UNITED WE STAND
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
at 8:44 PM
BLUE COLLAR CAMPAIGN.
For a stronger America:
The off-year elections are over. After the holidays, campaigns will be kicking into high gear. Politicians and campaign people are fine tuning positions, modifying platforms, signing up volunteers and putting in new phone lines.
With that in mind, a friend asked me, had I’d won my bid for Congress and could fight for a single cause, what would it be? The answer was easy, I’ve thought long and hard about it: Sustainable Living Wage Jobs.
Sounds good, right? Reasonable, short, and simple. Well, not really. The living wage part is sound and pretty basic, it’s the “sustainable” part that’s complex.
A living wage job is most easily described as a job where all your bills, in a modest lifestyle, can be paid in a 40 hour work week, with a little something left over for leisure activities. Now we get to the “sustainable” part and that’s where it gets complicated.
The reality is:
1) No job can be long sustained without a trained and educated workforce.
2) No job can long be sustained without a healthy workforce.
3) No job can long be sustained without favorable regulations and fair trade policies
4) The best way to sustain Living Wage Jobs is through collective bargaining.
In brief:
1) It was no accident that California became the 6th largest economy in the world. The climate is great, yeah, but It was because of our education system. It was good and it was free! People came from all over the country to establish a California residence for a free college or University education. Businesses were attracted by the same magnet; the best educated work force in the world. In the last several decades, state and federal political judgement have failed us. California is now the 47th worst in a field of 50 and UC tuitions and fees are about to go up by 32%.
2) Our workforce is aging and health insurance costs are sky rocketing. Without serious healthcare reform with a strong public option, the health of our workforce and our small businesses (the nations largest employers) are in serious trouble. One of the reasons our auto manufacturers are in the straits they’re in is because of the costs of medical benefits, approximately $1700.00 per car. Imagine a labor contract that didn’t include those medical costs; higher employee wages, greater corporate profits. Win-win situation.
3) Contrary to the propaganda, free trade is not a race to the top. It is, in fact, a well thought out, long term plan to lower the standard of living across the developed world, from middle class to working poor. It has long been a Conservative ideal that middle class folks with leisure time and expendable income are a threat to the stability of a Capitalist Society and the status quo of our American oligarchy. Call me a protectionist if you will, but I love my standard of living. Since Reagan, I have watched that standard decline and the wealth of a nation move to the top 1%. We cannot stop our businesses from crossing borders, we cannot stop globalization, but we can stop the systematic destruction and dismantling of the middle class. We can put our foot down or exit the WTO. We can end the Most Favored Nation status with our most unfavorable trade partner, China. We can end the notion that Free Trade is good for the American People.
4) The surest way to keep workers happy and productive in a living wage job is to make them feel a part of the company. The best products and services come from Companies where there is some level of rapport between company and employee. A feeling of contribution from both sides of the stained glass, a sense of shared responsibility, not just a laborer or a pay check. The best way to do this is through collective bargaining. A mutual participation in the decision making, in quality of product, in the quality of life of employees at every level, and in the growth and general well-being of the company.
Before you jump on any bandwagon, find out where your candidate or elected official stands on these basic blue collar issues. Keep the American middle-class strong, you have a voice, use it.
For a stronger America:
The off-year elections are over. After the holidays, campaigns will be kicking into high gear. Politicians and campaign people are fine tuning positions, modifying platforms, signing up volunteers and putting in new phone lines.
With that in mind, a friend asked me, had I’d won my bid for Congress and could fight for a single cause, what would it be? The answer was easy, I’ve thought long and hard about it: Sustainable Living Wage Jobs.
Sounds good, right? Reasonable, short, and simple. Well, not really. The living wage part is sound and pretty basic, it’s the “sustainable” part that’s complex.
A living wage job is most easily described as a job where all your bills, in a modest lifestyle, can be paid in a 40 hour work week, with a little something left over for leisure activities. Now we get to the “sustainable” part and that’s where it gets complicated.
The reality is:
1) No job can be long sustained without a trained and educated workforce.
2) No job can long be sustained without a healthy workforce.
3) No job can long be sustained without favorable regulations and fair trade policies
4) The best way to sustain Living Wage Jobs is through collective bargaining.
In brief:
1) It was no accident that California became the 6th largest economy in the world. The climate is great, yeah, but It was because of our education system. It was good and it was free! People came from all over the country to establish a California residence for a free college or University education. Businesses were attracted by the same magnet; the best educated work force in the world. In the last several decades, state and federal political judgement have failed us. California is now the 47th worst in a field of 50 and UC tuitions and fees are about to go up by 32%.
2) Our workforce is aging and health insurance costs are sky rocketing. Without serious healthcare reform with a strong public option, the health of our workforce and our small businesses (the nations largest employers) are in serious trouble. One of the reasons our auto manufacturers are in the straits they’re in is because of the costs of medical benefits, approximately $1700.00 per car. Imagine a labor contract that didn’t include those medical costs; higher employee wages, greater corporate profits. Win-win situation.
3) Contrary to the propaganda, free trade is not a race to the top. It is, in fact, a well thought out, long term plan to lower the standard of living across the developed world, from middle class to working poor. It has long been a Conservative ideal that middle class folks with leisure time and expendable income are a threat to the stability of a Capitalist Society and the status quo of our American oligarchy. Call me a protectionist if you will, but I love my standard of living. Since Reagan, I have watched that standard decline and the wealth of a nation move to the top 1%. We cannot stop our businesses from crossing borders, we cannot stop globalization, but we can stop the systematic destruction and dismantling of the middle class. We can put our foot down or exit the WTO. We can end the Most Favored Nation status with our most unfavorable trade partner, China. We can end the notion that Free Trade is good for the American People.
4) The surest way to keep workers happy and productive in a living wage job is to make them feel a part of the company. The best products and services come from Companies where there is some level of rapport between company and employee. A feeling of contribution from both sides of the stained glass, a sense of shared responsibility, not just a laborer or a pay check. The best way to do this is through collective bargaining. A mutual participation in the decision making, in quality of product, in the quality of life of employees at every level, and in the growth and general well-being of the company.
Before you jump on any bandwagon, find out where your candidate or elected official stands on these basic blue collar issues. Keep the American middle-class strong, you have a voice, use it.
