The Reason Why The Income Gap Is Growing

[Yavin4]

Simple, working Americans eschew unions. Prior generations of Americans and our European counterparts do not rely on politicians to improve their wages. They form unions to represent themselves on the job and ensure that their wages match current living conditions.

In a mixed, free market economy, the means of production are controlled by the few. This gives a few people extreme power, including power over the government. Thus, do not expect politicians from either party to pass laws that will make sure that you get a fair wage or that you don't lose your job to overseas outsourcing. The only way to make sure that you get a fair wage and job protection is by joining a union and collectively bargain a better wage.

I know the counter-argument is that auto workers and factory workers have unions and their jobs are heading overseas. That's true. However, even in those circumstances, the union workers still get some benefits, retirement packages, and some financial consideration. A soon-to-be laid off auto worker still has a marginally better deal than a part-time WalMart clerk.

Union power also gives the workers a presence on the political scene as well. Union donations equal the playing field to the corporations. Thus, legislation, like free trade agreements, would reflect this new power.

[Redbear]

1. True Dat.

Workers of the world, unite.

[rman]

2. And here i was thinking it is because we're not taking our personal

responsibilities.
:shrug:

[Cary]

3. I think it's inevitable.

Our standard of living is going to decline as the standard of living of other nations increase.

I don't have any economic data or theories to back that up and I don't accept it as any kind of neoconomist excuse.

[Yavin4]

5. False

"Our standard of living is going to decline as the standard of living of other nations increase. "

This is false. The standard of living for other nations is not increasing. There's still mass poverty and starvation in China and India. The only 3rd world nation to become a global economic super-power in the last 100 years is Japan.

[Cary]

7. Again, I have no economic data.

I think unskilled labor is going to be screwed, regardless. That is more a function of technology.

I'm not referring to median incomes. I'm referring to mean incomes and generally the higher paying jobs are going to pay less.

In the meantime those who position themselves to benefit from global markets are going to win big.

[BlueManDude]

4. Cheap immigrant labor.

[Yavin4]

6. Which Would Be Illegal If We Had Unions

If every working American were in a union, then only union personnel would be allowed to work, and it would be easier to tell if a worker was unionized than it would be if he/she were working here illegally.

[Dr.Phool]

8. Workers aren't really against joining a union.

The NLRB and the corporations make it damn near impossible to form one. It takes years of procedures, hearings, and court battles.

[Tansy_Gold]

9. Exactly. And there has been a steady drumbeat of propaganda

against union membership for years.

A lot of the general union-busting began with Raygun, but the media had for years before that portrayed unions -- especially striking unions -- as the enemy. Everything from striking garbage truck drivers and parking garage workers in NYC in 1967 to air traffic controllers and baseball players in 1981: It was always the fault of those "greedy" unions.

But then you had the results of strikes that left new union members out in the cold: When the strikes against the grocery chains were settled just a few years ago, the new contracts preserved the wages of existing union members but allowed the chains to hire new workers at Wal-Mart wages. This left little incentive to join the union and thus further diluted the power of the unions.

As the US economy has shifted from manufacturing to service (including retail sales, fast food, financial services, etc.), the impact and influence of unions has waned. White- and pink-collar jobs were historically not unionized, and there was a "managerial," anti-union mindset established in those areas, along the lines of "personal responsibility," which is a right wing, anti-union mantra.

It's not just that workers don't *want* to join unions: they've been propagandized not to want to join the, but also they often don't have effective unions to join and/or the company they work for will retaliate if they try to join a union.

Corporations have the resources to do just about anything they want to do to avoid having their workers unionized. They can pack up and move an operation, either to another town or state, or to another country. Even the possibility of losing jobs can be enough of a threat to keep workers from unionizing, especially since have seen so many "good" jobs go overseas over the past couple of decades. If the choice is between a crappy, non-union, subsistence wage and no wage at all, which do you think most people will choose? Unfortunatly, "good-paying union job" isn't one of the choices any more.

Tansy Gold