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WORD COUNT
614
MARCH 11, 2009
AMERICA
HAS NO RESPECT FOR JOBS – by William A. Collins
Jobs were
once,
Our
central goal;
Now it’s
profits,
That
control.
You could
tell last summer that Connecticut’s economy was in trouble. On the
state’s monthly labor report the usual trite little statement from
Governor Jodi Rell was missing, the one telling how jobs had increased
yet again and that once more God was in Her heaven. You see it happened
that in July jobs first went down, so the governor stayed away and let
the Labor Department be the bearer of such bad tidings. We haven’t heard
from her since.
And don’t
wait by the phone. Upward employment is not likely to return at least
until all the air is squished out of the housing bubble. Then, as an
uptick in business requires more workers, low-skill industries will
again be out there scouring the street corners for immigrants, or else
seeing how much more production they can profitably ship abroad.
High-skill industries are already pressing Congress for more special
visas so that they can bring in additional low-paid foreign techies.
Shame is not their greatest strength.
Consistent
with these greed-based business techniques it is useful to recall that
ever since the memorable election of 2000, median family income has
actually dropped by a whole percentage point, more for minorities. This
even in supposedly “good” times. Meanwhile prices have gone up about 25
percent. Much of this gap has to do with corporate-driven public policy
at the state and national levels. Unions have also been systematically
squashed, and movable jobs have been systematically moved, largely
through free trade. Or more accurately, by “The Race to the Bottom,”
however low that takes us.
At the
same time the United States, a pretty high-tech place, has kept up its
enviable tradition of increasing productivity. That means more output
per worker. To Henry Ford that meant he could afford higher pay scales.
To today’s moguls that means they can afford higher dividends and
executive salaries. This is termed “progress.”
But now
there is a proposed change. It appears that the Democrats have mustered
sufficient majorities in both houses to pass a new labor law. It would
allow workers to form a union if as many as half their number signed
cards stating such a desire. This would replace the current law that
calls for an actual election. These “elections” have become renowned for
a level of fairness and openness approximating Zimbabwe’s. Intimidation,
firings, and inspired dilatory tactics have cast employers in the role
of Robert Mugabe. Unfortunately anti-unionism is still the hardest
kernel of Republican ideology, so a bitter filibuster is doubtless on
the horizon.
Nor is the
misery of unemployment and depressed wages spread evenly across the
land. While the media relish anguished tales of suffering towns where
the main industry has decamped, it is less eager to deal with the
800-pound national gorilla: discrimination. As is well known, our
beloved society has skillfully segregated blacks and Latinos to the
fringes of mainstream employment.
Minorities
consequently endure lower pay and fewer benefits, quicker layoffs,
harsher supervision, drearier housing, weaker education, and all the
other familiar liabilities of poverty. Thus when the bubble bursts, they
get it in the neck worse than most. As always.
To give
the Democrats a little credit, they did force some minor but
ideologically important Buy American provisions into the Stimulus Act.
No fair using taxpayer money to hire abroad, please. But that’s about
the extent of it. Further improvements to wages, benefits and working
conditions will have to come separately from Congress, hopefully soon.
Like, say, universal health care. Don’t hold your breath, but we are in
a crisis now, so maybe there’s hope for change hidden in those storm
clouds.
--
Columnist
William A. Collins is a former state representative and a former mayor
of Norwalk, Connecticut. A photo of Bill Collins is available
CLICK HERE
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