December Jobs Reports Brings Mixed News for Retail Workers

The latest Jobs Report was released Friday, and it brings some welcome news. During the month of December our economy added 200,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5%.

Retailers added 28,000 jobs, but food retailers are not foreseeing a full recovery for 2012, and department stores had a holiday season marked by deep discounts and sales that fell short of expectations.

In the 21st century American economy, more families will depend on retail jobs. These jobs are the backbone of our service economy, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that retail and other service jobs is one of the fastest growing sectors in our economy. The fact is that retail jobs are going to define how it is to live and work in America the way that manufacturing jobs once did. That’s why it’s so critically important that these are jobs where workers can earn a steady, family-supporting paycheck with middle class wages and benefits.

Yet, many retail workers have to cobble together 40 hours from two or three jobs. They don’t have a schedule they can count on. Their employers purposely skimp on hours, preventing full-time schedules so they won’t have to provide benefits. And the painful irony of the holiday season hiring boom is that the same workers who report to work at midnight on Black Friday are prevented from working a forty-hour week or earning overtime wages that would allow them to make their own holidays special.

If retail is going to be the future for millions of American workers, the sector can’t be staffed by people scrambling from one retail job to another. It’s not good for our economy, for retailers, or for workers who desperately need secure, full-time jobs that pay the bills and allow them to live a middle class life.

In a real sense, these workers and their families are the economy; they are the job creators. Workers who earn middle class wages are able to buy cars, food, and clothes. They take their families out to eat on special occasions. They save money instead of living on credit cards. They buy school uniforms and pay tuition, rent, and bills. And they buy and maintain homes.

The best way for retail workers to make positive changes is by sticking together in a union. UFCW members are able to bargain with their employers to share in their success. Having a union voice on the job means workers can make sure they’re compensated and treated in a way that reflects the value of their hard work. UFCW members have been successful bargaining fair wages, benefits, and respect on the job for both full-time and part-time workers in supermarkets, retail stores across the country. They know firsthand that people will only really start feel like the economy is on its way to a full recovery when families start earning middle class wages and benefits.

The Problem with Mitt Romney's Economic Plan

In my letter in today's Wall Street Journal, I point out that Mitt Romney's economic plan further highlights the GOP's obsession with protecting corporate interests at the expense of the poor and the middle class. As I stated in the letter:

As the nation's unemployment rate registers at 9.1%, it is clear that we need to take bold steps to lift Americans out of poverty and rebuild the middle class. Instead of engaging in antiworker rhetoric, Mr. Romney and his fellow Republicans should focus on creating economic policies that generate and sustain good jobs with decent wages and benefits, with the end goal of giving America's middle class the purchasing power it needs to revive the economy.

UFCW President Joe Hansen on President Obama's Plan to Put Americans Back to Work

Last night, President Hansen released the following statement in support of President Obama's jobs plan:

“President Obama’s plan for job creation, including a private fund to rebuild our roads and schools, a tax cut for companies that hire workers and help for the long-term unemployed, is a good start. The nation’s job crisis demands leadership from President Obama, but he cannot revive the economy alone. Bold leadership is also needed from Republicans in Congress and the business community in order to create jobs that can support a family and rebuild the middle class.

 “We will never win the future by turning a blind eye to the devastating impact of unemployment and underemployment on our country. It is time for Republicans in Congress to put our country ahead of politics and support the president’s plan to put Americans back to work. It is also time for America’s business leaders to make a patriotic commitment to invest in good jobs in America and provide their employees with decent wages and benefits with the end goal of giving the middle class the purchasing power it needs to revive the economy.

 “The wasted economic potential of the millions of Americans who are unemployed or underemployed is a national tragedy. But the tragedy goes deeper than statistics alone. In all this turmoil, many Americans believe they will never achieve the American dream of owning a home, sending their children to college or retiring comfortably. If Republicans in Congress and America’s business leaders continue to put corporate profits ahead of job creation, our country will never fully recover from this downward economic spiral.”

Republicans Continue to Hold Americans Hostage Over the Debt Ceiling

Once again, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his fellow Republicans are proving just how disconnected they are from the rest of America by threatening to vote against raising the debt limit unless trillions of dollars are cut from the federal budget—including cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

For months, Republicans in Congress have been calling for an “adult conversation” about getting our fiscal house in order before raising the debt limit by cutting spending for services that serve the poor and middle class while insisting that tax increases of any kind are off the table. But raising the debt ceiling has nothing to do with controlling future spending. Rather, it’s a matter of paying bills that we have already incurred or are in the process of incurring.

The United States has never defaulted on its debt. If Congress fails to raise the debt limit, the damage will ripple across the entire economy and rock global markets in the process. A federal default will hurt American workers and jeopardize our country’s ability to recover from the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression. A default will also weaken Americans' confidence in their government at a time when many believe that they will never achieve the American dream of working for decent wages and benefits, owning a home, sending their children to college or retiring comfortably.

If our lawmakers are really interested in long-term fiscal responsibility, they must address their differences quickly and raise the debt limit. Speaker Boehner and his fellow Republicans need to have an adult conversation right now and act responsibly.

Kochapolooza: Walker Admits He Lied

UFCW members in Madison, WI with Scott Walker puppet.

With real issues - a jobs crisis and budget crisis - facing Americans, what have Republicans been doing? Today they staged a hearing with Governor Scott Walker and other anti-worker activists that was bought and paid for by the Koch brothers. More than half of the Republican House Oversight Committee members, including Chairman Issa, are recipients of Koch money, and the so-called expert witnesses? Three of the four have also received money from the Koch brothers. (Walker’s DC visit coincides with a damning new report that details how he and David Prosser “quietly worked to allow Koch’s many Georgia Pacific paper plants to pollute thousands of pounds of phosphorus in Wisconsin’s water.”)

However, Governor Scott Walker's misdeeds have been so profound that the Wisconsin Republican was STILL embarrassed at this not-so-impartial hearing. Reps. Dennis Kucinich and Gerry Connolly questioned Walker thoroughly, and finally got him to admit what the non-partisan PolitiFact had already examined and judged completely false – that he never campaigned on stripping collective bargaining rights. Walker and national Republicans have used that as a key talking point, but today Walker made explicit that he lied to voters by claiming he had signaled his agenda during the election.Walker also admitted that key provisions of his so-called Budget Repair Bill had nothing to do with repairing the budget. 

But despite the Democrats' vigilance and Walker's admissions, Rep. Issa's “Kochapolooza” hearing wasn't about budgets, jobs, or corporate responsibility - that's for sure. It was about muzzling nurses, teachers, firefighters, and other public workers - the people who keep this country running - so that the Koch brothers and other CEOs and greedy Wall Street types can line their already overstuffed pockets with even more money. All this while many ordinary Americans are just barely getting by.


These Republican politicians should be focusing on creating jobs. That's what will get America moving again. That's what will fix our budget crises.  But instead, Rep. Issa is using this hearing as nothing but an excuse to sell the cruel and misguided Ryan Budget plan - the plan that would balance our budget on the backs of the poor and middle class, senior citizens, students, and working families - while cutting taxes even more for the wealthiest Americans and for Big Business.

House Republicans need to get serious and work with the American people, not against us. But in light of this hearing and the recent threats to shut down the government, does it really seem likely that House Republicans will be abandoning their ideological crusades and political crusades to focus on job creation anytime soon? America's working families shouldn't hold their breath.

"All We Wanted Was a Chance, And they Didn't Give it To Us." Tell Big Y to Give Laid Off A&P Workers like Russ a Chance!

All A&P workers wanted was a chance. But the Big Y grocery company bought A&P stores and is reopening them as Big Y stores in Connecticut--and has barely hired back any of the experienced, long-time A&P workers who were already working in those stores. At the same time, Big Y has laid off many of its own workers.

 

Why get rid of experienced workers from our communities? Workers with longtime careers at these stores, with families to support?

 

Please help us support workers like Russ, and fight for good middle class jobs.

With your help, we want to hold Big Y accountable--by asking Why, Big Y? Please join us in asking the tough questions on Big Y's Facebook page and Twitter feed, like:

• Why did Big Y lay off so many of its own workers, and ask others to take voluntary layoffs—when the company is expanding and hiring?

• Why did Big Y refuse to hire back most A&P workers when it re-opened old A&P stores under the Big Y banner? Why not give those workers a chance?

• Why is Big Y making these tough economic times even tougher for laid-off workers and their families?

You can find Big Y's Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/bigyworldclassmarket

 

And Big Y's Twitter feed is: @BigYFoods and the hashtag we'd like to use is #whybigy

 

Thank you so much for all your help on this, and please spread the word--we can't fight for good jobs at Big Y without you!

UFCW RELEASES NEW NATIONAL POLL ON JOBS IN ADVANCE OF ONE NATION RALLY

As activists, advocates and working families from across the country prepare to rally for good jobs in Washington on October 2, 2010, a new national poll conducted by Lake Research for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) shows that the American public is overwhelmingly in favor of government action that addresses income inequity and that seeks to level the playing field for all American workers.

At a near universal level of agreement, voters strongly believe our economy needs to be defined by jobs with benefits and wages that can support a family. It is exactly this message that families from across the country are coming to Washington on Oct. 2^nd to deliver to Congress.

UFCW President Joe Hansen had this to say about the poll:

The only way to achieve lasting economic recovery and to ensure future prosperity is to address the wage inequity crises that is plaguing our nation’s workers. If our elected officials fail to address this issue, our nation can never fully regain its financial footing.

With so much of the cable television debate focused on the noisy fringes of our society, it seems that the aspirations and needs of the vast majority of hard-working Americans are getting drowned out by the noise and the nonsense of the extreme elements of the political debate.

The reality, as this poll shows, is that the American people want pragmatic government solutions and sensible legislative actions that address job creation and that ensure a foundation for secure and stable communities.

Voters have a clear vision of what kind of economy they want, and while they understand the current economic situation is difficult, they still believe that all jobs should pay a living wage, come with affordable, quality health care, and offer real retirement security.

The poll, taken among 700 randomly selected registered voters nationwide, shows:

1. Concern about the economy goes beyond the present; voters are deeply questioning the types of jobs America will have in the future. Eighty-seven percent of voters are very or somewhat concerned that America's future jobs will be low-wage and low-benefit -- including 65 percent who are very concerned.
2. Eighty-nine percent of voters agree that economic development should result in jobs with good wages and benefits that can support a family.
3. Eighty-four percent of voters agree that economic recovery means creating jobs with good benefits so people can afford to take care of their families, not low- wage jobs with no benefits.
4. Eighty-four percent of voters favor requiring that government contracts go to companies that provide good paying jobs and benefits so that their employees don't end up on welfare programs like Medicaid and food stamps.

In addition to pushing for economic policies that address income inequality and quality job growth, the UFCW, NCLR and other civil rights organizations will be using the One Nation Working Together rally to push for comprehensive immigration reform as a key component of economic recovery and prosperity.

Find a full presentation of the poll data here.

Find the UFCW's press release on the poll here.

UFCW President Hansen on Huffington Post, On Good Jobs

President Hansen has a Labor Day message for all Americans--a message about why we need to make sure the jobs of the future are good jobs. A new poll by Lake Research, sponsored by the UFCW, shows that Americans are concerned about the jobs of the future, and want to make sure that those jobs are the kind of jobs that can support a family and make America's economy strong and competitive.

It's up to all of us, workers, shoppers, community members, and political leaders, to ensure that economic policies provide the opportunity to make all retail jobs good, career jobs. According to the Lake poll, a majority of voters believe job growth must be good job growth. In a number of polls Lake Research has found that a key economic frame for Americans is to have good-paying job no matter what the sector. To make that happen we must actively engage in the policy decisions that guide economic growth and job creation, and we must correct the current wage gap so that as worker productivity increases paychecks also increase.

Read the oped--and preview of the poll results, which will be released soon--at the Huffington Post today. And Happy Labor Day to you and your families!

Awesome Video Showing How Stimulus Bill Worked to Create Jobs

We still have a long way to go, but one year after President Obama signed the Recovery Act into law, it's clear that that things are improving and jobs are being created. Check out this video that shows how it's helped, simply and effectively:

UFCW President Joe Hansen to Attend Jobs Summit Tomorrow

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President Joe Hansen will proudly represent the 1.3 million UFCW members at the White House jobs summit tomorrow.

President Obama is convening the gathering of nearly 100 key industry, union and economic leaders to explore ways to slow the loss of jobs and quicken the pace of job creation at a time when the nation’s jobless rate is at 10.2 percent, its highest point since 1983.

With one million members in the private retail sector of the economy, President Hansen will be discussing the importance of food aid assistance for unemployed Americans as well as increasing lending opportunities to retailers to expand quality food access to underserved communities. For millions of workers in communities across the country, supermarket jobs are stable, quality jobs.

President Hansen on the jobs summit:

President Obama inherited one of the most challenging economic situations in modern history. I am proud to work with him to find solutions that will get people back to work, make sure unemployed workers have the support they need to stay healthy and that responsible employers have access to resources to stay afloat while we rebuild the economy.

Friday Afternoon Links

• Do you feel like the government's helping people like you?
  
  
• E.J. Dionne on why the public option should be a centrist proposal.
  
  
• Depressing news for a gloomy fall day: we lost a lot more jobs than we thought we would in September. Yuck.
  
  
• Food workers need a union in order to guarantee safety on the job. Because, as the American Prospect details here, companies won't make the effort to do so.
  

The Mezzo-Mezzo Jobs Report

So, I guess it's good news because it's not getting worse...right?

I mean, as a non-economist, when I see that we lost 345,000 jobs in May, I think about all the men and women who lost those jobs and what that will mean for their families in the months ahead.

There's no good news for them.

On the other hand, the Washington Post reports that:

Economists had expected a much worse loss, of as many as 525,000 jobs. The Labor Department also said that April job losses were somewhat less severe than originally reported.

So I guess that's good. That's 180,000 jobs we didn't lose; that's 180,000 people who can still expect a paycheck next week or next month. The bleeding hasn't stopped, but at least it's slowed a bit.