I remember the 50's as a time of serial recessions that ultimately caused my father to give up carpentry and become a public school custodian.
I remember in 1965 my father was diagnosed with TB in his lung, and being out of work for about 4 months, his hospitalization, which included removal of part of his lung was in a state run TB sanitorium about 30 miles away.
The union contract he worked under for 5-6 years had let him, as a janitor, accumulate sick days with full-pay, and he had nearly 100 of them available at the time he needed them. After 4 months of being out of work, he actually had his job waiting for him, he wasn't forced into bankruptcy and the mortgage was never foreclosed.
I can't imagine that scenario of events ending as well in 2013. Granted it's likely that rather than surgery and confinement in a sanatorium a person with TB would be given pharmaceuticals and sent home with check-ups from public health nurses to be sure medications were being taken.
Then about 8 years later he fell off of a ladder while working on something in the ceiling of a school gymnasium. He broke his right femur in multiple places resulting in surgery and a weeks long hospitalization while in traction...once again, he had sick-days available, once again his job was waiting for him after it all, and once again because of adequate employer paid medical insurance he and my mother weren't financially devastated by hospital bills.
The union contracts he worked under would have to have been negotiated and agreed upon by R' on the School Board since the district's politics were dominated by republicans.
I can't say it's just a matter of unions, it was also partly due to a friendlier economy. The mortgage payment on the house was ~$27 per month, and even on a janitor's pay, it represented less than a week's work.
Life wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible, for a working class family, and the greater respect for workers by all parties made a big difference in life.
= new reply since forum marked as read