UE: "Are you saying that many jobs cannot be filled due to skill shortages?"
ME: "Maybe. Let me get back to you on this."
UE: "The skill and education levels of workers have risen over four decades, but wages have stagnated. That's a fact. By the way, are you saying that people must have specialized skills to earn a living wage in America?"
ME: "Short answer: Yes. I don't make the rules, buddy. It's the way markets work. We don't want people like you tinkering with the dynamic, creative motors of the market system."
UE: "Some people think that other people have tinkered in very bad ways--killing unions, sitting on the minimum wage, moving plants, violating labor laws, manipulating money markets, and so on. Markets are rigged by companies and rich people"but you probably think that's a topic for another day."
ME: "We agree on that."
UE: "Let me ask you this. Quite a few economists and journalists think that productivity--output per hour of labor input--has to rise if wages are to go up. I guess they can't imagine where else the money for higher pay could come from. (Pause)
"Since the '70s, worker productivity has increased by something like 70 to 150%, depending on your measure, but the average wage of the average employee has not increased. Maybe it's not about productivity, but about inequality and power. The few grab too much.
"Can I preach a little. Capitalists and their servants have pushed policies that disempower workers. Undermining unions and laws that protect organizers, hiring more temps and contract workers, sending work out of the country, and, sometimes, keeping unemployment high--these things eroded workers' bargaining power."
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
5
4
2
