As union membership declined, wages and benefits declined too

[NNN0LHI]

I wonder if that's a coincidence?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/3/2/132821/5800

[SunnySong]

1. Nope nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. Please elaborate. -nt

[NNN0LHI]

4. I think the poster believes its no coincidence

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

8. Ah, of course. Sorry. -nt

[DJ13]

2. Yep nt

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. I'll never understand why people don't get it. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

13. Because they think that their bosses will recognize their efforts

and pay them appropriately.

And there are many that have not been represented by a good union and seen the difference between a union job and non-union job.

[Brickbat]

6. Not a coincidence at all.

Unions built the middle class. We can build it again.

[jp11]

7. All we need now are some graphs of the richest people, ceo pay, corporation profits, etc

etc to overlay and compare.

[AdHocSolver]

9. Both declines in unions and wages were caused by the offshoring of jobs.

The largest decline was in manufacturing jobs, which were the kind of jobs in which the unions were strongest. When manufacturing jobs disappeared, the unions lost their biggest source of power. If a union threatened a strike, the corporations merely shipped the jobs offshore.

Back then, the unions should have worked smarter to win over the general population to only "buy American". However, the corporations merely pointed to cheaper prices for imports and Americans merely blamed "greedy" unions for high prices.

Now when middle class white collar jobs are also being outsourced, the nonunion public is learning a lesson that they should have figured out twenty years ago.

The only real solution is for Americans to refuse to buy cheaply made, overpriced imports. However, Americans are lousy consumers, that is, they don't understand economics, don't know quality from shoddy merchandise, and are easily gulled into paying high prices for "feature ridden" merchandise that is made very cheaply by what amounts to slave labor.

[hughee99]

10. My thoughts exactly,

but you said it much better than I would have.

[NNN0LHI]

11. Companies are using "slave labor" right here in the US and Americans love those companies

We have people right on this board who can't say enough good things about these companies and no one ever calls them on it.

http://www.flatrock.org.nz/topics/prisons/made_in_the_usa.htm

The Next Best Thing to Slaves

by Jim Hightower

At last US industry has figured out how to compete with Third World wages right here at home. Hire prisoners!

No need to mess with the want ads, employment agencies, or job fairs to find cheap workers, just bustle on down to your state prison and cut a deal for some convicts. Since 1990, 30 states have contracted out prison labour to private companies.

JCPenney, Kmart, and Eddie Bauer are getting such products as jeans, sweatshirts, and toys made by prisoners in Tennessee and Washington State.

IBM, Texas Instruments, and Dell Computer all get circuit boards made by Texas prisoners.

Honda has had car parts made in Ohio prisons, McDonald's has uniforms made in Oregon prisons, AT&T has hired telemarketers in Colorado prisons, and Spalding gets golf balls packed in Hawaii prisons.

California's correctional system has become a one-stop-hiring hall for corporations: San Quentin inmates do data entry for Chevron, Macy's and Bank-America; Ventura inmates take telephone reservations for TWA (yes, this does mean callers are unwittingly giving their credit card numbers to criminals, and, yes, there have been "incidents"); Folsum inmates work for both a plastics manufacturer and a brass faucet maker; and Aveala inmates run an ostrich-slaughtering facility for an exporter that ships the meat to Europe.

Who says American industry is losing its ingenuity? These free enterprisers not only get labour for minimum wage and less from the state, but they also provide no health care, no pensions, no vacations, none of those other frills that pampered softies on the outside are always crying about. Plus these jailbirds always show up on time for work, they don't call in "sick" to go to a ballgame, if they talk back to you you have 'em thrown in solitary, and they darn sure won't be joining some pesky union. I tell you, it's the next best thing to having slaves - maybe better, since the company doesn't even have to feed and house them.

Oh, and here's the best part of all: You can slap a Made-in-the-USA label on every product they make for you!

[AdHocSolver]

12. Remember the slogan displayed at the entrance to Auschwitz: "Arbeit Macht Frei".

This also explains the push to "privatize" prisons in this country.

[Curmudgeoness]

16. And this is another thing that unions used to fight against. Why no more? nt

[NNN0LHI]

19. The UAW exposed Honda for using prison labor and put a stop to it

What did the UAW get for its efforts?

A Honda in every driveway.

Don

[MyNameGoesHere]

14. Never have understod why unions

negotiate wages and benefits as part of the same contract. I believe it gives power to the owners to cut one for the other and make it seem like workers actually got something. To late people have figured out that benefits means quality of life more than wage hikes.

[amborin]

15. K&R

[donheld]

17. No Coincidence at all

It's going to get worse unless the masses get off their asses.

[donheld]

18. No Coincidence at all

It's going to get worse unless the masses get off their asses.