Regular commenter KitchenSink, a principal, sparked an interesting debate in the comments section by making this claim (emphasis added):
The muckraking days are over, people, no one is losing fingers in factory accidents and kids aren’t working long hours in windowless rooms. At least not in this country. The key labor battles have been won, and teachers have multiple avenues for dealing with injustice.
Ceolaf, equally regular commenter, challenged (again emphasis mine):
Clearly, the key workplace safety battles have been won. Perhaps the key child labor battles have been won. But it is not clear that work dignity, living wage, healthcare and retirement security are anywhere near won. In fact, there seem to be rollbacks in those areas. I would argue that there remain many key labor battle to be won, or even re-won.
New York City teachers have seen their salaries jump 43% under Mayor Bloomberg. But does that mean they have achieved “work dignity”? Discuss. (Bonus points for providing examples from your own experience!)