So Much For Welfare Reform

Kicked While Down

While many in the federal government are touting the benefits of welfare reforms--especially so-called workfare programs--the rest of us are facing the reality that these programs are lacking compassion, logic and an understanding of the financial realities that many of our fellow citizens face once they hit the skids.

What has been traditionally ignored about those receiving benefits from the state or federal government is the facts. While many have railed against welfare fraud, actual statistics demonstrate that only 1-3% of the recipients in any given program were committing 85-90% of the fraud... and it cost more than six times the amount of the fraud to track them down and bring them to justice (which contrasts with the fraud in the military-industrial complex as a pittance).

But the reality of welfare reforms, taxation of unemployment benfits, and other so-called reform measures is that we are harming those in most need among our people, and setting up those that are already suffering financial setbacks due to job loss or medical crises for complete and utter failure.

Barbara Ehrenreich has written a couple of books that are a must read for those that think the minimum wage and the manner in which we deal with job loss or financial catastrophe is handled in a fair manner. (c.f. "Nickled and Dimed" and "Bait and Switch") Then, too, is the rulings against unions, labor organizers, and the blockage of discrimination cases by the now conservative/pro-business EEOC. I urge people of reason to really take a hard look at these issues, policies and discriminatory practices.

In a blow to labor unions, the National Labor Relations Board recently expanded the pool of workers exempted from union membership. Specifically, the labor board found that registered nurses who assigned others to some shifts or tasks were supervisors, and thus not eligible to join unions. It was a bad decision, not only because of the specifics of the case, but also in its broader ramifications.

There are good reasons to bar managers from unionizing. It is extremely difficult to run a large organization efficiently if the people at the top are unable to easily hold their managers accountable for overall success or failure. But responsibilities like making out a schedule do not amount to management. If they did, interns would be the only non- managers in many of today’s workplaces.

Companies facing unionization drives have long found it convenient to discover that employees who are basically rank-and-file workers are actually managers. That seems to be the case with the nurses. The board’s decision opens the door for possibly millions of health-care workers and other professionals to be disqualified from the option of union protection.

This is one more step curbing the power of organized labor since President Bush came to office. The administration’s philosophical vendetta against unions has come at a time when their power is already on the wane. Membership has fallen to 7.8 percent of the private work force in this country, from over a third in the 1950’s. Far from balancing the scales, the anti-union drive comes when workers are already at a historic low in bargaining strength. Despite a growing economy and rising productivity, hourly wages adjusted for inflation have declined 2 percent since 2003. Corporate profits, meanwhile, are at their highest share of gross domestic product since the 1960’s.

We are getting closer and closer to a work force with no benefits and no substantive protections. Some unions succumbed to corruption and contributed to their own decline. But their role in giving common workers a voice is essential to a functioning society.