Robert Reich: US Needs Unions To Restore Middle Class

[babylonsister]

The union way up
America, and its faltering economy, need unions to restore prosperity to the middle class.
By Robert B. Reich
January 26, 2009


Why is this recession so deep, and what can be done to reverse it?

Hint: Go back about 50 years, when America's middle class was expanding and the economy was soaring. Paychecks were big enough to allow us to buy all the goods and services we produced. It was a virtuous circle. Good pay meant more purchases, and more purchases meant more jobs.

At the center of this virtuous circle were unions. In 1955, more than a third of working Americans belonged to one. Unions gave them the bargaining leverage they needed to get the paychecks that kept the economy going. So many Americans were unionized that wage agreements spilled over to nonunionized workplaces as well. Employers knew they had to match union wages to compete for workers and to recruit the best ones.

Fast forward to a new century. Now, fewer than 8% of private-sector workers are unionized. Corporate opponents argue that Americans no longer want unions. But public opinion surveys, such as a comprehensive poll that Peter D. Hart Research Associates conducted in 2006, suggest that a majority of workers would like to have a union to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions. So there must be some other reason for this dramatic decline.

But put that question aside for a moment. One point is clear: Smaller numbers of unionized workers mean less bargaining power, and less bargaining power results in lower wages.

more...

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-reich26-2009jan26,0,7180340.story

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. An irrefutable argument. nt

[havocmom]

2. Seems ONE of those high paid CEOs, CFOs or SOBs would know this already...

They are not in business to produce product or service, but to sell stock paper, and they know that is worthless in the long run.

They are robbers in nice suits.

Paychecks, not pay cuts and job loss, is what builds an economy.

[antigop]

3. And will Obama push for the Employee Free Choice Act? Will the Dems? n/t

[Shiver]

5. His pick for Sec. of Labor seems to indicate he will

Solis has a fantastic record on labor rights, and is a very strong proponent of the EFCA.

[babylonsister]

6. And that's precisely why the rethugs are holding up her nomination.

Sad they're working against the country's best interests, but there it is.

[Shiver]

7. Yep

Interesting which nominations they're holding up - Justice and Labour. It's plainly obvious they have no respect for either...

[Demeter]

9. Bon Mot!

Worthy of Oscar Wilde! I congratulate you on the clarity of your vision and your speech.

[Shiver]

10. Well, I try...

:blush:

[2Design]

4. Exactly - as they cut pay or keep it down they kill their CUSTOMERS

or as they now call them consumers with no pretense of them being customers. When you kill the golden goose by continually attacking education, health care, parks, libraries, etc - you kill your customer

[Demeter]

8. No, We Need Equal Treatrment To Reduce the Obscenely Rich Class

and strip them of their untoward power to affect policy and tax code.

[D-Lee]

11. Remember when a UNION employee had a GOOD life?

That's the time I keep remembering ... the person with a regular unionized manufacturing job who had a house, could support a family, could afford health care, and could look forward to a pension.

If anything marks the past 8 years, it is that too many executives have concerned themselves with short-term personal goals centered on executive compensation and lost any concern for the economic and social health of their workforce and this country.