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 »
Locked-Out Iowa BCTGM Workers Fight Locally and Globally
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The French-based sugar and starch maker Roquette Frères opened its production plant in Keokuk, Iowa, 20 years ago, and its promise to create high-quality jobs was a key factor in winning support from local workers and local and state governments. Over the years, the firm has enjoyed tens of millions of dollars in tax benefits and other financial help.
But now, the multinational corporation is breaking its jobs promise to the community and its families by locking out 240 workers at its Keokuk corn milling plant and demanding massive wage, pension and health care concessions from the members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 48G.
The workers are waging their battle for justice both locally and globally. They are mounting a petition drive urging the city, county and state to refrain from awarding the company any additional grants, tax breaks and other economic assistance until Roquette ends the lockout and negotiates in good faith.
At the global level, they filed an international complaint against Roquette. In addition, the AFL-CIO, along with the International Union of Food Workers (IUF) and the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), lodged a formal complaint wit the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) charging Roquette with violating the OECD Guidelines on Multinational Enterprises.
AFL-CIO Opposes Panama Deal, Calls for Trade Policy Review
BREAKING: President Obama has delayed moving the Panama trade deal because of union objections. Read more here.
Congress should not consider the U.S.-Panama trade agreement until Panama implements labor law and tax reforms and the Obama administration lays out a comprehensive, principled trade strategy for the United States.
Testifying before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee today, AFL-CIO Policy Director Thea Lee said the union movement will oppose the Panama deal unless these issues are resolved.
The AFL-CIO has called on Panama to bring its labor laws into compliance with the International Labor Organization’s (ILO’s) minimum standards. For example, Panama’s laws effectively prohibit the forming of a union in most workplaces and seriously limit the right to strike. A growing problem in Panama are the laws that allow employers to circumvent unions by repeatedly hiring the same workers on a temporary basis, rather than hiring them as full-time workers, Lee said.
