Union leader: U.S. late to take economic action

[Omaha Steve]

http://media.www.michigandaily.com/media/storage/paper851/news/2008/03/19/National/Union.Leader.U.s.Late.To.Take.Economic.Action-3274836.shtml

AFL-CIO official pushes for policies that help middle class

By Ivy Wei, for the Daily on 3/19/08

Richard Trumka, an executive in the nation's largest labor union, said the country's economic infrastructure is failing the working class and is to blame for the growing wealth gap in America during a talk yesterday in the Michigan Union.

Addressing about 40 people, Trumka, the secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organization, better known as the AFL-CIO, said people are only now stepping back to examine the nation's poor economic situation.


(SAID ALSALAH/Daily)


"It takes the collapse of the housing industry, the subprime mortgage crisis, and a 15-percent plunge in the stock market to get the nation's attention," said Trumka in the Union's Pendleton Room.

He added that the nation has been "growing apart economically, politically, and socially for the past 30 years."

To avoid wage stagflation, job losses, eroding health care benefits and decreasing pensions, middle-class Americans must now work more jobs with longer hours in order, Trumka said.

Trumka said rising education costs have also been a major burden on the lower and middle classes, citing research showing that people between ages 24 and 34 spend about a quarter of their income on debt, making it difficult for them to eventually become homeowners.

FULL story at link.

[katty]

1. K&R

ain't it the truth?!!


he states: "It takes the collapse of the housing industry, the subprime mortgage crisis, and a 15-percent plunge in the stock market to get the nation's attention," said Trumka in the Union's Pendleton Room.

He added that the nation has been "growing apart economically, politically, and socially for the past 30 years."

[Earth Bound Misfit]

2. k & r

"It doesn't have to be this way," he said. "Workers, families, and unions, can rebuild and restore the American dream."

Amen to that. But not under the current NLRB & DOL of the * regime-- SUPPORT THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT.
http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/