This Labor Day, As Unions Face Historic Attacks, It's Time to Stand Together and Fight for Jobs

[marmar]

AlterNet / By Sarah Jaffe

This Labor Day, As Unions Face Historic Attacks, It's Time to Stand Together and Fight for Jobs
Jobs are on everyone's mind and labor has been front-page news a lot this year; we need to remember to fight like the unions that brought us good jobs in the first place.

September 4, 2011 |


If there was ever a year to think about the meaning of Labor Day, this would be it.

Organized labor has rocketed to the forefront of America's political consciousness, with conservative governors attacking the right to form a union, historic strikes, and a few unexpected victories along the way.

And while the right attacks unions and labor organizes to fight back, unemployment remains high, jobs tenuous, wages depressed and the economy slumping. No new jobs were created in August—that's right, none. The overall unemployment rate held steady, but the labor department also revised downward its jobs growth numbers for the previous two months, so the economy has actually been worse than we thought for most of the summer. Dean Baker also points out that the number of people underemployed, or “involuntarily working part-time jumped up by 430,000, to 8.8 million.”

Continued high unemployment leaves even workers who have jobs feeling desperate, and gives the bosses the upper hand to demand more work, lower wages, and givebacks from employees, while austerity politics has led to public sector layoffs across the country. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/152283/this_labor_day%2C_as_unions_face_historic_attacks%2C_it%27s_time_to_stand_together_and_fight_for_jobs/

[mdmc]

1. r

[swilton]

2. Solidarity

K&R

[bvar22]

3. Solidarity!

One can NOT be FOR "Free Trade",
and support LABOR at the same time.
The two are mutually exclusive.


You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their excuses.

Solidarity!
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