The Hill: Minimum-wage hike is rare gain for workers under employer-centered Bush

[Omaha Steve]

http://thehill.com/op-eds/minimum-wage-hike-is-rare-gain-for-workers-under-employer-centered-bush-2007-07-26.html

Minimum-wage hike is rare gain for workers under employer-centered Bush
By Oxford Analytica
July 26, 2007
The federal minimum wage on Wednesday rose by 70 cents, to $5.85 per hour, the first increase in nearly a decade.
While the minimum wage has risen, its effect has been partially offset by a May U.S. Supreme Court ruling that tightened the conditions for demonstrating discrimination in “pay parity” cases — strengthening the hand of employers. The rights and bargaining power of U.S. workers have declined since 2000.

That ruling, Ledbetter v. Goodyear, both tightened the conditions under which plaintiffs have standing to sue for pay disparity discrimination and weakened the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC’s) capacity to regulate employment conditions for U.S. workers. The ruling dovetails with the broader pro-market and pro-employer stance that the administration of President Bush has adopted. Conditions for U.S. workers, particularly those lower on the income scale, have become increasingly precarious, given:

• low U.S. union membership (12 percent of the workforce, the lowest in the Organisation for Economic and Co-operative Development); and

• surplus unskilled and semi-skilled labor, partly attributable to the growing pool of undocumented immigrants.

These conditions, largely invisible to the U.S. middle class, have helped former Sen. John Edwards’s (D-N.C.) presidential campaign achieve traction with populist appeals.

Employer-oriented policies
Bush entered the White House with a commitment to deregulate markets and reduce federal regulatory burdens on corporations, which he has pursued in several ways:

• Tax cuts. Bush followed through speedily on his pledge to reduce taxation on corporations and on the highest-earning taxpayers, initiating major legislation in June 2001 (subsequently augmented). Some Democratic presidential hopefuls, such as Edwards and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), have promised to reverse these cuts if elected.


FULL article at link.

[Selatius]

1. I reject the stupid notion that Bush is pro-market

If he found healthy competition in a market favorable, he would be issuing anti-trust lawsuits to hell and back against corporate monopolies and even media monopolies. He favors stagnation and decay instead of innovation and change.

[goodgd_yall]

2. Off set is right.

And what about the exporting of jobs overseas? My particular workplace has been very aggressive about that.

We so desperately need to take away the power from corporations.