(The Associated Press distributed the following article on August 29.)
WASHINGTON — Union leaders say America’s workers have little to celebrate this Labor Day.
New data Thursday indicated the economy is improving, yet the gains are failing to reach the working-class, they said.
“We do not see a reason to be optimistic about the current economic situation,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney.
The economy emerged from the doldrums in the second quarter of this year and grew at a solid 3.1 percent annual rate, a better performance than the government thought just a month ago.
Yet the economy has lost 2.7 million net jobs since the recession began in March 2001, and the average time people are unemployed is more than 19 weeks. The nation’s unemployment rate is at 6.2 percent.
“Far too many people are out of work and many have been out of work a long time,” Sweeney said. “White-collar as well as blue-collar employees are losing jobs, and many of these jobs aren’t coming back.”
A flood of U.S. jobs are going overseas because of the massive trade deficit, which is running at an annual rate of $488.5 billion for the first six months of this year, said Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer.
“We need a president who says that no economy can be strong unless you produce jobs at home,” he said.
The National Association of Manufacturers, in its annual Labor Day report, said “urgently needed policy changes” were needed to restore the millions of jobs lost.
Association President Jerry Jasinowski called on the Bush administration and Congress to work together “to forge a pro-growth, manufacturing agenda that levels the international playing field, reduces the domestic cost of production, and provides additional assistance to workers.”
President Bush will travel to Ohio on Monday’s Labor Day holiday for an event with the International Union of Operating Engineers.
He will talk with union members and their families about “the administration’s commitment to helping workers and Americans who want to work get back to work,” White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said.
But Sweeney blamed the Bush administration for the poor economic outlook for workers. Three rounds of tax cuts passed by Congress have gone to the wealthiest taxpayers and exploded the federal deficit, he said.
The administration says the tax cuts will help middle-class Americans and stimulate the economy, creating new jobs.
Sweeney also criticized the administration’s proposal to change overtime pay rules. The Labor Department says its proposal will make more than 1 million low-income workers eligible for overtime pay, but that about 640,000 white-collar workers could lose theirs. A study by the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal Washington think tank, said as many as 8 million workers could lose overtime pay.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business organization, supports the changes, saying the rules are outdated and confusing, and are causing a rash of lawsuits.
“Recognition of the dramatic changes in the American workplace is long overdue and requires the revision or regeneration of the encrusted and obsolete regulatory structure of the current white-collar regulations,” said Lawrence Lorber, an employment lawyer who testified before Congress about the proposal.
A Democrat-led vote to block the Labor Department proposal could come up in the Senate next week.
Unions also are looking to next year’s presidential election, and whittling down their support for one or two of the nine Democrats to challenge President Bush.
“After watching the disastrous policies of the Bush administration, union members are ready to take on the challenge of electing a working people’s president,” Sweeney said.