ECONOMY

Labor's Pains

In 1898, Samuel Gompers, one of the original founders of the American Federation of Labor, called Labor Day "the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs would be discussed." This Labor Day, U.S. workers have many grievances that deserve attention. The New York Times reported recently that the median real hourly wage for American workers has declined two percent since 2003, despite the fact that productivity has been steadily rising. Worker productivity rose 16.6 percent from 2000 to 2005, while total compensation for the median worker rose 7.2 percent. Among the reasons economists offer to explain this phenomenon are that workers' bargaining power is being slowly eroded and "trade unions are much weaker than they once were." The trends have left U.S. workers feeling bleak about the future. A poll of laborers conducted recently found that 63 percent of the workforce believes the country and the economy are on the wrong track; a majority now believe their children are going to be worse off economically than they are. The Progress Report details some of the problems facing today's workforce:

WORKING HARDER, EARNING LESS: "Wages and salaries now make up the lowest share of the nation’s gross domestic product since the government began recording the data in 1947." A majority of today's workers say the number one issue they face is that the wages they are paid are not keeping up with the cost of living. Aug. 20th marked 10 years since the last time the federal minimum wage has been raised. Frozen at an unlivable $5.15/hour, the minimum wage is at the lowest buying power it has been in 51 years. Workers earning above the minimum wage are struggling as well. According to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, "Real median earnings for men working full-time and year-round were lower in 2005 than in 1973. In inflation-adjusted 2005 dollars, a typical man working full-time in 1973 earned $42,573. Thirty-six years later, this figure has fallen to $41,386." Yet, productivity -- as President Bush likes to frequently point out -- remains high. "What jumps out at you is the gaping hole between productivity growth and earnings," said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). People are "working harder and smarter but not really seeing remuneration that they ought to be seeing." The wage crunch isn't affecting the entire labor force, however. The top one percent of earners -- including many corporate CEOs -- received 11.2 percent of all wage income in 2004, up from 8.7 percent a decade earlier and less than six percent three decades ago.

SICK ABOUT HEALTH CARE: According to new Census data released this week, the number of people living in the United States without medical insurance rose 2.9 percent -- 1.3 million people -- to a record 46.6 million over the last year alone as health-care costs climbed three times as fast as wages. The statistics indicate 6.8 million people have lost coverage since 2001, and this total has climbed every year since Bush has been in office. The Census Bureau also reports the percentage of uninsured children rose from 10.8 percent in 2004 to 11.2 percent in 2005 due to state budget struggles. This reverses a trend that started in 1998 of declining uninsured rates for children. "Due to the rising cost of health care and health-care insurance, you see a continued decline in workers accepting coverage when it's offered and employers offering it," said Emory University Professor Ken Thorpe. Indeed, three million people have lost employer-based insurance, while the rate of uninsured, full-time workers has increased by 13 percent since 2000. The bottom line is sadly simple: "Uninsured workers can't afford to get sick." Ultimately, this is a moral question -- it is wrong for anyone who works hard and plays by the rules to go without health coverage. "People who don't have coverage, can't afford preventive care, and don't see a doctor until a disease has progressed often suffer needlessly, drive up the cost of care, and lower the nation's productivity."

ORGANIZED VOICES BEING REPRESSED: In a recent report on the boom in profits, economists at Goldman Sachs wrote plainly, “The most important contributor to higher profit margins over the past five years has been a decline in labor’s share of national income.” “If I had to sum it up,” said Bernstein, “it comes down to bargaining power and the lack of ability of many in the work force to claim their fair share of growth.” Wal-Mart, America's largest employer and heralded as the corporate model for today's economy, has opposed every effort of its employees to form a union. (Ironically, Wal-Mart has given its approval to its China-based workers organize.) "According to Cornell labor relations professor Kate Bronfenbrenner, at least 5 percent of workers involved in unionization campaigns are fired, which is both quite illegal and quite routine: Companies would rather pay the nominal fines than pay their workers higher wages and lose the absolute control they hold over the work lives of their employees." Today's labor movement faces union-busting law firms and consulting agencies which are increasingly enlisted by union-wary employers to keep labor from organizing. Today, the vast majority of union members -- 84 percent -- live in only 12 states, leaving workers with little organized power in much of the country. But despite internal struggles in the past, union leaders are now making moves to unite and mobilize workers around “pocketbook” issues.

NO FRIEND IN THE WHITE HOUSE: The Bush administration has consistently sent signals to the labor movement and the general workforce that they do not have an ally in the White House. In the wake of the Sago mine disaster that called attention to the administration's lack of safety enforcement, President Bush nominated Richard Stickler, a coal industry executive who managed coal mines with injuries that were double the national average, to head the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). When the Senate blocked the nomination, Stickler was hired by MSHA as a "consultant" to advise the agency on mine safety issues. Just yesterday, Bush announced he would recess-appoint Paul DeCamp, a former lawyer for Wal-Mart "with a long paper trail outlining his opposition to the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA’s) overtime pay and other provisions, to run the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD)." Also, labor leaders are concerned that the National Labor Relations Board -- composed of five Bush appointees -- is weighing a series of cases that "could make it easier for companies to declare certain workers supervisors and thus ineligible for union membership." Union activists fear that employees who could possibly be reclassified as "supervisors" -- such as nurses and teachers -- would be forced to do so by employers trying to prevent the formation of unions. Business groups are pushing for such authority, arguing as Elizabeth Gaudio with the National Federation of Independent Business Legal Foundation did, that the "bottom line" is to be profitable.