The rich continue to do..blah blah

[Qtec]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">NYC <span style='font-size: 14pt'>wage theft</span> victory shows growing role of nonunion labor groups

Jesus Najera’s job at the Brooklyn grocery store Master Food, where he has worked since 2004, used to force him <span style='font-size: 23pt'>to work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, with no overtime, for less than $4 an hour. </span>(The minimum wage is currently $7.25.) Abuses of this magnitude <span style='font-size: 14pt'>are quite common in the low-pay, service sector, especially among the immigrant community.</span>

It has been estimated that more than <span style='font-size: 20pt'>$30 billion <u>is stolen</u></span> from American workers every year. If the cases are fought at all, workers are usually able to reclaim some of their stolen wages, but not their jobs. </div></div>

There is a good ending though. link (http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12300/there_is_power_in_community_allies/)

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Now, a little less than a year later, the workers have won back a significant amount of their stolen wages and secured a union contract specifying benefits and increased pay. </div></div>



Q

[Gayle in MD]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">A new study offers a surprisingly specific answer

What—or who—is killing off the American labor movement? Is it globalization? New technologies? A shift toward services?

None of the above, say John Schmitt and Alexandra Mitukiewicz of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a progressive Washington think tank. It's politics, they argue, in a study released this week titled "Politics Matter: Changes in Unionization Rates in Rich Countries."


</div></div>



<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> "The patterns are consistent with the view that national politics are a more important determinant of recent trends in unionization than globalization or technological change," the authors conclude.


</div></div>



<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
The decline of unions makes it even more difficult to change the political culture to be less hostile to union organizing. And growing union weakness also contributes to rising economic inequality. In a study published last August, sociologists Bruce Western of Harvard and Jake Rosenfeld of the University of Washington concluded that union membership decline contributed to as much as a third of the increase in wage inequality in the past several decades.


</div></div>


http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/12320/what_is_killing_the_labor_movement/