My grandmother Lil (Mom Mom) was, as many children of the depression were, tough as fucking nails. A hard life as a young woman, made her often pretty impenetrable as older one. However, there was one thing for which always she had a soft spot: Lord + Taylor. Good golly, did that woman love that store.
Lil worked in the handbag department of Lord + Taylor for 40 years. To this day my fondest memories of her and of my entire childhood were when she’d take me shopping for clothes. It was like walking around Buckingham Palace with Queen Elizabeth. Everyone loved her, and they treated me like a little prince. She knew everyone - their lives, their families, their ailments, their problems - from the guard at the front to the lady who ran the boys department. The manager of the store called her “the heart of this place.”
She was married to her husband Jules (Pop Pop) for 60+ years. I couldn’t tell you which she loved more, but I think even he knew it was pretty darn close. Lil passed away a long time ago. And I’m just glad she didn’t live to see what’s happened to her beloved company since.
I’m sorry to say that for the most part, love stories like Lil and Lord + Taylor are a thing of the past. Those of us Gen X and older were raised with the notion you could get a job at a company and spend the rest of your life there - and if you did, it would be a mutually beneficial relationship.
Unions and pensions helped ensure that the marriages were codified with a foundation of safety and protection. As the 20th Century wound down, however, the capitalist bedrock on which these long marriages were built, crumbled. Our corporate spouses cheated on us, looking for more and more sexy profits for themselves, and less and less security for the employee partners they once promised loyalty.
The C-Suites of America have come to see their relationships with their workforce as a marriage of inconvenience, enjoying the fruits of their labor, while keeping ALL the juice for themselves.
From 1978-2020, US labor productivity rose 62%; average pay of US CEOs increased 1322%; and wages for US workers rose just 17.5%.
The typical US CEO now makes 351 times as much as the average American worker.
If you think big tech stands out from this trend, think again. Apple workers walked out on Christmas Day to protest being treated like an old iPhone 6. When Google workers tried to unionize, the organizers were fired. Amazon had to be put in a legal headlock by the Federal Labor Relations Board to stop them from Union busting.
Lest you think “well workers just aren’t keeping up with the times…” It’s not them, it’s their bosses who failed to keep up: 72% of CEOs fear getting canned, bc 94% know their company needs drastic change, yet just 54% think that change can happen. Difference is, when a worker gets axed for Unionizing, they get bubkes, while even epically failed ex-CEOs get golden parachutes, board seats and more chances to fail up again.
Lil’s husband Jules was a mechanic. He ran a service station for 40 years. While he had to deal with Sunoco & Texaco, he did not work FOR them. When he was ready to retire, one of the mechanics he hired as a kid, took him on and paid him to fix cars until he died - happily covered in grease. Meanwhile, since Lil and Jules passed, Lord + Taylor was mismanaged into bankruptcy, and traded around among VC and hedge funds like a used car - its employees left holding the handbag.
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