Jeff the Trucker

Forget Joe the Plumber. One of America's real working class heroes is Jeff the truck driver.

Jeff Wallace, 43, has been on the picket lines for six weeks. He's fighting for good healthcare for his kids and to make sure he has something to walk away with when he retires from his grueling job for Oak Harbor Freight Lines in Seattle, where he's worked for about 14 years.

This week Jeff was hit on the picket line by a replacement worker in a pick-up truck who then drove away. Jeff went to the hospital but said he's still not giving up. He'll stay out on the line as long as it takes.

Huffington Post

Oak Harbor workers, members of the Teamsters, have been on strike now for over 8 weeks. This holiday season, send a message of support. Tell Oak Harbor to do the right thing, stop violating worker's rights.

Are You A "Boomerang"?

Some scientists have labeled folks born between 1977 – 1989 as A boomerang is a device that when launched will return to its place of origin, the “Boomerang Generation,” is then a term to a describe a particular group of people born between 1977-1989 who much like a noting that, much like the Australian toy, we boomerang leave home for while and come right back. , in some cases many do not even leave home at all. Often times what happens is that individuals leave home for periods of time, whether it is for college or to simply assert their independence and then find out that the “real world” is much harsher than what they thought it was, soon after they find themselves back at home, hence the term boomerang.Social Scientists have examined this “boomerang generation” and often contrast it to previous generations which were considered more successful in asserting their independence sooner. Some critics have gone as far as labeling this generation as spoiled or coddled. These critics also express concerns regarding the negative implications that this trend can have on the financial and social independence of these individuals.

Is our generation really Is our generation really as spoiled as these sociologists claim? Just “mommy’s boys” and “daddy’s girls”? What’s really going on?

While I do agree that social critics have legitimate concerns, and that there are differences between this generation and previous generations, I do not agree with the assertion that this generation is spoiled. Instead I would like to point out that the actual root of the issue lies in transforming economic and political realities.

young people face a where Today’s “new economy” means many well paying, unionized jobs have been outsourced, leaving behind a growing service sector economy that consists of occupations like social services, insurance, retail and entertainment. Unfortunately, this section of the economy is largely non-union and many of these jobs, which are the major occupations of younger workers, simply cannot pay the bills.

In 2000, The Wall Street Journal reported that since 1974 real wages for an average individual with a high school diploma declined 20%. To make matters even worse in 2006, The New York Times reported that for two consecutive years, 2004 and 2005, real wages fell 0.8 percent each year.

There also seems to be a correlation wIt’s not coincidence that real wages are declining with the ith declining real wages and the relative decline of labor unions’s power. , employees bargaining power, and weakened Federal worker protections, all of which have political implications as certain Presidential administrations and politicians have been more hostile to labor unions and workers rights. Arandrajit Dube, a research economist at the University of California Berkeley’s Center for Labor Research also echo’s this sentiment and asserts that “Falling real wages reflect workers weakened bargaining position.”

What do we have? A new economy, a lack of healthcare, Tying these economic and political realities of the new economy, globalization, outsourcing, declining real wages, weakening Federal worker protections and hostility from certain Bush-appointed politicians toward labor unions and workers rights. iIt’ is easy to see that young people today face an uphill battle when leaving home. more complex world than previous generations with different sets of challenges. With odds seemingly stacked against young workers in this new economy it becomes no wonder why we have a “boomerang generation”. Because oThe odds are stacked against us, so we have to it is necessary for us to work together, demonstrate solidarity, and become proactive in the political process.

Not being able to move out of mom's, piled with student debt and not being able to pay the bills isn't about being spoiled; it's happening because of declining wages. Help reverse this trend.

UFCW local 1099 and Kroger have an agreement

After months of intense negotiations, The United Food and Commercial Workers Union and Kroger have reached an agreement for workers in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. These members stood firm for a good contract, with affordable health care coverage and wages that pay the bills.

Read more about the news in The Cincinnati Enquirer. Learn about Grocery Workers United here.

To Have or Have-Not

Washington Post op-ed columnist Harold Meyerson recently took a look at what's going on with the economy, and here's what he found:

Median family income over the past quarter-century has stagnated. The economic rewards from increased productivity, which went to working-class as well as wealthy Americans from the 1940s to the '70s, now go exclusively to the rich. The manufacturing jobs that anchored our prosperity were offshored, automated or deunionized; lower-paying service-sector jobs took their place.

In his article, Meyerson goes on to talk about how the country has become divided into the "haves" and the "have-nots". What kind of moral values allow our country to be split into two nations, one of riches and one of poverty? We've seen this transition: stagnant wages, skyrocketing health care costs, and disappearing retirement savings are putting a squeeze on America's middle class.

Despite record corporate profits, working people are not sharing in the nation's prosperity. The wealthy are rewarded with tax cut after tax cut while working families are left to fend for themselves - and, according to a recent survey conducted for Change to Win, America's workers know it.

How can we turn this country around so that everyone can have a fair piece of the pie?

Read the full Washington Post article here.