Switch to the mobile version of this page.

Arkansas Times

Arkansas Blog

Archives | RSS

« Killing in SWLR early this morning | The frackers come to Ohio »

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Economy Belatedly, regret for the decline of unions

Posted by Max Brantley on Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 6:06 AM

LOOK FOR THE UNION LABEL: Garment workers strike in 1909.

LOOK FOR THE UNION LABEL: Garment workers strike in 1909.

Joe Nocera, inspired by a new book by Tim Noah on income inequality, decides maybe unions aren't such a terrible thing after all.

Union representation of workers has steadily declined to about 12 percent of the workforce (though with an even punier representation in Arkansas, the "union bosses" remain a sure applause line for wingnut Arkansas Republicans.)

“Draw one line on a graph charting the decline in union membership, then superimpose a second line charting the decline in middle-class income share,” writes Noah, “and you will find that the two lines are nearly identical.” Richard Freeman, a Harvard economist, has estimated that the decline of unions explains about 20 percent of the income gap.

This makes perfect sense, of course. Company managements don’t pay workers any more than they have to — look, for instance, at Walmart, one of the most virulently antiunion companies in the country. In their heyday, unions represented a countervailing force that could extract money for its workers that helped keep them in the middle class. Noah notes that a JPMorgan economist calculated that the majority of increased corporate profits between 2000 and 2007 were the result of “reductions in wages and benefits.”

Where'd the lost wages go? You know the answer to that one. Fatter-than-ever executive paychecks.

Nocera thinks liberals need to rethink joining labor's side. Some liberals — with a choice between labor and multi-millionaire executives of poorly run corporations intent on damaging political agendas — never left.

PS — Gene Jeffress, 4th District Democratic congressional candidate, sent out a photo today of his visit to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall to pick up a contribution.

Tags: unions, income inequality

        
Tweet
Share

Comments (17)

Showing 1-17 of 17

Add a comment

Subscribe to this thread:

By Email

With RSS

Showing 1-17 of 17

More by Max Brantley

Speaking of manure in the Buffalo River watershed

Protectors of the Buffalo National River are up in arms about approval of a permit for a factory hog feeding operation along Big Creek, a major tributary of the Buffalo.
- by Max Brantley
- Apr 18, 2013
UCA, Hendrix opt out of new campus gun law

The University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees voted this morning to opt out of the new state law that allows concealed guns to be carried on campus.
- by Max Brantley
- May 3, 2013
More »

Readers also liked…

'Freedom': Another word for lots to lose

When the Family Council's Jerry Cox and the sex-obsessed Catholic bishop, Anthony Taylor, (more concerned with prohibiting contraception and oppressing gay people than helping immigrants) join hands in the name of "freedom" you may be sure universal freedom is not what they're talking about.
- by Max Brantley
- Jun 7, 2012