Laboring for American Workers

Laboring for American Workers
Nicholas Johnson
The Gazette, August 31, 2022, p. A5
Where have all the workers gone? And what can Democrats do about it next Monday?

Had Democrats stuck with the coalition Franklin Roosevelt bequeathed them they would today be winning by wide margins every election from the local schoolhouse to the White House.

That coalition carries forward in the name, “the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party.” Not incidentally, that party controls half of Minnesota's U.S. House seats, both U.S. Senate seats, the lower house of the state legislature, and the governorship.

Both parties have watched the cost of presidential and congressional campaign expenses go from $23 million in 1952 ($257 million in 2020 dollars) to $14.4 billion in 2020 – a 56 fold increase.

In response, the Democrats tried to build a national political party with money from the east coast and voters on the left coast. The result? Flyover country became fly away country. When workers asked, “What have you done for us lately?” all they heard was crickets.

By the 2020 election 83 percent of the 3112 U.S. counties studied were solid Republican. Iowa Democrats’ results were worse: 94 percent of the counties went for Trump. (Democrats picked up the three counties with state universities plus Polk, Linn, and Scott.)

The pay and benefits of union jobs that had enabled workers to enjoy the middle-class rewards of homes, cars, boats and college-educated kids had largely disappeared. When the air traffic controllers went on strike in 1981 President Reagan shut out the union and fired 3,000 members. His message to industry leaders? Union busting is OK.

In the 1950s 35 percent of private sector workers belonged to unions. By 2012, after a half-century of Republicans’ successful efforts at union busting, it had fallen to 6.6 percent. [Photo credit: The United Food & Commercial Workers International Union.]

Union members were not just a source of funds and votes. They also used to do the most significant share of the heavy lifting – door knocking, leaflet distribution, phone calling, and taking voters to the polls.

Today much of that person-to-person campaigning goes undone.

I recall (but can’t find) a Wall Street Journal item in the early 1960s about a firm in California that claimed it could elect anyone to any office with a $100,000 TV-only campaign. With no TV competition they were quite successful. During 2019-2020 political TV, radio and digital advertising reached $8.5 billion.

But today’s TV effectiveness is not what it used to be. And mastery of political use of social media has yet to occur.

Democrats can’t magic wand their party’s problems away.

Meanwhile, what Democrats can do is to seize the ultimate teachable moment each Labor Day offers the party – starting with next Monday.

They can organize Labor Day Democratic party celebrations and rallies in communities and neighborhoods around the country. They can emphasize what the party’s elected officials have delivered to working people over the past century. Not today’s candidates’ promises. What Republicans have done to oppose them, further enriching the wealthy while ignoring, or opposing, workers’ interests.

It's no cure-all, but it sure would be a good start.
__________
Nicholas Johnson was a board member, DNC Harriman Communications Center. mailbox@nicholasjohnson.org

SOURCES Minnesota DFL. “Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Democratic-Farmer-Labor_Party (“It is currently the state's favored party, controlling half of Minnesota's U.S. House seats, both U.S. Senate seats, the lower house of the state legislature, and the governorship.”)

Campaigns cost. “$23 Million for 1952 Campaigns,” CQ Almanac [Congressional Quarterly], 1953, https://library.cqpress.com/cqalmanac/document.php?id=cqal53-1365614 (“GOP Reports $13,814,997, Democrats $6,159,844 For White House, Capital Races; CQ Lists Spending Reports Of 133 Groups, Names $5,000 Donors In 30 States

The 1952 campaign, Presidential and Congressional, cost the two major parties and other national political groups $23 million, according to reports filed with the Clerk of the House by political organizations. The total includes expenditures for Congressional campaigns. (For detailed analysis of Congressional campaign spending, see page 40.)

Republican Congressional candidates and national and special political committees spent a total of $13.8 million. Democratic groups and candidates spent $6.2 million. The remaining $3 million was recorded as expenditures by labor groups, minor parties and unaffiliated political groups.”)

Karl Evers-Hillstrom, “Most Expensive Ever: 2020 Election Cost $14.4 Billion,” Open Secrets, Feb. 11, 2021, https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2021/02/2020-cycle-cost-14p4-billion-doubling-16/ (“Political spending in the 2020 election totaled $14.4 billion, . . .. While the presidential election drew a record $5.7 billion, congressional races saw a stunning $8.7 billion in total spending.”)

“$1 in 1952 is Worth $11.18 Today,” CPI Inflation Calculator, https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1952?amount=1#:~:text=Value%20of%20%241%20from%201952,cumulative%20price%20increase%20of%201%2C018.02%25 [based on U.S. Bureau of Statistics data] (“Value of $1 from 1952 to 2022. $1 in 1952 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $11.18 today, an increase of $10.18 over 70 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 3.51% per year between 1952 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 1,018.02%.”) [Thus, the 2020 value of $23 million in 1952 would be $257 million.]

Republican counties. Samuel Wonacott, “87% of Americans Live in a County That Has Voted For the Same Party in the Past Three presidential Elections,” Ballotpedia News, news.ballotpedia.org/2022/04/18/87-of-americans-live-in-a-county-that-has-voted-for-the-same-party-in-the-past-three-presidential-elections/ (“After the 2020 presidential election, 288 million Americans lived in either a Solid Democratic or Republican county, 87.2% of the 330 million covered in this analysis.” map of counties; 459 solid Democratic, 2368 solid Republican)

“Donald Trump Won in Iowa,” Politico, Jan. 6, 2021, https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/iowa/ (map showing counties)

Percentage in unions. Mike Collins, “The Decline Of Unions Is A Middle Class Problem,” Forbes, Mar. 19, 2015, https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikecollins/2015/03/19/the-decline-of-unions-is-a-middle-class-problem/?sh=5b0d78667f2d (“President Reagan - Reagan Kicked off the era of union busting by successfully shutting out the air traffic controllers union in 1981. After a nationwide strike 3,000 workers were dismissed by Reagan. This was a signal to industry that union busting was o.k. It was also a signal to future presidents and politicians that taking an anti-union stance was not necessarily a political liability.”

“In 2013 the unionized workforce in America hit a 97 year low. Only 11.3% of all workers were unionized. In the private sector unionization fell to 6.6%, down from a peak of 35% in the 1950s. American corporations have made a concerted effort to get rid of unions and reduce labor costs since 1980, and they have been very successful.”)

“Unions by the Numbers,” Barnes & Thornburg, Jan. 24, 2022, https://btlaw.com/en/insights/blogs/labor-relations/2022/unions-by-the-numbers-2022-edition (“In 2021, the number of wage and salary workers belonging to unions continued to decline (-241,000) to 14.0 million, and the percent who were members of unions was 10.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The rate is down from 10.8 percent in 2020 . . ..” crediting U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

TV ads. Howard Homonoff, “2020 Political Ad Spending Exploded: Did It Work?” Forbes, Dec. 8, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/howardhomonoff/2020/12/08/2020-political-ad-spending-exploded-did-it-work/?sh=7fa848d3ce0d (“In the 2019-2020 election cycle, total political advertising spending reached $8.5 billion across TV, radio and digital media. This was 30% higher than the $6.7 billion projected earlier this year, and 108% more than spending in 2017-2018, which was a record at that time. We saw 9.3 million of TV ads alone in more than 4300 federal, state and local elections ….”)
# # #

Labor Day for All 2016

United We Bargain Divided We Beg
NOTE: This blog essay was first posted September 2, 2014 -- the day after Labor Day that year. It seems even more applicable today, prior to the September 5, 2016, Labor Day Picnic of the Iowa City Federation of Labor.

I am glad to know that there is a system of labor where the laborer can strike if he wants to! I would to God that such a system prevailed all over the world.

-- President Abraham Lincoln, "Notes for Speech at Hartford, Connecticut," March 5, 1860, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 4, p. 7

Labor unions have meant new dignity and pride to millions of our countrymen—human companionship on the job, and music in the home -- to be able to see what larger pay checks mean, not to a man as an employee, but as a husband and as a father -- to know these things is to understand what American labor means.

-- Adlai Stevenson, Democratic Party Presidential Nominee, 1952, 1956

Today in America, unions have a secure place in our industrial life. Only a handful of reactionaries harbor the ugly thought of breaking unions and depriving working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice. I have no use for those -- regardless of their political party . . ..

-- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954

Every advance in this half-century--Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education, one after another--came with the support and leadership of American Labor.

-- President Jimmy Carter [Previous three quotes from "Presidential Quotes."]

It was working men and women who made the 20th century the American century. It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.

-- President Barack Obama, "President Obama on Labor Day: The Fight for America's Workers Continues," Milwaukee, Sept. 6, 2010

_______________
Yesterday, Labor Day, September 1, 2014, I attended the Iowa City Labor Day Picnic in the Iowa City Park -- as I usually do on Labor Day. There are pictures, below, that capture a wee bit of the spirit of that gathering. It is an opportunity once a year for members and friends of labor to gather, share food everyone has provided (what we used to call a "pot luck" meal), listen to political candidates and quality live music, and generally share what was a lovely summer day in the park.

Most union members have at least some notion of the history of labor in this country, and the sacrifices that were made by our predecessors to gain the right to bargain with management collectively rather than individually. There are brief references to that history in Labor Day speeches, but that's about all. The folks present yesterday know that history, and didn't need anyone to run through all the details.

But the day before Labor Day I put a brief comment on Facebook for the benefit of those who don't attend Labor Day picnics, and are apt to know much less about the history of America's working people. It has since gained a couple dozen shares, and many more comments and "likes." But on the assumption you haven't seen it, I'm going to reprint it here, along with the picture of a poster I used with it.

When I wrote it I had done no research, and just spoke from the heart and memory. As you'll see from the quotes above, which I've just found on the Internet, apparently a great many others -- of all political stripes -- have shared these sentiments over the years, from President Lincoln to President Obama.

Here is that Facebook entry:

Regardless of your politics or what you've been told about unions, take a moment tomorrow to thank "Those wonderful folks who brought you the weekend, the minimum wage, the end to child labor, the 40-hour week, a safer workplace than you otherwise would have had, the decades-long fight for healthcare (remember, health INSURANCE is not health CARE), Social Security in your old age -- among a great many other things."

Remember, they also were beaten and died and imprisoned when they stood up for their rights (and ours) in the face of police and National Guard called out by public officials as much in the pocket of the corporate interests of their day as ours are today. Unions were the muscle that built the post-WWII middle class, and booming economy, and elected officials who talked to each other and did stuff. This poster tells it all: "United We Bargain. Divided We Beg." It's the only way that's ever worked. Since the 1980s we've been begging.

Here's my point. On July 4th every American celebrates the Revolutionary War, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the beginning of our nation. It is not a day limited to the descendants of those who fought in that War -- such as the Daughters of the American Revolution. We all celebrate, we all remember.

No, I'm not saying everyone needs to go to a labor union's Labor Day picnic, anymore than everyone should go to a DAR meeting on July 4th. But on both days, I believe, it contributes to our nation's civic health for all of us to reflect upon the debt we owe to those who have gone before us -- along with the ways in which the economic and other problems we have as a nation today are a product of our failure to remember, and apply, the lessons we should have learned when labor unions were a partner with business in building one of the greatest periods in our history.

From 1945 until the 1980s unions were strong. The rich paid substantial taxes, and income inequality was nowhere nearly as stark as it is today. The economy was booming; union workers were paid well, and spent freely, which increased the profits of business, created a demand for more jobs, enabled parents to afford college for their kids, and kept things humming. As a result, both the rich and their workers did better than they otherwise would have.

We need to realize, for example, that what is called a "raise" in the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.50 is not a raise at all -- it is merely bringing the minimum wage back up to the level of buying power it had in 1968.

When Wall Street and big business treat the human mothers and fathers who are their workers as a "cost center," and expense item -- even putting aside the human consequences for a moment -- the resulting decline in the economy, as those workers lose buying power, ends up harming the rich as well as the poor.

Unions, the ability of workers to bargain collectively rather than individually, and to be paid at least a living wage, has always been the only way to maintain any economy -- especially one like ours that is 70% dependent upon consumer spending.

OK, enough of all that. Here are some pictures from a great Iowa City Labor Day.

Here is what the shelter and the grounds looked like when I arrived on my bicycle. Tom Jacobs took this picture; the others are ones I took. Congressman Dave Loebsack had a lot of Labor Day events to hit yesterday, and so was allowed to speak and run before all the food had even been set out.

But the food was soon laid out on a table as long as the shelter house for these folks who like to talk almost more than they like to eat. Some stayed out in the sun, but most gathered at the shelter house tables, as I did.

One of the continuing highlights of the event most years, as it was this year, was the very generous provision of live music throughout the afternoon provided by Pigs and Clover, otherwise known as Matt and Jamie Kearney. They have one of the greatest collections of union songs I've ever heard, great voices, a driving guitar and drum rhythm, and a good sense of fun.

To give you a sense of the music (and the crowd noise) here is a one-minute excerpt from their rendition of "Mean Winds" (taken by me with an iPhone):



As a special event, our Johnson County Attorney, Janet Lyness, took and passed the ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) Ice Bucket Challenge executed by her daughter.

All in all it was a really great day.

September 5, 2016, promises to be as great a day as September 1, 2014 (although no ice bucket challenges are on the program this year so far as I know).

# # #

Labor Day for All

September 2, 2014, 10:45 p.m.

I am glad to know that there is a system of labor where the laborer can strike if he wants to! I would to God that such a system prevailed all over the world.

-- President Abraham Lincoln, "Notes for Speech at Hartford, Connecticut," March 5, 1860, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, vol. 4, p. 7

Labor unions have meant new dignity and pride to millions of our countrymen—human companionship on the job, and music in the home -- to be able to see what larger pay checks mean, not to a man as an employee, but as a husband and as a father -- to know these things is to understand what American labor means.

-- Adlai Stevenson, Democratic Party Presidential Nominee, 1952, 1956

Today in America, unions have a secure place in our industrial life. Only a handful of reactionaries harbor the ugly thought of breaking unions and depriving working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice. I have no use for those -- regardless of their political party . . ..

-- President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954

Every advance in this half-century--Social Security, civil rights, Medicare, aid to education, one after another--came with the support and leadership of American Labor.

-- President Jimmy Carter [Previous three quotes from "Presidential Quotes."]

It was working men and women who made the 20th century the American century. It was the labor movement that helped secure so much of what we take for granted today. The 40-hour work week, the minimum wage, family leave, health insurance, Social Security, Medicare, retirement plans. The cornerstones of the middle-class security all bear the union label.

-- President Barack Obama, "President Obama on Labor Day: The Fight for America's Workers Continues," Milwaukee, Sept. 6, 2010

_______________
Yesterday, Labor Day, September 1, 2014, I attended the Iowa City Labor Day Picnic in the Iowa City Park -- as I usually do on Labor Day. There are pictures, below, that capture a wee bit of the spirit of that gathering. It is an opportunity once a year for members and friends of labor to gather, share food everyone has provided (what we used to call a "pot luck" meal), listen to political candidates and quality live music, and generally share what was a lovely summer day in the park.

Most union members have at least some notion of the history of labor in this country, and the sacrifices that were made by our predecessors to gain the right to bargain with management collectively rather than individually. There are brief references to that history in Labor Day speeches, but that's about all. The folks present yesterday know that history, and didn't need anyone to run through all the details.

But the day before Labor Day I put a brief comment on Facebook for the benefit of those who don't attend Labor Day picnics, and are apt to know much less about the history of America's working people. It has since gained a couple dozen shares, and many more comments and "likes." But on the assumption you haven't seen it, I'm going to reprint it here, along with the picture of a poster I used with it.

When I wrote it I had done no research, and just spoke from the heart and memory. As you'll see from the quotes above, which I've just found on the Internet, apparently a great many others -- of all political stripes -- have shared these sentiments over the years, from President Lincoln to President Obama.



Here is that Facebook entry:

Regardless of your politics or what you've been told about unions, take a moment tomorrow to thank "Those wonderful folks who brought you the weekend, the minimum wage, the end to child labor, the 40-hour week, a safer workplace than you otherwise would have had, the decades-long fight for healthcare (remember, health INSURANCE is not health CARE), Social Security in your old age -- among a great many other things."

Remember, they also were beaten and died and imprisoned when they stood up for their rights (and ours) in the face of police and National Guard called out by public officials as much in the pocket of the corporate interests of their day as ours are today. Unions were the muscle that built the post-WWII middle class, and booming economy, and elected officials who talked to each other and did stuff. This poster tells it all: "United We Bargain. Divided We Beg." It's the only way that's ever worked. Since the 1980s we've been begging.

Here's my point. On July 4th every American celebrates the Revolutionary War, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the beginning of our nation. It is not a day limited to the descendants of those who fought in that War -- such as the Daughters of the American Revolution. We all celebrate, we all remember.

No, I'm not saying everyone needs to go to a labor union's Labor Day picnic, anymore than everyone should go to a DAR meeting on July 4th. But on both days, I believe, it contributes to our nation's civic health for all of us to reflect upon the debt we owe to those who have gone before us -- along with the ways in which the economic and other problems we have as a nation today are a product of our failure to remember, and apply, the lessons we should have learned when labor unions were a partner with business in building one of the greatest periods in our history.

From 1945 until the 1980s unions were strong. The rich paid substantial taxes, and income inequality was nowhere nearly as stark as it is today. The economy was booming; union workers were paid well, and spent freely, which increased the profits of business, created a demand for more jobs, enabled parents to afford college for their kids, and kept things humming. As a result, both the rich and their workers did better than they otherwise would have.

We need to realize, for example, that what is called a "raise" in the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.50 is not a raise at all -- it is merely bringing the minimum wage back up to the level of buying power it had in 1968.

When Wall Street and big business treat the human mothers and fathers who are their workers as a "cost center," and expense item -- even putting aside the human consequences for a moment -- the resulting decline in the economy, as those workers lose buying power, ends up harming the rich as well as the poor.

Unions, the ability of workers to bargain collectively rather than individually, and to be paid at least a living wage, has always been the only way to maintain any economy -- especially one like ours that is 70% dependent upon consumer spending.

OK, enough of all that. Here are some pictures from a great Iowa City Labor Day.

Here is what the shelter and the grounds looked like when I arrived on my bicycle. Tom Jacobs took this picture; the others are ones I took. Congressman Dave Loebsack had a lot of Labor Day events to hit yesterday, and so was allowed to speak and run before all the food had even been set out.

But the food was soon laid out on a table as long as the shelter house for these folks who like to talk almost more than they like to eat. Some stayed out in the sun, but most gathered at the shelter house tables, as I did.

One of the continuing highlights of the event most years, as it was this year, was the very generous provision of live music throughout the afternoon provided by Pigs and Clover, otherwise known as Matt and Jamie Kearney. They have one of the greatest collection of union songs I've ever heard, great voices, a driving guitar and drum rhythm, and a good sense of fun.

To give you a sense of the music (and the crowd noise) here is a one-minute excerpt from their rendition of "Mean Winds" (taken by me with an iPhone):



As a special event, our Johnson County Attorney, Janet Lyness, took and passed the ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) Ice Bucket Challenge executed by her daughter.

All in all it was a really great day.

Labor Day: Honor Workers Every Day

Septembe 6, 2010, 7:20 a.m.

Nick's 2010 Labor Day Press-Citizen Column
(bought to you by FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com*)
For recent blog entries related to labor issues, see Nicholas Johnson, "Finding Jobs on Labor Day; Former Labor Secretary Reich Has Economic Solution," September 5, 2010; and "Danger in the Workplace; Honoring Those Who Built, and Build, America," September 1, 2010.
__________

Honor Workers Every Day

Nicholas Johnson
Iowa City Press-Citizen
September 6, 2010 p. A7
http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20100906/OPINION02/9060303/Honor-workers-every-day
On Wednesday, Tom Fosdick died from injuries sustained Monday, when he fell while replacing Boyd Law Building windows.

On Tuesday, President Obama reported to the American people that we are, at last, out of Iraq -- albeit leaving 50,000 troops, uncounted mercenaries and contract employees.

In the course of his speech, he paid honor to the "over 4,400 Americans who have given their lives in Iraq."

It is appropriate that he do so. Those who put their lives at risk in the streets and sands of Iraq, and made the ultimate sacrifice, certainly are entitled to our respect and honor.

But there are another "over 4,000" American workers who also have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. They, too, are entitled to our respect and honor.

Fosdick has joined their number.

In 2006, there were 5,865 workplace deaths. In 2009, there were 4,340. Apparently a benefit from millions of unemployed is that if they don't have a workplace they're much less likely to be killed in one. Even one year's 4,340 dead workers is the rough equivalent of seven years' dead in Iraq. And 5,865 is more than twice the 2,752 killed on Sept. 11.

Moreover, add in the number of workplace non-fatal injuries and diseases and the number in 2008 was more like 3.7 million.

These are the men and women who build and maintain what our military is defending, and the rest of us take for granted. They are the ones who have done the sometimes literally backbreaking work, who risk injury, disease and death on a daily basis. They built the high-rise office buildings and condos, the highways and bridges, hospitals and schools, the networks of power lines and natural gas pipelines. Three of them died building our Hancher Auditorium. Now another has died refurbishing our law school.

Their ancestors built the canals and railroads that spanned our continent. They now maintain those railroads and subways. They sweat in 100-degree heat in the foundries that produce our tractors.

They construct the wind farms, cell phone towers, and radio and TV towers (and then have to climb them to change the little red light bulb on top) -- including the 11 workers who constructed the 2,063-foot antenna tower in North Dakota for KVLY-TV.

Fortunately, none of those 11 died. The 11 on the BP offshore oil rig did. And so did the 29 coal miners working in an unsafe Massey mine a couple weeks earlier. We've yet to hear the fate of the 13 in last week's Gulf offshore oil rig explosion.

I find it hard to understand those in business and legislatures who sacrifice workplace safety for profits, do everything in their power to beat down unions, OSHA funding, project labor agreements, the right to a livable wage or even an increase in the minimum wage. How can they be mystified as to why Iowa's young folks leave the state for jobs in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois?

As someone who spends his days doing finger exercises on computer keyboards, I am in awe of what these men and women are able to do, and are willing to risk in the process. I stop to speak with them when I go into the law building.

But we don't introduce ourselves and certainly don't exchange business cards. So while I've met and visited with Fosdick's mother and brother, I don't know if Fosdick was ever among the workers with whom I visited, though I like to believe he was.

For me, the memory of Fosdick, the gift of his organs to others, will be something like the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington. Someone for whom I grieve, who symbolizes the others we will never know but should remember to recognize and honor every day.
__________
Nicholas Johnson, a former FCC commissioner, teaches at the University of Iowa College of law.

__________
_______________

* Why do I put this blog ID at the top of the entry, when you know full well what blog you're reading? Because there are a number of Internet sites that, for whatever reason, simply take the blog entries of others and reproduce them as their own without crediting the source. I don't mind the flattering attention, but would appreciate acknowledgment as the source -- even if I have to embed it myself.
-- Nicholas Johnson
# # #

Finding Jobs on Labor Day

September 5, 2010, 7:58 a.m.

Former Labor Secretary Reich Has Economic Solution
(bought to you by FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com*)
Reducing the unnecessarily high numbers of workplace deaths, injuries and disease is always high on labor's wish list -- as we were recently reminded in Iowa City. "Danger in the Workplace; Honoring Those Who Built and Build America," September 1, 2010.

But ranking right up there for labor, especially during this "jobless recovery" (or "jobless stagnation") economy, is finding jobs at which one can both labor and support a family.

Even "unemployment" is inching up. But the much more relevant measure is "underemployment."

"Underemployment" is the total number of those (1) who have recently been "laid off," plus (2) those who have given up looking, plus (3) those working part time who want and need full time work. So far as I know even that number excludes those who are working full or part time, but at jobs, and for pay, far below the level warranted by their professional training, skills and experience (not to mention financial need).

And according to the Gallup Chief Economist, the company's latest survey finds that number, at 18.6%, is now roughly two times the rate of "unemployment." Dennis Jacobe, "U.S. Underemployment at 18.6% in August," September 2, 2010 ("Underemployment, as measured by Gallup, was 18.6% in August, up from 18.4% at the end of July. Underemployment peaked at 20.4% in April and has yet to break below 18.3% this year.")

And of course, even these average numbers presume boiling water comfort. You know the line, "If your foot's in a bucket of ice water, and your hand is in a pan of boiling water, on average you're comfortable."

For professional men and women with advanced university degrees and some years of experience, unemployment, while always devastating for those experiencing it, now affects almost no larger a percentage than in economic boom times, and when it does it tends to last a shorter time for them than the "average time" for others.

For African-American high school dropouts it's a different story. And this is a goodly number of Americans. "In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school." Erik Eckholm, "Plight Deepens for Black Men, Studies Warn," New York Times, March 20, 2006.

Eckholm reports, "Black men in the United States face a far more dire situation than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics, a flurry of new scholarly studies warn . . ..

"In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20's were jobless — that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with . . . 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts. Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20's were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000."

And bear in mind, this is a report from 2006, the "good old days" compared with the worst of the current downturn.

I have repeatedly argued in this blog for a federal jobs program, like those President Roosevelt created in the 1930s. If you want to jump start an economy that is 80% driven by consumer spending, and you're willing to invest trillions of dollars to do it, getting everyone employed is what seems to me to be the no-brainer solution (however politically unpopular in some quarters).

For example, when the car dealers' lots are filled with cars, because consumers either don't have the money to buy them or are too concerned about their future to risk doing so, it makes little sense to give money to corporate CEOs to build more plants and hire more workers. Why would a rational automobile CEO do that; to stack the newly manufactured cars on top of the ones already sitting out on the dealers' lots? One could have easily predicted (as I and a great many others did) that this kind of "stimulus" was not going to work for any sector of our economy (manufacturing, service, or retail). And it hasn't.

(Which is not to say that it has not had any, even very limited, short-term effect whatsoever. It is only to say that it has, rather obviously, not solved our problem -- as, I contend, putting everyone to work with those trillions of dollars would have done, and rather promptly and permanently.)

While that approach is certainly consistent with former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich's understanding of our challenge, I'll be the first to acknowledge that his analysis is far more sophisticated than my own. Robert B. Reich, "How to End the Great Recession," New York Times, September 3, 2010, p. A21.

Organized labor is down to about 7 percent of the private work force.. . .

None of the standard booster rockets are working: near-zero short-term interest rates from the Fed, almost record-low borrowing costs in the bond market, a giant stimulus package and tax credits for small businesses that hire the long-term unemployed have all failed to do enough.

That’s because the real problem has to do with the structure of the economy, not the business cycle. No booster rocket can work unless consumers are able, at some point, to keep the economy moving on their own. . . .

But consumers no longer have the purchasing power to buy the goods and services they produce as workers; for some time now, their means haven’t kept up with what the growing economy could and should have been able to provide them.

This crisis began decades ago when a new wave of technology — things like satellite communications, container ships, computers and eventually the Internet — made it cheaper for American employers to use low-wage labor abroad . . .. The median male worker earns less today, adjusted for inflation, than he did 30 years ago.

But for years American families kept spending . . .. How did families manage this trick? First, women streamed into the paid work force. . . .

Second, everyone put in more hours. . . .

[T]third: going ever deeper into debt. . . . From 2002 to 2007, American households extracted $2.3 trillion from their homes. . . .

Now we’re left to deal with the underlying problem that we’ve avoided for decades. Even if nearly everyone was employed, the vast middle class still wouldn’t have enough money to buy what the economy is capable of producing.

Where have all the economic gains gone? . . . In the late 1970s, the richest 1 percent of American families took in about 9 percent of the nation’s total income; by 2007, the top 1 percent took in 23.5 percent of total income.

It’s no coincidence that the last time income was this concentrated was in 1928. . . .

The rich spend a much smaller proportion of their incomes than the rest of us. . . . [T]he economy is robbed of the demand it needs to keep growing and creating jobs. . . .

[T]he rich . . . invest their earnings . . . anywhere around the globe where they’ll summon the highest returns — . . . often it’s the Cayman Islands, China or elsewhere. . . .

Meanwhile, as the economy grows, the [middle class] spending fuels continued growth . . .. But because this situation can’t be sustained, at some point — 1929 and 2008 offer ready examples — the bill comes due.

This time around, . . . averting another Great Depression-like calamity removed political pressure for more fundamental reform. We’re left instead with a long and seemingly endless Great Jobs Recession.

[T]here is only one way back to full recovery: through more widely shared prosperity. In the 1930s, the American economy was completely restructured. New Deal measures — Social Security, a 40-hour work week with time-and-a-half overtime, unemployment insurance, the right to form unions and bargain collectively, the minimum wage — leveled the playing field.

In the decades after World War II, legislation like the G.I. Bill, a vast expansion of public higher education and civil rights and voting rights laws further reduced economic inequality. Much of this was paid for with a 70 percent to 90 percent marginal income tax on the highest incomes. And as America’s middle class shared more of the economy’s gains, it was able to buy more of the goods and services the economy could provide. The result: rapid growth and more jobs.

By contrast, little has been done since 2008 to widen the circle of prosperity. . . .

[Comparable] measures would not enlarge the budget deficit because they would be paid for. In fact, such moves would help reduce the long-term deficits by getting more Americans back to work and the economy growing again.

Policies that generate more widely shared prosperity lead to stronger and more sustainable economic growth — and that’s good for everyone. The rich are better off with a smaller percentage of a fast-growing economy than a larger share of an economy that’s barely moving. That’s the Labor Day lesson we learned decades ago; until we remember it again, we’ll be stuck in the Great Recession.

Clearly, turning trillions of dollars over to our wealthiest one percent has not helped the poor, the working poor, the underemployed, the working class and the middle class.

It is said that "a rising tide lifts all boats." Whether or not that's true, the absence of any tide at all moves no one's boat. Thus, it turns out that while the rich (and the politicians they control) have been doing in the rest of us, they have been shooting themselves in the wallet as well.
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* Why do I put this blog ID at the top of the entry, when you know full well what blog you're reading? Because there are a number of Internet sites that, for whatever reason, simply take the blog entries of others and reproduce them as their own without crediting the source. I don't mind the flattering attention, but would appreciate acknowledgment as the source -- even if I have to embed it myself.
-- Nicholas Johnson
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Danger in the Workplace

September 1, 2010, 5:40 p.m. [more Sept. 1, 10:00 p.m.; Sept. 2, 5:00 a.m., 11:20 a.m.]

Honoring Those Who Built, and Build, America
(bought to you by FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com*)
I have just come from visiting with the mother and brother of the injured workman, who fell during his work replacing windows on the University of Iowa College of Law Boyd law building. ["Man working on Boyd Law Building renovation seriously injured," Iowa City Press-Citizen, September 1, 2010, online at 9:59 a.m.]

I will not now reveal either his, and their, names nor what I have been told by them until it comes from their statement, which should be available to the media shortly. Nor am I now free to say anything about the details of the OSHA investigation.

But I will be writing about workplace safety generally in this space over the hours and days to come prior to Labor Day, Monday, September 6th.

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KCRG-TV9 local news has just reported, at 6:02 p.m., Sept. 1, that the worker, Tom Fosdick, has died.

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By 6:10 p.m., The Gazette had the story uploaded, along with the statements from the University and the family, consistent with what I had been told by them earlier. It is reproduced below.

[Update Sept. 2, 5:00 a.m.: The Gazette's hard copy edition story is, Diane Heldt, "Fatal accident at UI under review," The Gazette, Sept. 2, 2010, p. A2 (and on "The Green Gazette"). The Press-Citizen's hard copy and online update is B.A. Morelli, "Worker dies from injuries; Was working on construction job at Boyd Law Building," Iowa City Press-Citizen, Sept. 2, 2010, p. A3. The Des Moines Register is carrying Morelli's story as well, B.A. Morelli, "Ex-University of Iowa diver dies in campus work accident," Des Moines Register, Sept. 2, 2010. The Daily Iowan uploaded its online story at 7:20 a.m., Sept. 2: Reid Chandler and Mitchell Schmidt, "Worker dies after accident in Boyd Law Building," The Daily Iowan, Sept. 2, 2010, p. A1.]

Update Sept. 2, 11:20 a.m.: And meanwhile, in a related story from the Gulf of Mexico . . . Oh boy, here we go again with the technology BP and President Obama assured us was near-perfect a week or so before the last Gulf disaster ["It turns out by the way, that oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills. They are technologically very advanced. Even during Katrina, the spills didn’t come from the oil rigs, they came from the refineries onshore." White House, April 2]: "Coast Guard Reports Blast on Rig in Gulf of Mexico," Associated Press/New York Times, Sept. 2, 2010, "2 minutes ago." "A rescue operation has begun, with initial reports suggesting that all 13 crew members were in the water, the Coast Guard said on Thursday. . . . GRAND ISLE, La. (AP) -- An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site where BP's undersea well spilled after a rig explosion." More.

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[Comment, Sept. 1, 10:00 p.m.] Last evening (Aug. 31) President Obama reported to the American people that we are, at last, out of Iraq -- albeit we're leaving behind 50,000 non-combat-but-armed-and-ready-for-combat American troops and 100,000 uncounted (and unrecognized), though much more highly paid, mercenaries and private contractors. We also leave behind, on our Chinese credit card, what's much more likely to be an ultimate $2 or $3-trillion-dollar-debt for my great granddaughter to pay off than the $1 trillion Obama mentioned .

In the course of his speech he paid honor to the "over 4,400 Americans who have given their lives in Iraq." Office of the Press Secretary, "Remarks by the President in Address to the Nation on the End of Combat Operations in Iraq," Aug. 31, 2010.

It is appropriate that he, indeed that all of us, do so. Whatever one thinks of the Iraq war, those who followed the orders of their Commanders in Chief (Bush and Obama), put their lives at risk in the sands and streets of Iraq, and made the ultimate sacrifice, are surely entitled to our respect and honor.

But there are another "over 4000" Americans who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country, and who are also entitled to our respect and honor.

And now Tom Fosdick has joined their number.

These 4340 deaths occurred not over the seven-year span of the Second Iraq War. They occurred during one year: 2009. And believe it or not, that was a low year -- perhaps the only benefit to flow from the millions of unemployed during our economic downturn. It's pretty hard to be killed in the workplace when you don't have a job. Unemployment has produced a 26% decline in workplace deaths since 2006, which would put the number that year at 5865.

This is almost as many in 2009 as all the military deaths during the Iraq War; it is significantly more than the 2752 killed in the Twin Towers on 9/11.

Moreover, when you add in the number of workplace non-fatal injuries and diseases the number is more like 3.7 million (2008). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Injuries, Illnesses and Fatalities."

These are the men and women who have built what it is the military is defending; what it is we take for granted and use every day. These are the folks who do the sometimes literally back breaking work, who risk injury, disease and death on a daily basis, to build the high rise office buildings and condos, the highways and bridges, hospitals and schools (including law schools; three workers lost their lives building Hancher Auditorium for us to enjoy), the networks of power lines and natural gas pipelines, whose ancestors built the canals and then the railroads that spanned our continent -- and who now maintain those railroads and subways. They sweat in over-100-degree heat working in the foundries that produce our tractors.

They construct the wind farms, cell phone towers, and radio and TV towers (and then have to climb them to change the little red light bulb on top) -- including the 11 workers who constructed the 2063-foot TV antenna tower in North Dakota for KVLY-TV.

Fortunately, none of those 11 died. The 11 on the BP offshore oil rig did. And so did the 29 coal miners working in an unsafe Massey mine a couple weeks earlier.

So as someone who spends his days doing finger exercises on computer keyboards, I am in awe and deep appreciation for what these men and women are able to do, and are willing to risk in the process. I stop to speak, find out what the beef is when they're standing with picket signs, compliment them for quality work when they're on the job, thank them. And I argue with legislators and business people who do everything in their power to beat down unions, project labor agreements, the right to a livable wage, or even an increase in the minimum wage (and then remain mystified as to why Iowa's young folks leave the state for jobs in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois).

And so it was at the law school. After I put my bicycle away on the rack and gathered my things, I'd check in with them to see how they were doing. Ask them what they thought the weather would be. Josh and joke -- and thank them for working to improve the building where all I do is sit in a nice office, read and write, talk with colleagues and students, and teach a class.

But we don't introduce ourselves, and certainly don't exchange business cards. So while I've met and visited with Tom's mother and brother, I don't know if Tom was ever among those I visited with or not, though I like to believe he was. As a swimmer, I'll bet he knew my neighbor, Irving Weber.

For me, his memory, his organs gifts to others, will be something like the "tomb of the unknown soldier" in Arlington Cemetery. Someone for whom I grieve, someone who symbolizes for me those we should honor everyday, not just Labor Day; those who build and maintain America, and who risk their health and lives, for the most part, without ever receiving even recognition of their existence, let alone thanks.

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Diane Heldt, "Worker dies from incident at Iowa law building," The Gazette Online, September 1, 2010, 6:10 p.m.

University of Iowa officials continue to review the Monday accident at a campus construction project that killed a Cedar Rapids man.

Tom Fosdick, 49, died Wednesday at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. In a statement, the family of the Cedar Rapids man said they were grateful they were able to say goodbye to him as a family at the hospital.

“The tremendous sense of loss we felt following Tom’s tragic accident has only deepened with his passing today,” the family said in the statement.

They followed Fosdick’s wishes and donated his organs and tissue, the family said.

“He was a generous and caring man, and he would be happy to help others even in the face of this tragedy,” they said in the statement.

Fosdick was working as a private contractor on a construction project at the Boyd Law Building. Wisconsin-based Miron Construction was the general contractor on the project, but Fosdick was working for subcontractor Swanson Glass, Craig Uhlenbrauck, Miron’s vice president of marketing, said.

Swanson employees were doing a window installation Monday when the accident happened, Uhlenbrauck said. He didn’t know specifics of the incident, and referred questions to Kevin Swanson, with Swanson Glass, who did not return a message.

“Our prayers are with that family,” Uhlenbrauck said.

The construction work at Boyd Law was suspended on Monday and it’s unknown when the project will resume, UI Spokesman Tom Moore said. The UI continues to review the accident, as do the contractors on the project, Moore said.

“I do know the incident will be reported to OSHA,” Moore said. “I do not know the status of OSHA’s investigation.”

A state spokeswoman would not release information on the UI accident specifically, but said typically in cases that involve serious injury or death, Iowa Occupational Safety and Health investigates.

“Under federal law, information related to OSHA investigations is confidential until any type of investigation is complete and a report has been issued,” Kerry Koonce, spokeswoman with Iowa Workforce Development, said.

Fosdick was an All-American diver as a prep athlete at Cedar Rapids Kennedy and joined the Hawkeye swimming and diving team in 1979, according to a statement released by UI officials.

“We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and hope that they will find some measure of comfort in the support of their friends and community,” UI officials said in the statement.

Fosdick Family Statement:

We wish to thank our family, friends and community members for their support during this very difficult time for the Fosdick family. Your thoughts and prayers mean more to us than you can ever know. The tremendous sense of loss we felt following Tom’s tragic accident has only deepened with his passing today. We are grateful that we as a family were able to say good-bye to him. We are proud to follow his wishes that his organs and tissue be donated in order to give the gift of life to others. He was a generous and caring man, and he would be happy to help others even in the face of this tragedy. Thank you again for your support.

UI statement:

It is with deep sadness that the University of Iowa learned of the death of Tom Fosdick today. Tom was 49 years old. He was injured while working as a private contractor on a project at the UI Boyd Law Building on Monday, August 30. An All-American diver as a prep athlete at Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School, he joined the Hawkeye swimming and diving team in 1979. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and hope that they will find some measure of comfort in the support of their friends and community.

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* Why do I put this blog ID at the top of the entry, when you know full well what blog you're reading? Because there are a number of Internet sites that, for whatever reason, simply take the blog entries of others and reproduce them as their own without crediting the source. I don't mind the flattering attention, but would appreciate acknowledgment as the source -- even if I have to embed it myself.
-- Nicholas Johnson
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Labor and Schools Deserve Respect, Support

September 7, 2009, 7:00 a.m.

Labor Day Monday, School Board Election Tuesday
(brought to you by FromDC2Iowa.blogspot.com*)
Labor Day. Although labor day began in Canada a good decade before it made its way south to the U.S. in 1882, it wasn't formally recognized until 1884. President Grover Cleveland had acceded to the corporate pressure from the railroads, and called out the military and U.S. marshals to crush the Pullman strike -- ultimately resulting in the death of 13 workers and serious injury to 57 more. Wishing to distance themselves from the resulting understandably hostile labor union movement, a mere six days later members of Congress unanimously passed legislation making Labor Day a national holiday. So it has been ever since, including today, September 7, 2009.

It is fitting that the day was born out of conflict between government and big business, on the one hand, and working people on the other. For that conflict has continued to the present day -- including additional death and injury to union organizers during the 125 years since.

We continue to see the anti-union business-government axis even here in Iowa.

o Union members underwrite the cost of contract negotiations -- providing benefits to workers who are not required, in Iowa, to belong to the union. (This includes a good many ICCSD teachers who benefit from the Iowa City Education Association's negotiations, but refuse to join their professional association.) The unions proposed a "fair share" bill that would not have required workers to join the union and pay dues, only that they pay their "fair share" of the costs associated with contract negotiations. The legislature went along with business in refusing to pass the bill.

o "Labor went into the 2009 [Iowa legislative] session with four key priorities: 'fair share,' a bill to expand collective bargaining, a bill to give employees their choice of doctor if injured on the job, and a bill to require that government projects pay the 'prevailing wage.' They got nothing." "Final results from the Iowa Legislature's 2009 session," Bleeding Heartland, April 26, 2009.

o What are some of the consequences of this anti-labor stance of Iowa's business-government axis? "The median male wage in Iowa is lower today than it was a generation ago, in 1979." (p. 12) "Iowa’s median wage . . . ranks the state 32nd in the nation and 77 cents below the national average . . .." (p. 9). Colin Gordon and Christine Ralston, "The State of Working Iowa 2009," Iowa Policy Project, September 6, 2009.

o When I was on the school board I tried to get the board to support a "project labor agreement" -- a concept widely accepted elsewhere (and found to be legal in Iowa) -- for school district projects. It would not have required contractors to hire union members, only that they pay workers the prevailing wage. The local contractors objected, and the board majority supported their anti-union, anti-worker position.

o The Gazette reports on page one, ironically on this Labor Day today, that the "project labor agreement" fight is currently continuing full bore in Cedar Rapids, with the Linn County Board of Supervisors, and Cedar Rapids School District board, apparently siding with the non-union, out-of-state contractors against local workers and union members. Dave DeWitte, "Battleground: Linn Flood Recovery Projects Focus of Contractor, Union Debate," The Gazette, September 7, 2009, p. A1.

o An awful lot of the University's contracts go to non-union contractors -- sometimes requiring re-dos on projects that should (and could) have been done right the first time.

As the bumper sticker has it: "Trade unions: Those wonderful folks who brought you the weekend."

Students who start their "weekend" with Thursday evening's binge drinking (what the Daily Iowan refers to as "80 hours" -- of the 168 in a week) may not know why a steam whistle has been blowing at 8:00, 12:00, 1:00, and 5:00 on Saturdays for as long as I can remember. That's because, when I was a very young boy, everyone worked from 8:00 to noon, and 1:00 to 5:00 on Saturdays (including faculty) -- if they were lucky enough to get more than 20 minutes for lunch.

Why are many Americans working 35 and 40 hour weeks instead of 48 hours? Thank the unions.

The Canadian issue out of which its labor day was born was the fight for a nine hour working day.

Why do we have a minimum wage for all workers? Why are the UI students who are working instead of drinking paid the wages they are? Thank the unions.

In fact, most of the efforts at progressive legislation in this country (some successful, some not) have come as a result of unions' efforts.

We complain, and rightfully so, about American businesses that not only do their manufacturing in other countries, but employ children at low wages to do the work. But children were made to work in factories in this country in the 19th Century. The practice was stopped only after unions worked to pass the child labor laws.

Minimum wages. Maximum hours. Unionization and collective bargaining. Social Security. Medicare. The near century-long struggle we're undergoing at the moment to recognize health care as a basic human right. Unemployment compensation. OSHA and other efforts to create safer workplaces.

The list goes on.

So think about it today. Don't just thank union members for the quality work they do. Don't just honor them on "their day." Thank them for what they've done for you and me, for every American, fighting for the basic rights of everyone who's not a Fortune 500 CEO -- whether they're a member of a union or not.

School Board Election. Since I've taken to writing Monday, Wednesday and Friday (for the most part; no promises) during the teaching semester, I wanted to add a word today about the election tomorrow.

While I thought all of the candidates conducted themselves with civility and responsiveness at last Thursday's forum, Sarah Swisher has seemed to me the strongest candidate of the six. Now it turns out that both the Iowa City Press-Citizen and The Gazette have included her in their endorsements. Editorial, "Dorau, Johnson, Swisher will bring change to board," Iowa City Press-Citizen, September 5, 2009; Editorial, "Iowa City: Cooper, Dorau, Swisher," The Gazette, September 6, 2009, p. A12.

If you're interested in looking at more of my writing this year on K-12 issues generally, and board issues in particular, here are links to that blog entry about last Thursday's forum, and many, many more:

Nicholas Johnson, "School Board Governance: First Things First; School Board Forum Producers Charis-Carlson and Yates Create Hit, But Where Was Candidates' Awareness of "Job One": Their Governance Model?" September 4, 2009;

Nicholas Johnson, "IC School Board Needs Fresh Thinking; Swisher Starting Dialogue,"

Nicholas Johnson, "School Boundaries Consultant Folly; Tough Boundary Questions Are for Board, Not Consultants or Superintendent, Plus: What Consultant Could Do," August 28, 2009;

Nicholas Johnson, "School Board Members' Advice; So You Want to be a School Board Member," August 19, 2009;

Nicholas Johnson, "UI VPs and ICCSD Consultants; Concerns About Consultants and Vice Presidents," August 14, 2009;

Nicholas Johnson, "Cluster Schools: Potential for IC District?" June 3, 2009;

Nicholas Johnson, "School Boundaries; Tonight's Schools Meeting and the more to come," March 30, 2009;

Nicholas Johnson, " Demolition Disaster; Come Let Us Reason Together," March 10, 2009 (contains links to additional sources);

Nicholas Johnson," Roosevelt: Valuing Our Schools; Process and Substance in School Facilities Decisionmaking," March 9, 2009 (contains "Earlier, Related Writing" section with links to seven additional sources).

However you plan to vote, please do. When only 5 or 10% of us turn out for school board elections it sends an uncaring message to our school children; it tells the board members that we not only don't appreciate what they do for us, frankly we don't even care; and it puts our hard working teachers on notice that, so far as we're concerned, they're on their own and will have to deal with the resources they're handed, and the administrators with whom they must deal, with no help from us.

We're better than that. Let's go vote tomorrow.
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* Why do I put this blog ID at the top of the entry, when you know full well what blog you're reading? Because there are a number of Internet sites that, for whatever reason, simply take the blog entries of others and reproduce them as their own without crediting the source. I don't mind the flattering attention, but would appreciate acknowledgment as the source, even if I have to embed it myself. -- Nicholas Johnson

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Anti-Labor Day

September 3, 2007, 8:00 a.m.

Anti-Labor Day
As befits one of the most anti-union, anti-labor states in the nation, none of the top four local papers -- Daily Iowan, Des Moines Register, Gazette and Press-Citizen -- have editorialized about (or even much recognized) that this is "Labor Day."

Because you wouldn't know from the papers today, I thought perhaps it worthwhile to report here that, yes, there is a Labor Day Picnic today in the City Park in Iowa City, upper level Shelter 2, 12 noon to 3:00 p.m. City Council candidate Mike Wright (and others) will speak. It's always a great event. I'll see you there.

The DI is mostly sports, celebrating the Hawkeyes' unimpressive win over some Illinois high school team last Saturday. (This fall's schedule has been rigged so we won't have to suffer the embarrassment of even playing teams like Ohio and Michigan. Of course, we do end the season with Western Michigan, which showed its football prowess last Saturday in holding West Virginia to only 62 points in Western Michigan's 62-24 loss.) The Register at least has another editorial in support of universal, single-payer health care. The Gazette has it's usual "Homers and Gomers." And the Press-Citizen has now caught up with what I was blogging about -- and The Gazette and Register were editorializing about -- last Saturday: the court decision finding Iowa's ban on gay marriage to be unconstitutional.

So it's once again been left up to Johnson County Supervisor Rod Sullivan to remind us what today is all about.

Child labor laws, 40 hour weeks, health insurance, weekends, overtime, vacations, the minimum wage, sick leave, parental leave, OSHA, pensions, disability insurance, employment nondiscrimination, Social Security, health insurance, and so much more. We owe organized labor for all of this.

Here's the whole of his latest "Sullivan Salvos":

Monday marks Labor Day. Every year, I write essentially the same piece, noting the good that organized labor has done for this country.

I said I wouldn¹t do it this year. Sorry, but I can¹t resist. Labor Day is too important to me.

Child labor laws, 40 hour weeks, health insurance, weekends, overtime, vacations, the minimum wage, sick leave, parental leave, OSHA, pensions, disability insurance, employment nondiscrimination, Social Security, health insurance, and so much more. We owe organized labor for all of this.

But labor is not just a part of the past. If we are to have a successful future, labor will need to play a key role. Organizing for better wages and benefits is still the key to pulling folks out of poverty and into the middle class.

You will hear people complain about labor, and explain how labor makes the US ³less competitive². Americans must quit buying into this BS. Who were the real heroes of 9/11? Not Rudy Giuliani, but police, firefighters, and EMTs ­ all union members. We need organized labor now more than ever. It is the great equalizer, and our best anti-poverty program.

I would like to see more Democrats point out how un-American it is for large multi-national corporations to exploit labor and the environment around the globe. I would like to see them stand with labor ­ not just at election time, but all year round.

Similarly, just as corporations have gone global, so must unions. It does no good for anyone to have American workers compete with foreign workers who feel they must settle for so little. When workers of the world unite, workers of the world will improve their lot.

We are frequently urged to support the troops; that is as it should be.
We should also show support for the working men and women of the world. It is un-American to let global profits trump the needs of our families.

Along similar lines, I encourage everyone to reread the final chapter of the Barbara Ehrenreich classic Nickel & Dimed.

You can certainly reread the whole book; it is fantastic. But the final chapter really sums up the difficulties faced by the working poor, including all the ways that organizing can & does help.

Of all the widely-distributed, free e-zines from public officials in this country, "Sullivan's Salvos" is the most constructive, compassionate, consumer-and-taxpayer-oriented, generally supportive and informative of which I am aware. If you're not on the list, but would like to be, just email rodsullivan@mchsi.com with "subscribe" in the subject line.

In fairness, both the Press-Citizen and Gazette did permit others to say something nice about labor this one day of the year.

In fact, it was Rod Sullivan again who had the op ed column in the P-C. It's a moving story of three generations of his family and the beneficial role of unions in their lives that he has personally witnessed (and benefited from). Read it: Rod Sullivan, "Honoring Our Labor Heroes," Iowa City Press-Citizen, September 3, 2007, p. A11. Although, unfortunately, the paper chose to omit any link to his piece from its opening Web page listing of "Opinion" for the day, so without my link you'd have to know how to hunt for it.

The Gazette offers us Ross Eisenbrey, "Labor Day Marks Bad News for Laborers in America," The Gazette, September 3, 2007, p. A4, at the very bottom of its editorial page. Eisenbrey is vice president and policy director of the Economic Policy Institute so, as you might suspect (and the headline hints) it is more in the nature of a news story than an opinion piece. Any passion is found in the numbers, the absolutely devastating numbers, regarding the destruction of America's middle class that followed the deliberate devastation of the union movement, and creation of an ever-increasing gap between the incomes and other benefits of the very rich and those of the working poor and working class.
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