Philip Levine: Reflecting the Poet’s Vision of Working in America
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When the nation’s Poet Laureate, Philip Levine, gives a reading of his work tomorrow here at the AFL-CIO, he will recite poems that weave a lyrical web of words around his visceral understanding of the world of work. Levine, whom the Library of Congress named Poet Laureate in May, and who has written of his experiences working in Detroit factories in the post-World War II years, finds his verses especially resonate with America’s workers—and that’s in part because his portrayals are so honest. (To attend the event, which begins at 1 p.m. Nov. 15, RSVP here.)
“I hated many of the jobs I had—they were hard, they were dirty, they were brutal, working lousy hours,” Levine recalls of the time he spent working at forges, on assembly lines and around slag heaps. Yet he also notes:
When I became a union worker, things were a hell of a lot better.
His experiences on the job without a union burned an anger in him so deep that for years he tossed every poem he wrote about that time. Quoting the poet William Wordsworth as saying Read the rest of this entry »
Long Island Working Families Battle Attack on Middle Class
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The attacks on the middle class and the ability of public employees to bargain collectively are spreading from Wisconsin and Ohio to Long Island’s Nassau County, where a proposed bill would gives the county executive the right to unilaterally open contracts and decide what provisions the executive wants to retain, change or eliminate.
Jerry Laricchiuta, president of the Civil and State Employees Association (CSEA) Local 830 in Nassau County, puts the issue bluntly in the video here.
We’re not only defending our rights here in Nassau County, we’re defending the sanctity of the cotnract which has ripple effects across the country.
Or as Suzanne Tirino, president of the Crossing Guard Unit, CSEA Local 830, says:
To open our contracts is unfair, it’s unconstitutional. If our contracts are opened, what do we believe in after that?
U.S. Working Poor Now Majority in Poverty
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How appropriate. We’re drowning in rain here in the nation’s capital, while outside the Beltway, America’s working families are drowning in one disastrous economic wave after another. A few recent nuggets.
- The new working-age (18-64) poor now make up nearly three out of five poor people—a switch from the early 1970s, when children made up the main impoverished group. The nation’s working-age poor share surpasses a previous high of 55.5 percent, first reached in 2004—and are at the highest level since the 1960s when the war on poverty was launched.
- People who are laid off from previously stable employment, if they are lucky enough to find work, take a median wage hit of more than 20 percent, which can persist for decades.
- The median working-age household saw its income decline by $2,700 from 2007 to 2009. As a result, the typical working-age household brought in roughly $5,000 less in 2009 than it did in 2000.
- As the chart here shows, CEO pay last year jumped an average 27.8 percent and is now 325 times the average pay of a U.S. worker.
- The New York Times is now asking, “Can the Middle Class Be Rebuilt?” implying, of course, that the foundation of solid middle-wage earners that fueled America’s historic strength is broken beyond possible repair.
Shout Out to Public Workers in Presidential Proclamation
Some good stuff in the Presidential Proclamation on Labor Day issued by President Obama today.
The right to organize and collectively bargain is a fundamental American value. Since its beginnings in our country, organized labor has raised our living standards and built our middle class. It is the reason we have a minimum wage, weekends away from work to rest and spend time with family, and basic protections in our workplaces….The principles upheld by the honorable laborers of generations past and their unions continue to fuel the growth of our economy and a strong middle class.
And more:
This year has seen a vigorous fight to protect these rights and values, and on this Labor Day, we reaffirm that collective bargaining is a cornerstone of the American dream. From public employees — including teachers, firefighters, police, and others who perform public services — to workers in private industries, these men and women hold the power of our Nation in their hands.
Read the full proclamation here.
And check out a Labor Day video message from Labor Secretary Hilda Solis here.
AFL-CIO Delegates: Making America Work for Working People
Delegates to the AFL-CIO Convention have been heading to Pittsburgh all weekend. In talking with them, it becomes clear that while they seek to accomplish many different things, they are united in one goal: Making America work for working people. Here are some of their voices. (For video clips of each of the delegates below, visit the AFL-CIO Convention online video page.)
AFL-CIO Convention delegate Petee Talley, secretary-treasurer of the Ohio AFL-CIO and proud AFSCME member, is excited to be in Pittsburgh for the convention.
We have lots of issues that the labor movement is looking at, we certainly know that we need to get health care reform passed and then right after that we will be working for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. I’m going to be attending several conferences while I’m here, state and local strategies, which is where we know the heart and soul of the labor movement is—working on the ground in our cities and in states across the country to try to implement our activism and get our activists involved so that we can see really good legislation that’s going to impact working families.
