Unions Decline, China Rises...the Great Shrinking of American Manufacturing
David Letterman quips that Americans celebrate Labor Day by going out and buying stuff made in China. That would be funny if it weren't so obviously true. A little weekend shopping - a new ice bucket (still can't fathom what happened to the old one), a salad bowl and some tea candles - resulted in a handful of purchases all made in China or somewhere else. Not even one American-made product in the shopping bag.
Can America remain a global power without a manufacturing economy? I guess we'll find out.
As the president rolls out a new plan to create jobs and address American infrastructure needs, the icy facts about the decline of the nation's ability to plan, design and build things is hard to ignore, even as most in policy positions do just that.
Once upon a time Labor Day was about celebrating the American Labor movement. From Boston to Butte, from the IWW to the IBEW, unions fought, scrapped, lost and won battles that shaped the American economy. Not so much in the 21st Century. The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne connects the lack of American prosperity today to the great shrinking labor movement. A third of American workers belonged to a union in the prosperous 1950's. The number is just over 12 percent today. I'll leave it to the labor economists to connect the dots, if they can be connected - organized labor's demise = decline in American manufacturing = a struggling U.S. economy = increasing separation among the very wealthy and the rest of our society.
As the American Prospect noted late last year, the U.S. lost 5.5 million - 32 percent - of all its manufacturing jobs from October 2000 to October 2009. More people are unemployed in the United States today than are employed in manufacturing. Since 2001, more than 42,000 American factories have gone the way of the dodo bird. Not resting, but dead. Meanwhile, China's manufacturing economy is cited as a reason for a bump last week in the Asia stock markets.
Twenty-five years ago, Idahoans - in the legislature and at the ballot box - pulled the teeth of organized labor in Idaho. It was the nastiest, toughest, most consequential political fight in my time in the state. Conservatives won and the number of Idahoans who are members of labor unions declined by 50 percent. With those declines went the once not inconsiderable clout of organized labor to field political foot soldiers and contribute campaign cash. You can mark the steady decline of Idaho's Democratic Party over the last 25 years to the passage of Right to Work in 1986, even as Cecil Andrus, an opponent of Right to Work and a favorite in the union halls, was returned to the governorship that year.
You can still get a debate going by asking whether Right to Work has been good - or not - for Idaho. Conservatives argue that job growth over those years proves that Idaho is a great place to do business. Others suggest that Idaho's declining standing in wages, as compared to the rest of the country, proves that the law has been bad for workers. That debate will never be settled.
Writing in the Post, Harold Meyerson contends that the Great Recession has harmed American workers far more than their counterparts in Europe where organized labor remains strong and a substantial political force. The clout of American labor will continue to decline unless and until leaders of the movement quit doing the same thing over and over and hoping for different results.
Before I get typecast as nostalgic for the "good ol' days" of shift changes, suds at the union hall and Labor Day picnics, I'll offer the thought that union leaders must shoulder a good deal of the responsibility for the decline they so readily lament. They have often been tone deaf, cranky and unreasonable and restoring anything approaching their historic standing will require a new generation with new attitudes and tactics. We'll see.
Still, on this Labor Day this much is true: for whatever reason(s), the American - and Idaho - economy is a lot different than it was a quarter century ago. Lots of "blue collar" jobs in traditional industries are gone forever. Chinese exports flood the U.S. market. Politicians make Labor Day speeches about rebuilding the nation's economy, but you have to wonder, as another holiday designed to honor labor comes and goes, whether we can rebuild without building things - all kinds of things - again.
Showing posts with label Labor Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Labor Day. Show all posts
Monday, September 6, 2010
Putting the Labor in Labor Day
Unions Decline, China Rises...the Great Shrinking of American Manufacturing
David Letterman quips that Americans celebrate Labor Day by going out and buying stuff made in China. That would be funny if it weren't so obviously true. A little weekend shopping - a new ice bucket (still can't fathom what happened to the old one), a salad bowl and some tea candles - resulted in a handful of purchases all made in China or somewhere else. Not even one American-made product in the shopping bag.
Can America remain a global power without a manufacturing economy? I guess we'll find out.
As the president rolls out a new plan to create jobs and address American infrastructure needs, the icy facts about the decline of the nation's ability to plan, design and build things is hard to ignore, even as most in policy positions do just that.
Once upon a time Labor Day was about celebrating the American Labor movement. From Boston to Butte, from the IWW to the IBEW, unions fought, scrapped, lost and won battles that shaped the American economy. Not so much in the 21st Century. The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne connects the lack of American prosperity today to the great shrinking labor movement. A third of American workers belonged to a union in the prosperous 1950's. The number is just over 12 percent today. I'll leave it to the labor economists to connect the dots, if they can be connected - organized labor's demise = decline in American manufacturing = a struggling U.S. economy = increasing separation among the very wealthy and the rest of our society.
As the American Prospect noted late last year, the U.S. lost 5.5 million - 32 percent - of all its manufacturing jobs from October 2000 to October 2009. More people are unemployed in the United States today than are employed in manufacturing. Since 2001, more than 42,000 American factories have gone the way of the dodo bird. Not resting, but dead. Meanwhile, China's manufacturing economy is cited as a reason for a bump last week in the Asia stock markets.
Twenty-five years ago, Idahoans - in the legislature and at the ballot box - pulled the teeth of organized labor in Idaho. It was the nastiest, toughest, most consequential political fight in my time in the state. Conservatives won and the number of Idahoans who are members of labor unions declined by 50 percent. With those declines went the once not inconsiderable clout of organized labor to field political foot soldiers and contribute campaign cash. You can mark the steady decline of Idaho's Democratic Party over the last 25 years to the passage of Right to Work in 1986, even as Cecil Andrus, an opponent of Right to Work and a favorite in the union halls, was returned to the governorship that year.
You can still get a debate going by asking whether Right to Work has been good - or not - for Idaho. Conservatives argue that job growth over those years proves that Idaho is a great place to do business. Others suggest that Idaho's declining standing in wages, as compared to the rest of the country, proves that the law has been bad for workers. That debate will never be settled.
Writing in the Post, Harold Meyerson contends that the Great Recession has harmed American workers far more than their counterparts in Europe where organized labor remains strong and a substantial political force. The clout of American labor will continue to decline unless and until leaders of the movement quit doing the same thing over and over and hoping for different results.
Before I get typecast as nostalgic for the "good ol' days" of shift changes, suds at the union hall and Labor Day picnics, I'll offer the thought that union leaders must shoulder a good deal of the responsibility for the decline they so readily lament. They have often been tone deaf, cranky and unreasonable and restoring anything approaching their historic standing will require a new generation with new attitudes and tactics. We'll see.
Still, on this Labor Day this much is true: for whatever reason(s), the American - and Idaho - economy is a lot different than it was a quarter century ago. Lots of "blue collar" jobs in traditional industries are gone forever. Chinese exports flood the U.S. market. Politicians make Labor Day speeches about rebuilding the nation's economy, but you have to wonder, as another holiday designed to honor labor comes and goes, whether we can rebuild without building things - all kinds of things - again.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Happy Labor Day
Not Particularly Important News...
This pint of stout will soon make sense. Trust me.
But before we turn to the Irish drink, a random, regional round-up of some not very important news (including nothing whatsoever on health care reform) on the last weekend of the summer.
From Oregon:
Let us acknowledge that Oregon was the first state in the nation to officially declare the first Monday in September as Labor Day. It happened, according to the Department of Labor, in 1887. Good idea, Oregon.
From Idaho:
A San Diego Examiner travel writer, Gary Robinson, writes this weekend about the tiny southeastern Idaho community of Franklin, Idaho (population 673) where he grew up. Robinson notes that since the beginning of the Idaho Lottery in 1989, Franklin has been a steaming hot bed of ticket sales. The Utah state line is just beyond the southern city limits, making Franklin the "home of the Utah lottery" and the Beehive State a chief supporter of school and public building construction in Idaho. We need the help.
From Washington:
The good news here is that the day after Labor Day will see the re-opening of the fabulous Seattle Public Library. Like most cities, Seattle has been struggling to close a budget gap and one tactic was to shut down the city's libraries for a week. Budget sense, perhaps, but for bookish Seattle not an altogether popular move. As the Associated Press reported: "'I think it's a very sad day — week — for the city of Seattle that they can't access their local library, which is one of the most heavily used libraries in the country," said Nancy Pearl, the city's ex-librarian superstar and the author of 'Book Lust,' a best-selling tribute to the joy of reading.'" If you get to Seattle, visit the downtown library. It's almost always open.
And...From Montana:
Another closing - the M&M Bar in Butte - made headlines all across the Big Sky state. The ancient Butte watering hole once claimed it never closed, but a dispute over a power bill had thirsty patrons looking for another venue, temporarily we can hope, at which to raise a glass. I have a feeling those in need of a pint this weekend in Butte found an acceptable alternative. There are always options in Butte. Which brings me to that pint of Guinness.
The venerable Irish Times (a great website, by the way) had as the top story on Sunday Kilkinny's fourth consecutive All-Ireland Hurling Championship. (Click here if you feel you need the details of the game or just want to be able to drop "hurling" details into your next cocktail chat.)
Delving a bit further into the Times reveals the "news" that the country's health service is claiming that Irish adults consume "550 pints per year." (No statistics readily available to compare those numbers to heavily Irish Butte.)
The Irish "strategic task force on alcohol" is quoted as saying that the 550 number "is a conservative figure given that abstainers are not excluded and represent about 20% of the adult population.”
What can you possibly say after that? The only thing I can think of: Guinness - it's good for you! True in Dublin, in Butte, Seattle, Portland, Boise...even Salt Lake City.
If you're looking for something to celebrate on Labor Day, you might celebrate all those you know who work hard, those out of staters who spend a buck on a lottery ticket once in a while, those readers who are concerned when the local library is closed and those who sip (in moderation, of course) an occasional pint. It is a great country, even without hurling.
Happy Labor Day.
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