| Monday, July 25, 2005 |
| Trouble in America |
The problems for American workers just keep coming. News of layoffs and desperation at Ford, disarray at GM, and layoffs everywhere -- don't bother breaking out the Kleenex, they're dumping people too. Think the Chinese currency re-valuation will help American workers? Think again. And now this: news of a mini-war within the labor movement. SEIU and the Teamsters, along with two smaller unions, are expected to bolt the AFL-CIO today.
What that means for the unions, organized labor as a whole, and frankly, for the Democratic Party, remains to be seen. But it seems clear that the labor movement, having reached its nadir after the heady days when more than out out of every three American (private sector) workers were dues-paying union members (now it's about 8 out of 100), has to adapt or die. Globalization, federal "free trade" policy, and the intense competition America faces abroad are forcing workers' organizations to take a hard look at their operations, just as it's forcing corporations to rethink their strategies (hint: overpaying CEOs and other management and pleasing stock holders at the expense of consumers -- not good).
The AFL shakeup may actually inject some energy into labor, and produce some innovation and new ideas. Let's wait and see. |
posted by JReid @ 9:39 AM   |
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