BILL MOYERS JOURNAL | Bill Fletcher and Michael Zweig | PBS

With public support for labor unions at its lowest point in 70 years, Bill Moyers talks with experts Bill Fletcher, co-author of SOLIDARITY DIVIDED: THE CRISIS IN ORGANIZED LABOR AND A NEW PATH TOWARD SOCIAL JUSTICE and Michael Zweig, director of the Center for the Study of Working Class Life at SUNY Stony Brook, about the state of organized labor. Bill Moyers Journal airs Friday nights at 9 pm. Check your local listings.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• unions
• labor
• economics
• michael zweig
• bill fletcher
• moyers

[bodryn]

@Dedhedted71 There are native Americans in MANY US states, you know. Like ND, MN, MT, etc. After watching this program I believe that both interviewees had a lot of intelligent and well-informed things to say.

[bubburubb]

Listening to these guys makes it very clear why organized labor lost the debate. They are NOT setting the tone of the debate! They are not showing GUTS! They seem like they have been outsmarted by smarter people and have bought in to the rhetoric! Do yourself a favor and watch Alan Grayson. Learn to change the debate! Learn to change the questions that are being asked! What have been the effects of GATT? Are you asking that? Are you changing the debate to include highly skilled workers?

[JixMa]

[2] The Middle Class is being systematically eradicated by the Upper Class. Funny how America was supposed to be a classless society, but it sure didn't turn out that way, did it? And you know what? This eradication of the Middle Class results in eradicating their very customers. When you're broke, who's going to be able to buy any of the goods that The Man wants to sell? This is very self-destructive behavior on The Man's part, in my opinion. He seems not to care, tho. He just wants it all NOW!

[JixMa]

[1] Management has won and sadly, Labor has lost. With the demise of Labor's power and influence, the inevitable result will be a return of feudalism. It shall be the few, rich elites owning everything and everybody. Those not at the top of the pyramid will be working for those at the top of it. The modern landowners are the corporate CEOs and corporate officers. The workers of the land (i.e. those that actually do the work) will be everybody else working in sweatshops and McJobs for The Man.

[Dedhedted71]

I heard Bill Fletcher put words in Sara Palin's mouth. He suggested that when she says "the working class", she means only white men. What a load of bullcrap. She was the govnr of Alaska! You know? The state with all the native people? Fletcher knows nothing about how conservatives think, so he should just shut his dumb mouth.

[voyeurdug]

AFGE, like most unions in the public sector are either forbidden to strike, or otherwise marginalized. Similarly, service workers (vs. manufacturing/production workers) find no advantage in union membership. Those two groups are by far the bulk of U.S. workers.