Labor leaders worried about U.S. economy
By Leigh Strope
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Despite new signs the economy is improving, union leaders said the gains are failing to reach America's workers this Labor Day.
Associated Press
"We do not see a reason to be optimistic about the current economic situation," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
"Far too many people are out of work, and many have been out of work a long time," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.
The Commerce Department reported last week that the economy emerged from the doldrums in the second quarter of this year and grew at a solid 3.1 percent annual rate, a better performance than the government thought a month ago.
Yet the economy has lost 2.7 million net jobs since the recession began in March 2001, and the average time people are unemployed is more than 19 weeks. The nation's unemployment rate is at 6.2 percent.
"Far too many people are out of work, and many have been out of work a long time," Sweeney said. "White-collar as well as blue-collar employees are losing jobs, and many of these jobs aren't coming back."
A flood of U.S. jobs is going overseas because of the massive trade deficit, running at an annual rate of $488.5 billion for the first six months of this year, said Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer.
"We need a president who says that no economy can be strong unless you produce jobs at home," he said.
Sweeney blamed the Bush administration for the poor economic outlook for workers this Labor Day holiday. Three rounds of tax cuts passed by Congress have gone to the wealthiest taxpayers and exploded the federal deficit, he said.
Sweeney also criticized the administration's proposal to change overtime pay rules. The Labor Department says its proposal will make more than a million low-income workers eligible for overtime pay, but about 640,000 people could lose their eligibility. A study by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal Washington think tank, said 8 million workers could lose overtime pay.
A Democrat-led vote to block the Labor Department proposal could come up in the Senate next week.
Unions also are looking to next year's presidential election and whittling down their support for one or two of the nine Democrats to challenge President Bush.
"After watching the disastrous policies of the Bush administration, union members are ready to take on the challenge of electing a working people's president," Sweeney said.
President Bush planned to travel to Ohio on Labor Day for an event with the International Union of Operating Engineers.
He was to talk with union members and their families about "the administration's commitment to helping workers and Americans who want to work get back to work," said White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan.
Meanwhile, the number of workers belonging to unions has been on the decline for decades.
In the past half-century, the share of unionized workers in the U.S. workforce has fallen from 34 percent to about 12 percent. In the 1890s, the percentage of unionized workers was less than 5 percent. Michael Merrill, director of the George Meany Memorial Archives in Silver Spring, Md., which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, said the union movement has always gone through spurts.
"In 1929, the labor movement was at 13 percent (of the workforce). Then someone figured out how to organize the manufacturing sector. Now we're trying to figure how to organize the service sector," he said, adding: "We're working hard to keep the flame alive. The glass is less than half full at the moment, but it's not dry."
Knight Ridder News Service contributed to this report.
