Friends with Benefits; Unpaid Work; Events; etc.

(1) Friends with Benefits: A nice and timely post from the Focal Point blog at Big Think (which is where the photo above comes from; credit goes to Luminis Kanto):

But why  do public sector workers get better benefits than  private sector  workers? Because the public sector is much more heavily  unionized than  the private sector. Why is that? Because the law makes  it virtually  impossible to form a union in a private   sector workplace these days. So, benefits in the private sector get   worse and worse while corporate profits soar. Benefits in the public   sector stay relatively good, even in tough economic times because they   are organized and they can fight for themselves.

Here's what  needs to happen:  1) The Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it a  lot easier for  workers in the private sector to organize, so that  private sector  workers can demand their piece of the American Dream; 2)  Corporations  and rich people need to pay their fair share of taxes so  that the  public employers can continue to provide decent benefits and  wages to  their workers—i.e., the people who teach our children, pick up  our  garbage, purify our water, pave our roads, etc.. Everybody wins.

Here's what's going to happen  if we don't do something: 1)  The states will crush public sector  unions, and wages and benefits will  go into a tailspin, for everyone,  not just public sector workers. 2) If  nobody has any money, nobody buys  anything, and private sector  companies suffer, so they have to cut  wages and benefits and lay people  off. 3) If nobody's making any money,  nobody's paying any taxes, so the  public sector has to cut wages and  benefits and lay more people off, and  cut public services. Everybody loses.

If you're a robber baron who  wants dirt cheap labor, low taxes, and no public services for the  undeserving masses, you win big...at least in the short term. In the  long term, you're screwed, too because when everyone's living on  catfood, nobody will have any money to buy your products. Even Henry  Ford understood that he had to pay his workers good wages so they could  buy Fords.

(2) Unpaid Work: Two interesting articles on unpaid work at two ends of the employment spectrum:  unpaid internships for college students (Unpaid Interns, Complicit Colleges; hat-tip to T.M.);  unpaid management-level positions (Unpaid Jobs: The New Normal?).

(3) Two Upcoming Events:

1. Steve Early author appearance in NYC on Thursday April 14th:

1. D&S-co-sponsored event in Charlestown, Mass. on Tuesday April 12th:   Rolling Back the Right: False Problems, Real Solutions to the Budget Crisis.  7pm at the offices of SEIU Local 888; click for a pdf of the flyer for the event.

4.  Tax the Super-rich! Joseph Stiglitz apparently admired the cover of our most recent issue when he stopped by our table at the National Conference for Media Reform this morning.  With good reason:  Stiglitz is all over talking about how the top 1% income earners are  robbing us all blind.  Check out his article in the current Vanity Fair (Of the 1%, By the 1%, For the 1%), and his interview with Amy Goodman (who is also at the NCMR conference) on Democracy Now! (kind of cool that VF is linking to a DN! video).

But that's not all:  other mainstream outlets are making the same points.  Check out Tax the Superrich Now or Face a Revolution, from MarketWatch, and this piece from Forbes critical of corporations that evade taxes.  (What puzzles me is why these outlets are just discovering now that rich people and corporations don't pay enough taxes.)

(5) U.S. Agreement with Saudis on Libya? An interesting piece from Asia Times:  Exposed: The U.S.-Saudi Libya Deal, by Pepe Escobar.

That is all for now.

--Chris Sturr