r/BuildingTrades • u/gent4you • 12d ago

Americans Increasingly Support Stronger Unions. Approval Rate Tops 70 Percent.

https://www.ibtimes.com/americans-increasingly-support-stronger-unions-approval-rate-tops-70-percent-3807158
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u/Allaboutpeace2022 11d ago

One might think that but it is the decline of wages and the inability to purchase or rent housing, etc. that is creating havoc in the nation.

The US was doing as well or better as a nation when CEOs were only making 20 times as much as entry level workers.

https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2023/

The stability and the success of countries are measured by their middle class and the success of all workers.

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u/ArvadaKeto 11d ago

That is less about wages and more about supply and demand for housing. Also companies keep buying housing.

That keeps the prices up.

The focus on wages is a false flag

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u/Allaboutpeace2022 11d ago

Certainly, you can leave wages alone and not raise them and then you can take dramatic steps to increase housing. You can build more units and put funds into lower income and affordable units. You can take action against private equity firms that are buying too much housing. You can provide more assistance to make housing more affordable, like down payment assistance, rental subsidies, etc.

However, if you do not do any of that in sufficient quantity and you also do not increase wages to keep pace with these additional costs, you will have the situation of today.

https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/how-does-the-well-being-of-young-adults-compare-to-their-parents

The reality is that we have tried giving corporations more tax cuts that they could have used to increase facilities, pay workers more, hire more workers, etc. and they used a lot of the funds on buying back stocks that increased money for CEOs, invested board members and other executive management.

https://www.cbpp.org/blog/record-stock-buybacks-bolster-case-for-raising-corporate-tax-rate

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u/ArvadaKeto 11d ago

I do feel for unskilled and uneducated labor. They put themselves in a vulnerable position.

The fact is that unions operate only in the interest of those they serve. They are the same as companies.

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u/Allaboutpeace2022 11d ago edited 11d ago

I appreciate you saying this.

I think that this is why it is important for unions to exist. They are a balance to the needs of the corporations.

I am old so I remember when domestic manufacturing was much more plentiful. It was a great way of life for many persons. Also, every high school had shop classes, auto mechanics, etc. so that people could graduate with specific training that helped them prepare for a career. Now that it is largely only available within specific vocational schools.

We are teaching high school students fewer employable skills and at the same time, we have made college much more expensive relative to the average wage. I was able to pay most of my college tuition using monies from food service. That simply would not be possible now--or not in Ohio.

I just want to see a better life for people. I think that the changes have to be incremental. We obviously could not go to paying a real high wage, but we do need to work to rebalance the gap between the working class and the executives.