RTW Still Wrong for New Hampshire
Last year, despite some twisted political maneuvering and trickery by New Hampshire House Speaker William O’Brien (R), he and other anti-worker lawmakers and their out-of-state backers could not override Gov. John Lynch’s (D) veto of a right to work for less bill. With a new legislative session underway, they’re back at it again.
Thursday, the House labor Committee will hold a hearing on a new right to work (RTW) bill. Although the calendar may have changed, the facts haven’t—right to work is still wrong for New Hampshire, a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report finds.
Political economist Gordon Lafer provides new evidence that RTW laws have failed as economic development strategies and would likely harm New Hampshire. Right to Work: A Failed Policy, A New Hampshire Update strengthens the findings of Right-to-Work: Wrong for New Hampshire, an analysis of why RTW was particularly unsuited to New Hampshire that EPI released last April.
Some of the new evidence Lafer examines that confirms the harm that RTW has caused to state economies includes: Read the rest of this entry »
Who Broke the Economy?
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If you want to prepare yourself for the inevitable election year discussions/arguments with your right-wing uncle or tea party neighbor about the nation’s economy and how we got into the ditch that we’re finally driving out of, check out Failure by Design: The Story Behind America’s Broken Economy.
Named last month by The Washington Post as one of the best political books of 2011, it is a broad narrative of how the economy has failed to deliver for most Americans over much of the past three decades. Says author Josh Bivens, an economist for the Economic Policy Institute (EPI):
Over the past 30 years we’ve seen this rapid increase in inequality in the U.S. economy with more and more of economic growth going to a smaller and smaller slice of the people. None of that was an accident…it was not just something that happened….It happened because we very much changed the policy of the U.S. economy.
He says the policies that were put into place—including “an all assault on the right of workers to organize”—guaranteed “that the already rich got an ever increasing share of economic growth.” In other words, those policies sowed the seeds that grew into the 99 percent.
Click here for a video with Bivens. The book is available through the EPI bookstore and Amazon.
So-Called Right to Work Law Would Reduce Indiana Wages
More evidence that backers of Indiana’s ”right to work” for less (RTW) legislation are wrong when they claim so-called right to work promotes economic growth.
A new report out moments ago from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) finds that if a “right to work” law was adopted in Indiana it would be far more likely to reduce workers’ wages and benefits. It follows the release this morning of similar findings by University of Notre Dame economic professor Marty Wolfson.
In “Working hard to make Indiana look bad: The tortured, uphill case for ‘right to work” political economist Gordon Lafer writes:
In Indiana and elsewhere, large sums of money have been devoted to backing RTW bills, with lobbyists claiming that RTW significantly improves both the number of jobs in a state and the wages people earn because companies that had avoided the state will flock there. The evidence shows that these claims are completely without scientific foundation.
More Proof of CEO Greed (In Case You Had Doubts)
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In 1965, when the U.S. economy was humming, the average CEO collected $24 for every $1 earned by a worker. Today, as the economy struggles, that ratio is $243-to-$1. It sounds bad and as the chart shows, looks even worse. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows the trend here.
The Snapshot graph is part of the EPI report, “Occupy Wall Streeters Are Right About Skewed Economic Rewards in the United States,” released late last month.
EPI Honors Krugman with Distinguished Economist Award
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Paul Krugman, The New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist, was honored last night with the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI‘s) first-ever Distinguished Economist Award.
In this EPI video, Krugman shares his vision for a decent society, discusses the radicalizing impact of the policy debates of the past decade and reveals his philosophy on making our society a better one for all.
Krugman, says Robert Johnson, executive director of the Institute for New Economic Thinking,
does this translation from the technical, high church of economic thinking to things that common sense people can understand.
The award was presented at EPI’s 25 anniversary celebration that also honored former Labor Secretary Ray Marshall, one of EPI’s founding members, and the workers in Wisconsin who rose up against Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) attack on collective bargaining and sparked a nationwide movement. Click here for a video tribute to Marshall and here for a slide on the Wisconsin actions.
Unions Stand with Occupy Movement in Oakland and Nationwide
The Alameda Labor Council and California Labor Federation are standing in solidarity with Occupy Oakland’s Nov. 2 Day of Action. In a message to activists, council Executive Secretary-Treasurer Josie Camacho says working families are “inspired by the spirit of the fight against Wall Street.”
This Day of Action will be a public demonstration of support for the right to peaceably assembly without interference, and against the growing wealth and income inequality created by Wall Street and the actions of the richest 1 percent.
Along with encouraging noontime worksite actions and joining the 5 p.m. PDT mobilization at Oakland City hall, the labor council and its affiliates will hold a “cookout” to feed everyone taking part.
Last week, police used tear gas to disperse Occupy Oakland protesters and arrested dozens. They have since been allowed to return. But authorities have shut down Occupy actions and arrested protesters in other cities, including Atlanta; Chicago; Richmond, Va.; Rochester, N.Y.; and other cities. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says it is a:
tremendous dishonor to America when the voices for the powerless are suppressed by the powerful—the top 1 percent.
Occupy movements continue to stay strong across the nation. In Montana, union members joined Occupy Helena protesters in a march and rally. Says Montana State AFL-CIO Executive Secretary Al Ekblad:
New Report: So-Called Right to Work Is Wrong for Michigan
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and his Republican/tea party supporters—the same gang that eliminated basic democratic rights of cities and towns by imposing a “financial martial law”—are at again. This time they are pushing a so-called right to work law as the answer to state’s foundering economy.
A new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) paper, “‘Right to work’: The wrong answer for Michigan’s economy,” by political economist Gordon Lafer, debunks the claims that backers of Michigan’s “right to work” for less law are peddling. They are the same phony stats and figures trotted out by its backers each time the issue comes up in state legislatures.
Such laws make it illegal for a group of unionized workers to negotiate a contract with union security clauses that require each employee who enjoys the benefit of the contract to pay his or her share of the costs of negotiating and policing it.
Social Security’s a Lifeline for Seniors, Not Deficit Fodder
Washington politicians who want to cut Social Security while they reduce the deficit should give an eye to this recent Snapshot from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). They’ll find there’s no fat to cut.
The average annual Social Security retirement benefit in 2009 was $13,406.40, slightly above the $10,289 federal poverty line for individuals 65 and older but less than the minimum wage.
That modest Social Security payment makes up a substantial share of income in most senior households. In the poorest 40 percent of 65-and-older households, Social Security payouts constitute more than 80 percent of total income. But even middle-income households count on Social Security. It provides the majority of income for more than 60 percent of senior households.
AT&T/T-Mobile Merger is in Public Interest
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Not only would a merger between AT&T and T-Mobile mean that T-Mobile’s more than 20,000 workers have the chance to choose a union without interference, but it would open the door for a high-speed broadband build-out to 97 percent of the population, helping close the digital divide.
To ensure AT&T’s pledge to build out, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) should, if they approve the merger, include service and speed benchmarks the telecommunications giant must meet or face penalties, Communications Workers of America (CWA) research economist Debbie Goldman told an Economic Policy Institute (EPI) policy forum on the merger this morning.
When we weigh all public benefits of the merger against the harm, we believe this in enormous public interest for America.
She said that when T-Mobile’s parent firm, Deutsche Telekom, made the decision to sell its U.S. subsidiary, “The choice was T-Mobile was going to be sold and who was going to buy it. AT&T is cleary the better choice.” If the merger isn’t approved, it is likely Read the rest of this entry »
Even in Hard Times, Boosting Minimum Wage Makes Sense
A handful of states this year have introduced bills to raise their minimum wage. That’s generated the usual cries from business groups and the regular gang of lawmakers who fight darn near every piece of pro-worker legislation that comes along.
OMG! Raising the minimum wage in the middle of an economic crisis with more than 9 percent unemployment will kill jobs. Disaster!
Well, as usual they are wrong. Raising the minimum wage not only won’t cause job loss, but it’s good for the economy, say David Madland and Nick Bunker at the American Worker Project. The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour but states can and do establish higher rates.
