The Quiet War on American Workers

[dcsmart]

Labor Day was born out of one of America’s bloodiest labor strikes. In 1893, Eugene Debs, a famous socialist who was instrumental in founding the American Railway Union, led the workers against railroad tycoon George Pullman. But Pullman was backed by at least 12,000 federal soldiers—nearly half the American army at the time. Ultimately, the Pullman Strike was unsuccessful: 13 strikers were killed (some by federal bullets) and many more were wounded. Debs and the other leaders were arrested and jailed. To appease resulting protests against the government’s heavy-handed intervention, President Grover Cleveland signed legislation that recognized the first Monday in September as Labor Day. Um, yay?

Today, labor struggles are generally less gory, but workers still pay a terrible price for America’s backwards labor laws and preferential treatment of big business. A report released last week made it clear that there is still a quiet war being waged against workers that denies millions of workers a living wage and union representation.

Last week saw the release of “Broken Laws and Unprotected Workers,” a study that shows 68 percent of workers polled reported at least one pay-related violation in the previous week. For a minimum wage average paycheck of $339 a week, that amounts to a loss of $51. The study also found widespread violation of minimum wage laws; 26 percent of workers polled weren’t paid the legal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour and more than 60 percent of respondents had been underpaid by a dollar or more per hour.
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In the 1890s, Pullman got the federal government to commit soldiers to keeping his employees in check. Now, more than a hundred years later, employers don’t need a single soldier¬—these recent studies show they can effectively wage a war on workers without them. Perhaps these stark numbers will finally compel Congress, the Department of Labor, and American workers into action.
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FULL ARTICLE
http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2009/09/09/the-quiet-war-on-american-workers/#more-4291

STUDY CITED
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/us/02wage.html?_r=3

There is another study cited in the article
http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp235factsheet/

[MichiganVote]

1. Solidarity. n/t

[Craftsman]

2. Every time the middle class get thrown a bone, Wall Street gets a steak.