With all the union hysteria going on, it’s been time to resurrect the narrative that we would all be be working 100 hours a week limbless if not for labor unions, and that all fringe benefits are a result of these champions of the working class. Does anyone know the true origin of fringe benefit?. I cannot seem to find a definitive answer. I know companies offered benefits to workers during WWII in order to compete for talent due to wage controls and labor shortages, but I can’t seem to confirm if that was in fact how the fringe benefit came to exist.
Thats what I always heard too, especially with health insurance (the wage authorities didn’t count it as a wage increase and the tax authorities didn’t count it as a tax increase). I don’t know specifics off the top of my head, but I’m sure that workers started to get some fringe benefits during the Industrial Revolution and 20s, but those related to specific industries and not the labor force at large.
Some fringe benefits come about because it is that some benefits are worth a certain amount to laborers and can be purchased in bulk for less than the marginal value to the employee by the employer. So, free soda is worth 50 cents an hour to the employee but because of his mass purchases of soda only costs 25 cents an our for the employer. The same could be true of health insurance, etc.