AFP, Washington :
The US debate over inequality has turned its focus to an old front: the role labor unions play in boosting incomes of workers. After decades on the decline, some economists and activists are saying that the lack of organized labor power is an important reason why wages are not rising for middle- and lower-class Americans.
President Barack Obama added fuel to the debate when he denounced on Monday a new law in Wisconsin that weakens the abilities of unions to build support in the workplace.
“It’s no coincidence that the rise of the middle class in America coincided in large part with the rise of unions-workers who organized together for higher wages, better working conditions and the benefits and protections that most workers take for granted today,” the president said in a statement.
The Wisconsin law was backed by anti-union Governor Scott Walker, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2016, who says that union power has undermined American business and hurt workers themselves.
But Obama called it “inexcusable” to undertake “a sustained, coordinated assault on unions” when middle-class families needed stronger incomes.
The United States is not the only place where union power has waned, but the decline has been stronger than elsewhere. Union participation has halved since 1983 to 11.1 percent of the workforce, compared with an average of about 17 percent for the industrialized countries of the Organisation for Economic Co?operation and Development.
The US debate over inequality has turned its focus to an old front: the role labor unions play in boosting incomes of workers. After decades on the decline, some economists and activists are saying that the lack of organized labor power is an important reason why wages are not rising for middle- and lower-class Americans.
President Barack Obama added fuel to the debate when he denounced on Monday a new law in Wisconsin that weakens the abilities of unions to build support in the workplace.
“It’s no coincidence that the rise of the middle class in America coincided in large part with the rise of unions-workers who organized together for higher wages, better working conditions and the benefits and protections that most workers take for granted today,” the president said in a statement.
The Wisconsin law was backed by anti-union Governor Scott Walker, a potential Republican presidential candidate in 2016, who says that union power has undermined American business and hurt workers themselves.
But Obama called it “inexcusable” to undertake “a sustained, coordinated assault on unions” when middle-class families needed stronger incomes.
The United States is not the only place where union power has waned, but the decline has been stronger than elsewhere. Union participation has halved since 1983 to 11.1 percent of the workforce, compared with an average of about 17 percent for the industrialized countries of the Organisation for Economic Co?operation and Development.
