Wednesday, November 26, 2003

U.S. Workers: A Vast Exploitable Mass Worthy Of A Colonial Backwater?

You know how globalization is supposed to eventually raise all boats? NOT!

Harold Myerson writes about normally civilized (e.g. good health and safety conditions, progressive benefits, pro-union, etc.) Swedish company, H&M clothing, goes native (exploitive, anti-union and cruel) when it comes to the U.S. And other European companies are doing the same thing.
So it's come to this: When European employers look to the United States, they see roughly the same thing that U.S. employers see when they look to China: millions of low-wage workers who have all but lost the right to organize and a government intent on keeping things just the way they are.

The erosion of worker power and the growth of employer supremacy here have transformed the bottom half of the U.S. workforce into a vast exploitable mass worthy of a colonial backwater.

Something to chew on as we give thanks for the marvel that once was America.