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Commentary :: Labor

The Situation of the Workers in the United States

The last May Day or the International Workers Day celebrations in the United States highlights the sorry state of the workers in the United States.

The US workforce is composed of 131 million workers. But out of the 131 million American workers only 14% of all US workers are unionized.

Most of the American workers belongs to the two mainstream unions in the United States, named the American Federation of Labor- Congress of Industrial Organizations ( AFL-CIO) and the newly formed Change to Win Coalition led by the SEIU International Union.
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Article

The Situation of the Workers in the United States

By the AJLPP Political Secretariat

Los Angeles— The last May Day or the International Workers Day celebrations in the United States highlights the sorry state of the workers in the United States.

The US workforce is composed of 131 million workers. But out of the 131 million American workers only 14% of all US workers are unionized.

Most of the American workers belongs to the two mainstream unions in the United States, named the American Federation of Labor- Congress of Industrial Organizations ( AFL-CIO) and the newly formed Change to Win Coalition led by the SEIU International Union.

But the sad fact remains. The two unions are not united and are enstranged from each other. Another thing is that the unions are linked to Democratic party and are usually embroiled in the national electoral campaigns.

Poor Cousins

This situation makes the American workers poor cousins to the workers in Europe who enjoys pensions, housing and other better conditions.

One area where American workers are lagging behind is retirement benefits. For current and future retirees the trend is taking the tarnish off that image. With each passing year, fewer workers are able to sit back and enjoy the fruits of a lifetime of labor. Instead, an increasing number of elderly people are forced to work into their late 60s and beyond.

According to U.S.Department of Labor statistics, there was a 10 percent increase in the number of retirees in the workforce
from 1994 to 2005.

Why can’t people retire? And once they do, why are retired workers forced to get jobs?

Karl Marx pointed out in his classic work "Capital" that, "Accumulation of wealth at one pole is, therefore, at the same time accumulation of misery …at the opposite pole." In other words, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Profit Motivated Capitalist System

It is the drive of the ruling capitalist class for ever greater profit that shapes all social and economic policy in the United States.

Since the early 1970s, the quality and security of U.S. workers’ jobs have steadily eroded. Deregulation of industry, sweeping privatization of public-sector labor laws and free-trade deals have all meant a steady decline for workers’ standard of living. A primary cause has been the weakening of the unions in the face of an anti-worker offensive by the corporate bosses. This,
however, can be reversed.

The fact that the labor movement has been pushed onto the defensive without an effective fightback strategy has affected all workers, including those who are not in unions. The employers have become emboldened and are savagely attacking core benefits, resulting in workers toiling longer and harder for less.

One casualty has been the severe reduction or elimination of money paid into workers’ private pension plans.

Poor Working Conditions

Another thing is the working conditions in the United States although being improved due to the advocacy of the workers themselves are still the main sources of their injuries and worsening working conditions.

Latino workers are likely to have the highest injury rate in more dangerous jobs of any other ethnic group Fatal work injuries among women, youth, and Hispanic or Latino workers continues to rise with alarming levels

In fact, in the year 2005 there were 10 million work-related injuries. Each day there are over 9,000 disabling injuries occurring among workers

In 2006, 5,703 workers were killed due to job hazards.More than 50,000 workers died in 2006 from occupational diseases from sources such as toxic chemicals.

Each year in California, 23,000 workers are diagnosed with a chronic, deadly disease caused by workplace chemical exposure.

In 2001, 5.2 million workers were injured, 5,900 killed by traumatic injuries and an estimated 50,000-60,000 died from occupational diseases Each year 6,500 California workers die due to associated workplace chronic diseases

Thus the need to organize the workers in the United States and redirect the labor needed towards a militant and worker friendly movement is needed. Only the workers can change their destiny and change their situation that they are in today.
 
 

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