The Struggle for Workers' Recovery

Monday 11 October 2010

by: Shamus Cooke, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

http://www.truth-out.org/the-struggle-workers-recovery64086

photo (Photo: Arenamontanus)

Stocks are booming; the Dow Jones soared past 11,000;
the very wealthy are bursting from their financial
seams. Meanwhile, mass unemployment continues, with
95,000 more jobs - mostly teachers - lost in September.

As millions of Americans sink into desperation,
President Obama continues to preach the good word of
optimism, based on the gospel of "private sector job
growth."

According to the president, the hundreds of thousands
of public sector jobs that have been recently destroyed
- due to the budget crises of nearly every state and
municipality - should be overlooked, due to the
"encouraging" job growth of the private sector.

For example, in September, the private sector added
64,000 jobs (159,000 public sector jobs were lost in
September). Even if there had been zero public sector
job losses, adding 64,000 jobs would be only half what
is needed to keep up with population growth.

Most importantly, the minuscule private sector job
growth that the president keeps raving about involves
low-paying jobs. For example, out of the 64,000 private
sector jobs created, 34,000 were low-paying jobs at
restaurants and bars, where pay is low and benefits are
scarce.

This proves what most people already know: wages and
benefits continue to spiral downward. Public workers
typically make a living wage and have benefits, as
opposed to those being hired at coffee shops or as
dishwashers.

A giant shift is happening, with living-wage jobs in
the public sector being axed for low-paying, private
sector jobs, with millions of unemployed to ensure that
wages remain low; this is the basis of the corporate
profit boom.

Jeannine Aversa of The Associated Press reports:

"There are now 14.8 million people officially
unemployed in the United States.... People out of work
who have stopped looking for jobs are not counted as
unemployed ... nearly 27 million are 'underemployed'
...." [October 8, 2010]

The threat of unemployment is used to coerce workers
into accepting lower wages and preventing them from
protesting abusive treatment or lack of benefits.

The staggering job losses in the public sector will
only worsen as state budget crises are balanced on the
back of teachers, social service workers, and other
public workers. The lack of action to prevent this
hemorrhaging must be viewed as a conscious and
well-defined policy with a specific goal.

Public workers are the last stronghold in the US labor
movement; they are, thus, the strongest obstacle to the
corporate agenda being implemented by both Democrats
and Republicans.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 37.4
percent of public workers are unionized, as opposed to
only 7.2 percent in the private sector. It's not
surprising that the group with the highest unionization
rates - local government workers (43 percent) - are
being targeted the most (this group includes teachers).

Public sector unions are in the fight of their lives,
and they're losing because they have one hand tied
behind their back. For example, the Democratic Party is
spearheading the fight against public employees; yet,
these unions continue to support this corporate party.

Also, public sector unions have not joined together in
coalitions - as they do in Europe - to fight back
collectively. Divided, they are far less powerful,
since the corporations and their government are tightly
united for the unions' destruction.

The massive One Nation demonstration in Washington, DC,
proved that unions and other progressive groups could
unite under a set of demands. But uniting for one
demonstration is not enough.

The labor movement and labor's allies plus other
progressive groups must unite locally and nationally to
fully fund education, social services, and to institute
a massive public works program to employ all the
unemployed workers in the country. Such demands require
that taxes be raised on the wealthy and corporations
and that the unwinnable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
end immediately.

The vast majority of working people support these
ideas, considered too "radical" by the Democrats and
Republicans.

_____________________________________________

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