Organizer: Policy left workers behind

[Omaha Steve]

I just learned about this. I would have gone to the noon speech listed further down in the article.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1208&u_sid=10602670

Published Saturday April 4, 2009
Organizer: Policy left workers behind
BY VIRGIL LARSON
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Correcting "30 years of failed, trickle-down economic policies" would not only give American workers a break, AFL-CIO organizer Stewart Acuff said Friday, it also would give the economy a boost.

"The key problem in the economy is lack of demand," said Acuff, special assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. "There is not enough buying power to drive the American economic engine."

Acuff spoke to members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Omaha Thursday night and met with union leaders in Lincoln Friday. He was to speak at the University of Nebraska at Omaha today.

More buying power should be put in the hands of U.S. workers, Acuff said. They have been left behind as the value created by their increased productivity "has gone to the folks at the top, not to those in the middle," he said.

Acuff's argument is part of an intense campaign by the AFL-CIO to persuade Congress to pass the proposed Employee Free Choice Act.

The bill would end employers' ability to require that workers have secret-ballot elections to form a union, even if a majority had expressed interest in joining a union by signing cards. The measure would permit labor unions to organize employees after collecting a majority of signatures.


FULL story at link.