The Great Resignation Shows What Empowered Workers Really Look Like

Some politicians insist that workers are so beleaguered governments should push them into labor unions and mandate a national $15 per hour minimum wage. But then economic and cultural conditions largely fueled by reactions to COVID-19 spurred an enormous shift in the relative clout of employees and their bosses. In a "Great Resignation" people are quitting jobs in huge numbers in search of better pay, improved conditions, and respectful treatment. Forget the myth of the oppressed worker; while that's true in some circumstances, we now have a reminder that power is relative to the conditions of the moment, and that people collecting paychecks can have as much leverage as those paying them.