Far-Sighted Policies Can Fight Growing Income Inequality
The growing gap between the rich and the rest of us is not just a problem in the United States. Over the past two decades income inequality has soared around the world. But a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED) says if nations make the right policy decisions, income inequality is not inevitable and can be reversed.
At a forum today at AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C., John Martin, OECD Director of Employment, Labor and Social Affairs; AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, chairman of the Trade Union Advisory Council to the OECD; and Charles Heeter, chairman of the Business Advisory Council to the OECD, discussed the report and how to close the widening income gap.
The report looked at income inequality in all 34 OECD nations and found that the United States had the second largest increase between 1985 and 2008. Mexico led in the growth of income inequality. In addition, the United States led all nations in the growth of the share of a nation’s income that went to the top 1 percent.
While Trumka praised the OCED for focusing on income inequality, he said the report ignored an important aspect of the growing gap between the 99 percent and the 1 percent, “the dramatic shift in bargaining power between workers and their employers since the 1970s.”
I think the OECD’s work on inequality would be strengthened by a more explicit treatment of power and the policies that have diminished the bargaining power of workers. Read the rest of this entry »
Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s Parent, Fails to Live Up to Its Claims on Labor Rights
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Teresa Casertano in the AFL-CIO Organizing Department’s Global Campaigns section sends us this report.
T-Mobile USA workers were not surprised to learn that a recent report by the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD revealed that T-Mobile owner, Deutsche Telekom, had failed to meet its own claims about corporate social responsibility. Under the corporate social responsibility reporting standards set by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Deutsche Telekom gives itself an A+ rating, yet it provides little evidence to justify granting itself such superior marks.
The TUAC report details the company’s failure to report on global standards and finds that Deutsche Telekom highlighted its practices in its home country of Germany while failing to disclose its labor and human rights record in its non-German operations. The company claims 14 core labor and human rights indicators are “covered completely” in its GRI Report, while a fifteenth is “covered partly.” In fact, the TUAC report shows that only two are covered completely, seven are covered partly, and six are not covered at all. The TUAC report also finds that Deutsche Telekom disproportionately focuses its employee reporting on management employees while making little reference to its policies for tens of thousands of non-management employees. According to the report, only one of Deutsche Telekom’s 17 reported sustainability “Key Performance Indicators” relates to workers at all.
Study: U.S. Has Weakest Labor Protections Among Rich Nations
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A new international comparison makes it clear just how weak protections are for working people in the United States. University of Missouri-St. Louis associate professor Kenneth Thomas reviewed numbers from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and found that in 21 categories,
U.S. workers are more vulnerable than workers in any [OECD] members (rich industrialized democracies) or even the so-called growing BRIC countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China…to being fired unfairly, to not getting severance pay, to getting the least notice on mass layoffs or being fired, to being stuck on a mouse wheel of temporary positions.
Thomas also compared the United States labor protections with those in Estonia, Indonesia and South Africa for good measure. The result, in every case, Thomas says on his blog Middle Class Political Economist, is that
not only is the United States in last place, it isn’t even close.
Check out the numbers here.
Trumka Helps Launch ‘Exiting from the Crisis’ at Global Economic Forum
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The global union movement today took a step forward in its effort to move the global economy away from the failed policies of the past and toward a bold new economic model that focuses on creating jobs and more equitable and sustainable growth.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka joined union leaders from around the world for the 50th Anniversary Forum of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, where they held the European launch of “Exiting From the Crisis,” a volume of essays from more than 30 global trade union leaders and economists.
The book was released last month at the AFL-CIO and now you can go online here where we feature links and nine videos of presentations at the forum held at the book release in Washington, D.C., including one by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, who wrote the foreword to the book. Check out a page of videos from the release here.
World’s Workers Standing with U.S. Public Employees
The freedom to bargain for a better life through a union is recognized as a basic human right around the world. With politicians in the United States trying to take away that basic freedom from public employees, working people around the globe are responding with strong expressions of solidarity.
Several major international workers’ organizations and labor federations in more than 20 countries have spoken out against the abuse of power and assault on U.S. workers.
On Eve of G-20 Summit, Global Unions Call On Korea to Honor Workers’ Rights
When the leaders of the world’s top 20 economies, also known as the G-20, meet Nov. 11–12 in Seoul, Korea, the global union movement will shine a light on the Korean government’s repeated violations of workers’ rights.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka today joined the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in calling on the Korean government to honor its international commitments and respect workers’ rights. In a letter to Korea’s President Lee Myung-bak, Trumka said:
Repeatedly workers and trade unions in Korea are subject to violations of human and trade union rights. The number of arrests and severity of prison sentences as well as physical violence is increasing.
The AFL-CIO calls on the Korean government to honor your international commitments and respect workers’ rights.
Global Union Leaders: Focus on Jobs, Not Deficits
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Global union leaders called on G-20 governments to deliver the promise made at the Pittsburgh summit to “put quality employment at the heart of the recovery” and focus on creating jobs in the short term to sustain the recovery and reduce public deficits in the medium term.
The union leaders from the G-20 countries are warning their governments that efforts to cut budgets and impose fiscal austerity now could plunge the international economy into another, deeper recession. The statement was issued yesterday by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Council (TUAC) to the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).
Lost Gen?
Did the so-called Great Recession create a lost generation of workers?
In this short video clip from the May 26-27, 2010, forum of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka points out how lawmakers should not back off now on creating jobs—because nations’ economies still are at risk of deeper economic troubles.
So, did the “Great” Recession create a lost generation of workers?
Check out the video (on the left) and find out Trumka’s response.
G-20 Labor Leaders Meet at AFL-CIO for Labor Summit
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When the world’s banks were going under, governments jumped to their aid. Now with record numbers of people out of work, it’s past time for governments to put working people first, or the fledgling economic recovery could fall apart. Leaders from the G-20 nations issued this warning while in Washington, D.C., this week for the first-ever meeting of G-20 labor ministers and employment ministers with labor and business leaders April 20-21.
The global union movement has been working to create a G-20 working group on employment and social protection since the global economic crisis erupted in 2008. Beginning at the summit in Pittsburgh last September, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has taken a leading role in the effort to make good jobs the central element in any global economic recovery. The federation hosted a meeting of G-20 labor economists in March to draft policy proposals for the labor ministers’ meeting. Trumka was a lead speaker from the global unions at the ministers’ meeting as well.
The G-20, which is now the main body for global economic policy, includes the leaders of the world’s major economies, together constituting 85 percent of world output and 60 percent of global employment.
Global Unions: Reform Banks Worldwide
The global union movement is calling on other governments to follow President Obama’s commitment to restructure banks as a key part of comprehensive financial regulatory reform. Obama has proposed a series of urgently needed reforms, including an end to the practice of banks using depositors’ money to engage in the kind of high-risk speculative operations, such as hedge funds and private equity, which helped plunge the world into recession.
As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said last week:
Financial companies must not be allowed to go back to business as usual—or worse. We urge the President and Congress to make financial re-regulation a top priority.
