Bob Herbert: A Race to the Bottom

[babylonsister]

A Race to the Bottom

By BOB HERBERT
Published: December 22, 2008

snip//

It’s time we refocused our lens on American workers and tried to see them in a fairer, more appreciative light.

Working men and women are not getting the credit they deserve for the jobs they do without squawking every day, for the hardships they are enduring in this downturn and for the collective effort they are willing to make to get through the worst economic crisis in the U.S. in decades.

In testimony before the U.S. Senate this month, the president of the United Auto Workers, Ron Gettelfinger, listed some of the sacrifices his members have already made to try and keep the American auto industry viable.

Last year, before the economy went into free fall and before any talk of a government rescue, the autoworkers agreed to a 50 percent cut in wages for new workers at the Big Three, reducing starting pay to a little more than $14 an hour.

That is a development that the society should mourn. The U.A.W. had traditionally been a union through which workers could march into the middle class. Now the march is in the other direction.

Mr. Gettelfinger noted that his members “have not received any base wage increase since 2005 at G.M. and Ford, and since 2006 at Chrysler.”

Some 150,000 jobs at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have vanished outright through downsizing over the past five years. And like the members of Ms. Weingarten’s union (and other workers across the country, whether unionized or not), the autoworkers are prepared to make further sacrifices as required, as long as they are reasonably fair and part of a shared effort with other sectors of the society.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/23/opinion/23herbert.html?_r=2&ref=opinion

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. For me the most striking part of this column was the readers' comments

Overwhelmingly opposed to business as usual, worried about the future of this country, and expressing admiration for the rioters in Greece.

DLCers need to read this to see how well these 300+ comments match the sentiments of the "far left."

[babylonsister]

2. Thanks for the heads-up. I posted this 12 hours ago and

hadn't even considered the comments. I'll check them out.

[yurbud]

3. the DLC needs the same tar and feather treatment the GOP got in the last election

and to join them on the garbage dump of history

[yurbud]

4. the most enraging thing about the DLC is most people don't know who or what they are

because if they did they wouldn't exist.

[babylonsister]

5. What do you think about Bayh's new group?

New dog Senators? :scared:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/14/evan-bayh-forming-conserv_n_150874.html

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. Ugh, sounds like the political arm of the DLC

I bet their "fiscal responsibility" does NOT extend to the Pentagon. If Bayh and his pseudo-Democrats prevail, I predict that the Dems will lose Congress in 2010. We may even see a third party (not necessary leftist, possibly libertarian, since libertarian philosophy sounds good to those who don't think through its implications) gaining traction if neither party is seen as capable of facing the nation's problems.