Allen L Roland

August 2009 marks the 19th straight month we have lost jobs as a nation ~ that's 6.9 million jobs gone ! The Obama top down multi-billion dollar bailout and bank rescue has artificially inflated stocks and credit markets but has left Main Street destitute, jobless and unprotected:

The Obama Administration has tried to re-inflate the credit bubble that just burst by bailing out Wall Street and flooding the banking Industry with more money and debt with the notion that consumers would continue to spend and go further in debt ~ while ignoring the fact that 6.2 million Americans are jobless and most likely in debt.

There is virtually nothing to celebrate this Labor Day except wishful thinking and its dire consequences. The " Green Shoots " politicians crow about is temporary artificially induced growth ( Like Cash for Clunkers and Fat Cat Bailouts ) and will wither away under the cold winter of the long-term problems of toxic loans, bad assets, bank failures, increasing unemployment and severely restricted consumer spending ~ which represents 60% of GNP.

But what about the Labor Movement ? The Center for American Progress summed up this week what Workers Face this Labor day ~ "  Earlier this week, a new report financed by the Ford, Joyce, Haynes, and Russell Sage Foundations found that labor protections in America "are failing significant numbers of workers." According to the survey, which was "the most comprehensive examination of wage-law violations in a decade," 68 percent of the low wage workers who were interviewed said they were subjected to pay violations in their previous work week alone. This included 26 percent who were paid less than the minimum wage and 76 percent who didn't receive legally required overtime pay. In all, the researchers discovered that "the typical worker had lost $51 the previous week through wage violations, out of average weekly earnings of $339," adding up to a 15 percent loss in pay. The report "clearly shows we still have a major task before us," said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis in a statement, promising that the Department of Labor in the Obama administration "will be marked by an emphasis on the protection" of the rights of America's workers."

The greatest challenge appears to be for young workers as the Center For American Progress reports ~ " Earlier this week, the AFL-CIO released a new report, "Young Workers, A Lost Decade," which found that workers younger than 35 have "not only have young workers lost financial ground over the past 10 years ~ they have also lost some of their optimism." Alarmingly, the nationwide survey found that "31 percent of young workers reports being uninsured, up from 24 percent without health insurance coverage 10 years ago" and "one-third of young workers cannot pay the bills and seven in 10 do not have enough saved to cover two months of living expenses." http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2009/09/pr20090904

As David Bacon writes in Truthout: "For anyone who loves the labor movement, it's not unreasonable today to ask whether we've lost our way. California's huge health care local is in trusteeship, its leading organizing drive in a shambles. SEIU's international is at war with its own members, and now with UNITE HERE, whose merger of garment and hotel workers is unraveling." http://www.truthout.org/081109R?n

And speaking of California ~ my friend and College Teacher Martin J Bennett writes of a much needed step in the right direction for labor which is The Employee Free Choice Act ~ " We are now in the deepest and most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The unemployment rate in California surged to 10% in January, which is the highest jobless rate in twenty-five years. One in three families in California are 'working poor' and do not earn sufficient wages and income to meet their basic needs. While the Obama Administration and Congress have taken steps to attempt to revive our economy, more must be done - not for Wall Street, but for workers. The Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that will restore the right of American workers to organize unions, was recently introduced to Congress. Approval of this legislation is crucial for a robust economic recovery." http://www.californiaprogressreport.com/2009/01/remaining_envir.html

I think Marty is right, the first step in restoring the Labor Movement is protecting labor with the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, but it may be a tough sell ~ Fewer than half of Americans ( 48 percent ) approve of labor unions, down from 59 percent a year ago, according to a new Gallup poll. That number is the lowest since Gallup started asking the question in 1936. Only 12.4 percent of workers ~ and just 7.6 percent of those in the private sector ~ belong to unions, down from 20 percent in 1983.

In that light, a partial victory with a somewhat diminished Employee Free Choice Act ( with needed protections still intact ) could lead to the greater likelihood of something to truly celebrate next labor day.

Allen L Roland http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2009/09/06.html

Freelance Online columnist Allen L Roland is available for comments, interviews and speaking engagements ( allen@allenroland.com )

Allen L Roland is a practicing psychotherapist, author and lecturer who also shares a daily political and social commentary on his weblog and website www.allenroland.com He also guest hosts a monthly national radio show TRUTHTALK on www.conscioustalk.net

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Allen Roland’s weblog: http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/
Website: www.allenroland.com
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