Don't Short-Circuit American Jobs ( UNION card is the straightest ticket into the middle class)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.timesdispatch.com/cva/ric/opinion/oped.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2007-06-18-0056.html

Don't Short-Circuit American Jobs

Monday, Jun 18, 2007 - 12:09 AM

By JAMES LEAMAN
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST

JAMES LEAMAN Virginia AFL-CIO While the haves and have-mores of this country are making out like bandits, working people are falling by the wayside.

The economic expansion that began in late 2001 has resulted in faster productivity growth -- but the workers who are producing more are not being paid more. In fact, real income for the typical family is lower today than in 2000.

But not everyone has it bad. A recent analysis of IRS data found that the top 300,000 American earners now make as much for their labors as all of the bottom 150 million of their fellow citizens combined. The same day that study was released, electronics retailer Circuit City delivered the punch line by firing 3,400 of its highest-paid store employees on the grounds that they were making too much money. And then Circuit City announced a second round of layoffs affecting some 800 workers -- including 200 here in Richmond.

This is what has become of the American dream -- and it makes clear why we need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

The Employee Free Choice Act, which passed the U.S. House of Representatives by a substantial margin and is now pending in the U.S. Senate, will go a long way toward reducing the grip of this middle-class squeeze by restoring workers' freedom to bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.

A UNION card is the straightest ticket into the middle class. Union workers earn an average of 30 percent more than workers without a union. They are far more likely to have health insurance and retirement benefits. And unlike the former workers at Circuit City, they cannot be summarily fired for the sole crime of earning a decent living.

FULL article at link.

[Robson]

1. Tools of corporate America

I agree that unions offer the only offset to the power of corporate America that has its tentacles into both parties, although deeper into the Repubs.

Globalization and unfair trade have been the tools that they have used to destroy organized labor with the cost savings passed directly to the CEOs in the form of outrageous compensation packages.

NAFTA grossly accelerated the process, and support for that trade pact would have been expected from Republicans, but why was it supported by Bill Clinton, Dick Durbin and other Democrats?

BTW I don't even go in Circuit City any more.