Loss of jobs, wealth continue to erode middle class A recent U.S Census Bureau survey found the division between the richest 1 percent of Americans and everybody else is at the widest point since the Great Depression’s eve in 1928. Compare what the United States has achieved since 1928 while failing to narrow economic inequality. Measles, typhoid and polio nearly have been erradicated. Social Security ensures retirees some economic dignity. A U.S. flag sits on the moon and telephones now function as computers, cameras, televisions and global satellite navigators. Still, the rich get richer while working families earn less. Recent economic indicators show that since the latest recession officially ended in June 2009, the top 1 percent have enjoyed the benefits of rising corporate profits and stock prices, and more than 90 percent of the income gains reported since 2009 have gone to the top 1 percent. In the 19902, there was a 45 percent share for the top 1 percent and a 65 percent share from the expansion that followed the 2001 recession. The income gap narrowed most after World War II, coinciding with a new national minimum wage and a strong labor movement negotiating better pay and benefits. It began to widen and has continued to do so since the mid-1980s, coinciding with a loss of union membership, and most recently, a loss of American jobs. The challenge is simple: form alliances and fight back — an easy premise to make, but much Trumka harder to do, as anyone in the labor movement knows. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka recently outlined that premise at the AFL-CIO’s convention and delegates voted to take action. Trumka told delegates that the AFL-CIO is ready to work with anyone — business, government, investors — who wants to create good jobs and help restore America’s middle class and challenge policies that stand in the way of giving America the chance to go back to work. CSEA is embracing the challenge to find allies and strengthen the American labor movement to advance fairness for all, starting here in New York. View Trumka’s speech at: http://www.aflcio.org/ Multimedia/Videos/AFL-CIO- 2013-Convention-President- Richard-Trumka-Keynote- Speech October 2013 The Work Force 5
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