilize their land at whatever cost. On the other hand, the two public sector labor laws discussed by Fossum guarantee employees their rights to fair treatment and wages through collective bargaining and fair representation in the trade unions. While The public sector labor laws directly advocate for workers' rights in a direct way, land value tax seemed an indirect way of advocating for workers' rights.
Conclusion
The paper has reviewed three labor laws by looking at the works of two authors namely Henry George and John A. Fossum. Henry George did his work in the wake of the industrial revolution while the work of Fossum seems contemporary. George proposed a land value tax law so as to guarantee employees their rights at a time when the disparity between the poor and the rich was widening. On the other hand, Fossum discusses the two public sector labor laws namely the federal labor relation law and the state labor laws. The two authors discuss labor laws that are affecting employees’ welfare.
References
Fossum, J. A. (2015). Labor relations: Development, structure, process. Dubuque : McGraw- Hill Education.
George, H. (2005). Progress and poverty. New York, NY: Cosimo Inc.
