In a recent blog and video, former Bill Clinton Secretary of Labor Robert Reich noted that the decimation of the American labor movement is directly related to the diminution of the middle class. Reich even noted that the assault on organized labor and the squeezing of the middle class happened at the very same time, resulting in 35 years of stagnant growth.
• Allow workers a speedy “up or down vote” on whether to be represented by a union.
• Create real penalties on employers who violate the law and workers rights. This would dissuade employers from violating the law. Currently, penalties against employers are but a slap on the wrist.
• Outlaw right-to-work (for less) laws. Right-to-work laws are popping up in every state with a Republican governor and legislature.
INTERESTINGLY, a vote on right-to-work in the Illinois legislature recently did not get a single yes vote.
EVEN MORE INTERESTINGLY, Senator Bernie Sanders was one of the original co-sponsors of the Employee Free Choice Act back in 2003. Sanders supported all these ideas and much more, and Sanders held the first hearing on the Employee Free Choice Act less than a month after it was introduced on the floor of the Vermont State House.
So far, Secretary Clinton has not addressed these issues.
Image source: Economic Inequality Media Project