Labor

In this struggling economy it is essential for politicians to take a step back and think about what government has been doing to business in this country.  In less than 200 years, the free market, property rights, and respect for the rule of law took this nation from a rough frontier to a global economic superpower. Today, however, our nation and our economy clearly are headed in the wrong direction.
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Imagine you’re one of the 6.8 million Americans who have been unemployed for more than six months. (Imagine, that is, if you don’t already have the misfortune of being one of them). You receive a job offer that you quickly accept. But it comes with an increasingly common catch: your potential employer wants to check your credit first.
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I’m beginning to think that the glass ceiling is really made of titanium. Women’s progress toward equality has stagnated across far too many sectors—not the least of which is U.S. Congress.

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America's equipment manufacturing industry applauds the President for recognizing the vital importance of infrastructure investment to the long-term strength and competitiveness of our country. What America needs - and what voters want - is the Administration and Congress to work in partnership right now to finally pass a transportation reauthorization bill that will address longstanding safety and quality issues, and put Americans back to work. Read more...

This Labor Day, America is facing a dizzying array of problems, none more acute than the twin crises of how poorly we treat our workers and how appallingly we treat our planet.  In case anyone believes these issues are distinct and need to be addressed separately, let's remember some of this year's grisly headlines:

• "Massey Accident, Worst Since 1970, Claims 29 Miners"
• "Families bid farewell to 11 men killed in Gulf rig explosion"
• "5 workers killed in explosion at Middleton, Conn., power plant"

While the environmental and labor disasters at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine, the BP oil rig, and the Kleen Energy natural gas plant have topped the news, the everyday struggles of working people have continued unabated. Read more...

This Labor Day feels gloomy. It’s a celebration of work when there is not enough of it, a day off when too many desperately seek a day on.

America has commemorated two Labor Days since this brutal recession began near the end of George Bush’s presidency in December of 2007. Now the relentless high unemployment, the ever-rising foreclosures, the unremitting wage and benefit take-backs have replaced American optimism and enthusiasm with fear and anger.

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   This week the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) kicked off the 28th annual National Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week Conference at the Omni-Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. The week-long conference focuses on “Strategies for Growth and Competitiveness in the Global Economy.”

In the mid-1980s, someone at the Coca-Cola Company had the bright idea of changing the formula of the nation's most popular soft drink. In one of the biggest public relations debacles of all time, the company's effort to convince Americans to switch to New Coke fell flat on its face. As it turned out, people liked the taste of Classic Coke just fine.

The lesson here is obvious: You don't mess with success.

The motivation of corporations like BP and Massey Energy is pure. Purely profit. Their goal is to maximize returns for investors and bonuses for officers.

Corporate operation is a simple equation. Profits first. Communities, workers and pelicans — third. Or lower.

For all BP CEO Tony Hayward’s sincere-gaze-in-the-camera promises to make it right, he can’t resurrect 11 dead rig workers. He’ll never completely restore the Gulf’s oil-mucked waters, beaches and communities. And he can’t un-kill untold numbers of Gulf marine and avian creatures.  

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Americans have always looked to our manufacturing sector as a source of economic vitality — and as a source of pride. America has long prided itself on being a country that makes things, and Democrats are committed to making sure that is true in the future.

Americans agree on the importance of manufacturing to our economy: 57 percent of Americans believe that it is one of the most important factors in our economic strength and 85 percent of Americans believe that creating manufacturing jobs is important to our economic recovery.

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