'Strike-tober' continuing

 11-18 KnightShift

 A few people may still wonder what’s going on with a flurry of work stoppages. But if they reflect some, it may become clear.

At the heart of “Strike-tober” is frustration. Somewhere between disappointment and fury, frustration can translate to action, and workers’ simmering discontent building for years boiled over after months of hearing how “essential workers” were valued, and employers needed them to return to work.

But that need – coupled with government failing to represent Americans’ desire for reform, growing popular support for organized labor, and politicians spending billions to serve corporations and campaign contributors instead of the public – has resulted in workers standing up by the tens of thousands.

Most people support strikers – and unions

It’s happened at John Deere and Kellogg, in the film and TV industry, and by health-care workers, bus drivers, miners, teachers and more who authorized strikes in recent weeks.

In 2020, there were fewer than 50 strikes in 12 months; through last month, 2021 already has seen more than 100, according to the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service and the Cornell ILR Labor Action Tracker.

“They are striking; they are picketing; they are demanding fair contracts,” writes Faiz Shakir in The New Republic. “They are forming new unions on campuses and coffeehouses, and they are walking out on low-wage jobs at Burger King, Dollar General and elsewhere. In short, laborers are demanding their due.

“The American public is responding by delivering its highest approval of labor unions in decades,” he continues. “Employers will need to compete to offer attractive job offers.”

* 74% support current strikes, according to Data for Progress.

* Although only about 1 in 10 Americans are union members, almost half would join one tomorrow if they could

* 69% back the PRO Act, according to Hart Research, which found 87% of Democrats and 45% of Republicans back the labor-law reform.

 

Unions are in the most solid position they’ve been in in years.

“The ball is in their court,” said Cornell University industrial and labor relations professor Adam Seth Litwin. “Not only the economic power, but the political power is on their side.”

Vacancies remain unfilled – for lousy jobs

People are increasingly refusing available jobs, unhappy with previous pay levels, concerns about safety, and the escalating costs of child care

“When I was Secretary of Labor, I kept meeting working people all over the country who had full-time work but complained that their jobs paid too little and had few benefits, or were unsafe, or required lengthy or unpredictable hours. Many said their employers treated them badly, harassed them, and did not respect them,” said Robert Reich, author of “The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It.”

“Since then, these complaints have only grown louder, according to polls,” he added. “Corporate America wants to frame this as a ‘labor shortage.’ Wrong. What’s really going on is more accurately described as a living-wage shortage, a hazard-pay shortage, a child-care shortage, a paid sick leave shortage, and a health-care shortage.”

For months, employers have sustained the “Great Resignation,” with workers quitting at the highest rate on record.

Nationally, 3.6 million Americans quit in May, 3.8 million in June, 4 million in July and 4.2 million in August, the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. Several states in the most recent report have quit rates topping 4% of their whole workforce: Kentucky at 4.5%, Georgia at 4.2% and Idaho at 4.1%, according to BLS (which noted Illinois’ quit rate was 3.5%).

‘Build Back Better’ – badly?

Polls like the Associated Press/NORC, CNN, Kaiser Family Foundation and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs all show Americans want better health care, affordable housing, accessible education, paid leave, better drug prices, etc.

“It’s what Americans want,” said U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, citing lower prescription prices and more Medicare benefits.

The infrastructure and social reform bills in Washington “are not frivolous luxuries,” said the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and they’re “affordable. The infrastructure bill provides $550 billion in new money over 10 years.”

People support the measures’ goals, from building roads to taking action on climate change

However, most Republicans refuse to back the bills, and conservative Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona keep Democrats from unifying.

Labor and climate activists are urging lawmakers to “hold the line” against efforts to gut key provisions in the Biden administration’s $3.5 trillion Build Back Better reconciliation bill aimed at uplifting Americans.

“Obviously, there’s no future without a healthy climate,” said tech-industry worker Anna Jolliffe. “I really don’t understand why these people are in public office if all they care about is the donations they get from industries, and not the people that they work for. It’s psychopathic to hear what science is saying [about climate catastrophe] and then go ahead and ignore it. It’s infuriating.”

The reconciliation bill’s original $3.5 trillion price tag is over 10 years, or $350 billion annually – a bargain compared to other virtually routine spending, said Ben Davis in The Guardian:

“The Trump administration passed $2 trillion in tax cuts with little comment on the cost,” he said. “The federal government spends $7.5 trillion a decade on the military, with little to no serious attempts to reverse this spending or even to curtail its growth.

“A dollar that goes toward a missile destined for a wedding in Afghanistan or the offshore tax haven of a billionaire is less objectionable to those in charge than a dollar that goes to feeding a hungry child,” he added.

Skewed spending priorities

The Defense Department sought $715 billion (a $10 billion increase from the prior year) but the House has approved spending more ($768 billion) and the Senate Armed Service Committee OK’d even more ($778 billion). That additional spending alone totals $100 billion over the next decade – the same as the climate emergency programs targeted by Manchin and his ilk.

With related military spending, U.S. taxpayers actually pay for $1.25 trillion in defense spending annually, according to the Center for International Policy – despite meager support from everyday Americans. (The Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ poll showed just 23% favor a higher military budget.)

“We are spending far too much on the Pentagon, and too little on everything else,” said Lindsay Koshgarian, Program Director of the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. “Facing a pandemic that is not yet over, decades of growing economic inequality, unaddressed systemic racism, and a climate crisis, the U.S. is in desperate need of reinvestment for true security.”

Even the Congressional Budget Office in a recent report, “Illustrative Options for National Defense Under a Small Defense Budget,” proposed three ways military spending could be cut by 14% (about $1 trillion).

Is it really any wonder why people are fed up?