Unions and the Declining Middle Class in America

[kasjaws]

So what do unions have to do with the declining middle class in America? Aren’t unions just a roadblock to a company getting rid of troublesome of lazy employees? What do we need unions for anyway? We have a minimum wage, OSHA, ADA, and a bevy of anti-discrimination laws. Unions only strip US companies of their ability to compete with oversees companies. Americans do fine without unions and the inequality between the top 2% in this country and the rest of us is just hard work. Right? Do you believe all that?

Well even George W Bush did not believe it when he stated in 2007 that "I know some of our citizens worry about the fact that our dynamic economy is leaving working people behind," the president stated. "We have an obligation to help ensure that every citizen shares in this country's future. The fact is that income inequality is real; it's been rising for more than 25 years" (January 31, 2007). The top 2% increase their wealth and improve their lifestyle while the rest of us struggle with rising costs of health care, low wages, declining pensions and less opportunity. Why is this? What do we see when we look at history to understand the rise of the middle class in America and its subsequent decline?

Unions, unions, unions. Without unions there would be no middle class in this country. Without unions there would be no higher public education. Without unions there would be no pensions or health care benefits. Without unions there would be no minimum wage or high enough wages for people to have pulled themselves up out of minimal poverty to form the middle class. Without unions there would be no 5 day work week. So ok you say. I’ll give the unions that. They were very useful in the past but we don’t need them anymore and anyway they get in the way of making more money for corporations. So then the corporations take jobs oversees because they can’t make enough money here. So unions had their place but they are no longer functional in American Society. They just lead to laziness and the inability of management to get rid of the slackers.

I would ask those of you who believe this to take another look. The anti-union movement in this country coincides directly with the decline of the middle class. As unions declined so did wages, health care costs rose sharply without an increase in health care benefits leading to more and more uninsured Americans. Increasingly between the decline of unions and the growth of personal communication devices, we find ourselves working all the time. Laptops and I phones are with us all the time. When are we not working? We are even seeing the return of dangerous work conditions despite the presence of OSHA.

It has been said that cheap labor can build factories and cars. But only organized labor can build a middle class. I think this is absolutely true as is its reverse. Without organized labor there will be no middle class.

[Ahso!]

Unions have had their downside too, but I'm of the opinion that unions should have been made to function better instead of busting them. Incidentally, this union busting movement began in the 80s when Reagan fired those Air Traffic Controllers.

[fuzzywuzzy]

I can't speak on behalf of Unions in America....but your statement holds true in Australia too, and I dare say the EU as well.

""W Bush did not believe it when he stated in 2007 that "I know some of our citizens worry about the fact that our dynamic economy is leaving working people behind," the president stated. "We have an obligation to help ensure that every citizen shares in this country's future. """"

Interesting statement ..because all citizens are sharing in the countrys' 'future' . The working people are paying for the stuff ups of corporation greed.

There is a shift in this country toward Unionism people are beginning to understand what the Accord in the late eighties actually means today and the tactics of the ABCC.......I can tell you it's going to hit the fan soon.

I am a proud Union member and a member of the Socialist Party.