Both Congress and Corporate America Are Reluctant
To  Create Jobs,  So What Should Unions Be Doing?

By Harry Kelber

Unless organized labor fights for jobs a lot harder and smarter than it has, millions of unemployed workers will never again get to see the inside of a workplace. And you better start believing it, because it may be you or a member of your family who may be victimized.

With all the hoopla about the end of the Great Recession,  the sobering fact is that only 41,000 new jobs were added in the private sector in May  Employers have several options they can exploit to meet their production needs before hiring new—or their former—workers.

They can insist  that their employees  work harder and longer and accept wage cuts or else  end up without a job. They can hire temporary workers from an agency at lower wages, with  no benefits and no worker rights.  They can hire workers under contract for a limited time, and fire them when they don’t need them.

If you are looking for a full-time job with decent wages and benefits, some employers may offer you a job—on their terms.  You may be competing  with  thousands of workers who may  also want that job. With some 24 million people involuntarily unemployed, employers are under no compulsion to hire any workers they don’t need. And of course, every employer wants to cut his labor costs by holding off on new hires  So what do  leaders of the  AFL-CIO and Change to Win  propose to do about it?

It would be great if President Obama would launch a  massive public works program, similar to the New Deal of the 1930s, but he and Congress are focusing on cutting the budget deficit; while  job  creation has been put  on the back burner.

Trumka Calls for Bold Action on Jobs, but Offers None

Remember when Trumka addressed a rally in Wall Street and said: “”We’re here today. We’ll be here tomorrow. And we’re not going to stop  until we create the 11 million good jobs we need  and rebuild the middle class!”  That was  sheer rhetorical hokum. Trumka didn’t show up the next day or any day thereafter.  How can you believe the guy?

Trumka ordered dozens of rallies around the country to push the slogans, “Decent Jobs Now” and “Make Wall Street Pay!”  But he never confronted the bankers and financiers directly,  so how could he even try to “make them pay?”

When members of Congress were on a seven-day recess, enjoying  Memorial Day weekend,  Trumka could have arranged for delegations of union members to visit their districts.  He did not.

Hundreds of thousands of good-paying professional and blue-collar  U.S. jobs have gone to China, India and other low-wage countries,  and Trumka could think of no action by the AFL-CIO that could discourage those companies.

Trumka has lost a lot of credibility with union members because he comes across as all talk and no action.

*   *   *  *   *

If we want to persuade Congress and President Obama to launch a massive jobs program, similar to the New Deal’s public works projects of the 1930’s, millions of union members must become involved  in a high-pressure jobs  campaign, especially the unemployed.

Can we find new leaders in the State AFL-CIOs, Central Labor Councils and local unions to take on this task?  Or shall we abandon the unemployed and lose the jobs campaign by default?—Harry Kelber