Two Union Guys: Save Our Middle Class, Vote for Obama

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/08/08/two-union-guys-save-our-middle-class-vote-for-obama/

by Tula Connell, Aug 8, 2008

The current culture of corporate greed chops away at the American dreams of U.S. workers by many means. Big Business has kept wages massively low even as worker productivity soars. From 2001 to 2007, real wages were up 2.3 percent, compared with 18 percent for productivity.

One way corporations flatline wages is by refusing to negotiate contracts with their unionized employees. In a recent opinion piece in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, two local union leaders, members of the United Steelworkers (USW), discuss their experiences from recent lockouts at Latrobe Specialty Steel Co. and Calgon Carbon Corp.



In “Save Our Middle Class,” Kevin Caruso, USW unit president at Latrobe Specialty Steel, and Jerry Morton, USW unit president at Calgon Carbon, write that:

The members of our United Steelworkers unions just went through two long, tough fights to hold onto benefits like family health care and regular pensions for retirees. It shouldn’t require this kind of sacrifice to get companies to do right by their workers.

This “silent assault” isn’t happening by accident.

This situation, where highly profitable companies refuse to come to terms with their employees and then use a lockout to try to starve them into submission, is happening more and more frequently in America today. The time it takes to resolve these disputes is also increasing, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

FULL story at link.