[Pages 269-271]
In general
the weak laws protecting American workers are at best marginal with pathetic
penalties for violations for discrimination, wrongful termination, etc. As
noted in Part I, labor unions have to date filled a vital role in protecting
their represented workers and have been a positive force at large to educate
and advocate. However, the conclusion that many, if not most, political
scientists have that labor union resurgence alone is the only hope and viable
solution for the challenges ahead — couldn’t be more wrong! Just like much of
the short-term, antiquated thinking from the two major political parties, old
ideas and organizational political structures are now passé. Furthermore, many
Americans are anti-labor unions due to perceptions, correct or incorrect, that
were formed long ago. With a paltry level of support and labor union membership
at an all time low . . . labor unions can’t possibly be our only answer for the
future, but at best, can only hope to be part of the conversation. First off, labor
unions are all locked into the Party B dogma, hook, line and sinker . . . even
though, as documented herein, it was president, Clinton who opened the flood
gates to off shore labor with the signing of NAFTA. It was the ultimate stab in
the back that led to the demise of labor unions and possibly sealed their fate
forever.
The labor
union model and its history to date is largely a force for protecting only rank
and file “workers” — with little if any history into the echelons of white
collar workers and middle management roles. That leaves a huge gaping hole for
protecting the interests of the American workforce at large. In part I, the
forces, technologies and means by which these members of the American workforce
are yet to be ravaged by corporate greed and the mega-rich were clearly laid
out, but no one it seems is looking ahead. This entire segment of American
workers have their heads in the sand with a false sense of security, but their
heads are already on the chopping block from a new workplace tsunami yet to hit
America shores with its full power. Again, just to reiterate, if your job does
not require that you be located on American soil . . . your days are numbered!
The writing is clearly on the wall and if you refuse to read it, act now to
stop what’s coming, then you have only yourself to blame when your personal
belongings are boxed up and you are walked out the front door of your place of
employment.
Virtually
all American workers have already been subjected to downward pressures on
salaries for some 30+ years now — via new hires coming from off shore and
immigration into the U.S., being aged out and manipulated via
downsizing or replaced with contractors at pathetic pay rates never before seen
in America. Going forward, there will be
almost no white collar profession that’s immune, including engineers,
accountants, middle managers, purchasing, planning, logistics and a host of
other professional roles in an onslaught that has yet to begin in earnest. White
collar Americans are being picked-off one by one, every single day, in a
fashion that gets no press or attention from anyone in America. It’s primarily because there seems
to be no organization, no group and no organized effort to band this
wide-ranging group of American professionals together into a cohesive force for
political combat. As we in America stupidly, allow foreign nationals
from China, India and other emerging economies to
study in the U.S. [show them our play book] and as
their respective education systems in their own nations continue to progress,
the labor pool of white collar professionals willing to work for less money
grows by the day. Who benefits . . . the mega-rich and the multi-national
corporations who are consuming an ever larger slice of the world economic pie
as their wealth continues to grow. It’s a big world and the time has come for
Americans to get their head around the big picture.
This big
picture reality presents a huge gapping hole and traditional “organized labor”
approaches aren’t going to work for this group of Americans because they are
too diverse and are spread across too many companies. While absolute concrete
solutions don’t yet exist, one thing is for sure, without solid efforts to
organize these millions of Americans into groups with political clout . . .
they will drop like flies at an ever increasing rate going forward. Corporate
America will of course deploy the buzz words “competitive pressures within a
global economy” to further erode salaries and any sense of job security for
this unrepresented segment of Americans who’s jobs will disappear. The
solutions may be professional organizations growing some teeth or it may be
organizational efforts yet to be conceived, but without a combative organized
force, the Human Reaper (HR) will be knocking on more and more doors and
cubicles in the years and decades ahead serving up lower labor costs with every
swing of their blade.
Whether it
is anti-union sentiment, divide and conquer politics, manipulation that pits white
collar against blue collar or taxpayers against government workers . . . it’s all driven and furthered from greed at
the top of the food chain. Until and unless middle-class Americans, along with
the poor, realize that we are all in this together, we will continue to sink
divided . . . doomed to an inevitable future of Third World existence.
