Activate the Mechanism!

The average worker—unionized or not— working in a right-to-work state earns approximately $1,500 less per year than a similar worker in a state without such a law

Unions strengthen businesses and the economically vital middle class by giving workers a voice in both the workplace and our democracy. Unions do this by pushing for fair wages and good benefits, and also by encouraging citizens to advocate for middle-class-friendly policies like a strong Social Security system and family-leave benefits.

In fact, according to a recent study conducted by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, strengthening unions is as important to the middle class as boosting college-graduation rates. Similarly, sociologists Bruce Western and Jake Rosenfeld of Harvard University and the University of Washington, respectively, have calculated that approximately one-third of the increase in male wage inequality from 1973 to 2007 was due to decreasing unionization—about the same amount they ascribed to the increasing payoff of a college education.

Not surprisingly, right-to-work laws have a negative impact on the middle class. The average worker—unionized or not— working in a right-to-work state earns approximately $1,500 less per year than a similar worker in a state without such a law. Workers in right-to-work states are also significantly less likely to receive employer-provided health insurance and pensions. If benefits coverage in non-right-to-work states were lowered to the levels of states with these laws, 2 million fewer workers would receive health insurance and 3.8 million fewer workers would receive pensions nationwide. And unions tend to especially make large income differences for communities of color in the United States.

All of the states with the lowest percentage of workers in unions—Mississippi, Arkansas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, South Dakota, and Oklahoma—are right-to-work states and they all have a relatively weak middle class, with the share of total state income going to the middle 60 percent of the population below the national average.

Over the past several decades, unions in Michigan have weakened and the middle class has been hollowed out—a trend that would significantly worsen if right-to-work became law. As we see in the data, as union membership has declined in the United States, so too has the share of income going to America’s middle class. (see Figure 1). In 2011 the middle class received the smallest share of the nation’s income since these data were first reported, according to U.S. Census Bureau, with the middle 60 percent of households receiving only 45.7 percent of the nation’s income that year, down from the historical peak of 53.2 percent in 1968. Since 1968 the share of households in unions has declined from nearly 30 percent to less than 12 percent today.

read more

A strong union presence in any area drives wages up. Non union business have to offer wages that are comparable to union wages (and benefits) in order to compete for workers.

So, of course big business and by extension the GOP hate unions.

Tyranny in the Private Sphere: History and recent events demonstrate, private powers, especially in our age of international business behemoths, are equally capable of denying liberty.

The large, tyrannical state has always been one of the greatest threats to freedom and liberty. And even in our current age, unchecked government power continues to stifle human progress and expression, not only abroad but in the United States as well. For, in even in our country, the state, both at the federal and local level, still punishes its citizens for indulging in the “wrong” types of narcotics—it still denies equal rights to those of a different sexual orientation, it still retains the unchecked, lethal authority of one person, the executive, to sentence death upon any citizen the president deems a “terrorist.”

Yet, although the illiberal actions of the state still need to be combated  government is not the only source of tyranny—it is not the only enemy of freedom. As recent events in Bangladesh attest, with the death 112 factory workers as the result of atrocious working conditions, the private sector has its share of tyrants.

This is where most libertarians and current day liberals seem to differ. The former sees only the state, the government as the perpetrator of oppression. However, as both history and recent events demonstrate, private powers, especially in our age of international business behemoths, are equally capable of denying liberty.

read more

Great read and food for thought. There is a large set of people in the U.S. who seem to have forgotten that private entities can be just as tyrannical as government entities.

Any intrusion on my rights (or the rights of others) is just as egregious to me no matter what entity it’s coming from.  

Forced Labor on American Shores

liberalsarecool:

New York Times Editors:

“When companies [like WalMart] force suppliers to slash costs, corners will be cut and workers will be abused. Congress and the Department of Labor need to make sure that sprawling supply chains and profits are not built upon the systematic erosion of workplace conditions and laborers’ rights.”

Working 16-to 24-hour days, and 80-hour weeks, at illegally low rates, sometimes locked in the plant?

Everyone would say this is wrong, for Romney, this would be a resume’ bullet point.

(via sarahlee310)

Study: To exploit workers, keep them in the dark about profits

When are companies most successful at exploiting workers? When their junior employees don’t realize how much their managers are profiting from their work, according to a new study from the University of Heidelberg.

read more

This reminds me of how pissed I was when I found out my boss was getting huge bonuses every quarter for coming in under budget after our profit sharing had been taken away, our pay was froze and the cost of our healthcare doubled at my old job.

You hear a lot of talk from politicians, political pundits, and their supporters about how people shouldn’t be reward for being lazy.

On the other side of the coin, then, shouldn’t people who work hard be compensated fairly for their hard work?

I don’t understand anyone who works for a living supporting the interests of people who want nothing more than to keep labor cheap so they can keep more profits for themselves.

This is exactly why this has happened, these huge companies are still bringing in billions of dollars, they’ve just learned how to do more with less employees, and paying the ones they have less (if you compensate for inflation) for the same if not more work.

They want to talk about how anyone who complains about this is acting entitled or wanting something for nothing - it’s not about that, it’s about what’s fair and just.

An honest week’s pay for an honest week’s work. If you want to talk about not rewarding the “lazy” then you should be rewarding the people who work hard to keep these companies running so that they can bring in all these profits, and the workers should be getting their fair share of them.

American wages have plummeted so low that a two-income family is now (on average) 15% poorer than a one-income family of 40 years ago.

NEW YORK (Bullion Bulls Canada) — In writing about the relentless collapse of Western economies, I frequently point to “40 years of plummeting wages” for Western workers, in real dollars. However, where I have been remiss is in quantifying the magnitude of this collapse in Western wages.

On several occasions, I have glibly referred to how it now takes two spouses working to equal the wages of a one-income family of 40 years ago. Unfortunately, that is now an understatement. In fact, Western wages have plummeted so low that a two-income family is now (on average) 15% poorer than a one-income family of 40 years ago.

read more

The British left wing reminds us America doesn’t have one

BY PRAJWAL CIRYAM | partisans.org 

The American left is beleaguered. “Liberal” is a nasty word in American politics, while “conservative” is a mark of honor. Even the seemingly benign — dare I say milquetoast — term “progressive” is acquiring a sinister sheen thanks to the Glenn Becks of the world. That “left-wing” could be construed as anything but an insult would be a shock to American liberals or progressives or whatever one can politely call them these days.

It would be one thing if the lefties (notice how there is no similarly derogatory “righties”?) had lost ground merely on words, but the public sector strike here in Britain reminds us that in the United States, the left — or more accurately, the average worker — has lost much more.

[FULL STORY]