Union Membership and Middle-Class Income
In the US, right-wing legislators continue their attack on labor unions. These politicians ignore one simple fact: unions were a major force in building and sustaining the great American middle class, and as they declined, so has the middle class. CAP’s Karla Waters and David Madland showed in a report first published in January 2011 that as union membership has steadily declined since 1967, so too has the middle class’s share of national income, as the super-rich have taken a larger share of national income than any time since the 1920s.
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/03/unions-income-inequality/
Police Pursue State Senators
Democrat lawmakers in Wisconsin fled the statehouse in an effort to prevent legislators from reaching a quorum and passing a bill put forth by Gov. Scott Walker (R), which would cripple the collective bargaining rights of public sector unions. Law enforcement officials have been looking for at least one Democratic senator to bring in for a quorum required for the vote. All Democrat lawmakers boarded a bus and left the state. They settled in a hotel in Rockford, Illinois. Public schools in the state capital, Madison, remained closed, as teachers called in sick and students walked out. Gov. Walker hinted that the National Guard would be called in to fill the void left by protesting union workers. On Wednesday, there were an estimated 30,000 protesters rallying in front of the state capitol building, and on Thursday that number was estimated at even higher. Crowds engulfed the state legislature's hallways and its lawns. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said Gov. Walker's plan to eliminate the collective bargaining rights of Wisconsin teachers, nurses, and other workers was just the kind of thing the Republican majority was trying to accomplish in Washington.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/wisconsin-protests-scott-walker-police_n_824697.html
US "Right to Work" Labor Laws
How many Americans actually know what labor laws are like in the rest of the developed world, and how many non-Americans know how bad it is here? Here are some details of the rampant unfairness in the American system:
1. Employers are not required to give any notice or any severance pay. Some do provide severance, but that is purely at their discretion and often accompanied with "sign or you don't get your money" waivers of corporate liability.
2. Employers are not required to provide any paid time off. No paid sick days, no paid vacation time, no paid maternity leave, no paid federal holidays. Many employers, even most, provide one or more of these things as a courtesy.
3. A company with fewer than 15 employees is allowed (in most states) to discriminate against employees on the basis of race, sex, national origin, pregnancy, etc. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act exempts small businesses.
4. Many, many jobs are not required to pay any overtime wage regardless of how many hours you work. This applies not just to executives and managers but to projectionists, carnies, cab drivers, and a host of other occupations.
5. Only 21 of 50 states require any meal or rest break time for adult employees (including both paid and unpaid breaks). Four more require breaks for minors but not adults. There is also no federal restriction on working hours.
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