Bush Economics
What are the chances? Bush legislates a loophole to slash overtime eligibility, and big layoffs start, concurrently with large numbers of job openings in the very same companies laying off their employees. In fact, if Poyner is right, it appears that the Bank of America isn’t just restructuring their workforce, but rather that they are eliminating full-time employees in order to lower labor costs overall, including overtime, health & welfare benefits, payroll taxes, and so forth. This is unethical. If your employees can’t afford not to work, but you won’t pay them a living wage, you are exploiting them in very nearly the worst possible way, the worst way being, of course, slavery. Without a robust labor movement, workers have little recourse, particularly when corrupt governments conspire against them, as Bush and his minions have done. Unfortunately, the labor unions in the U.S. are hugely ineffective, with no small part of the blame for their condition going to their corrupt leadership (including, often enough, mob affiliation), but also historically to government, from the Federal level on down, who have been diligent in making organization difficult, even engaging in strike-breaking (an activity the Howard government here in Australia knows a good deal about). Significant reform is needed, both in government regulation of business and in the unions, but don’t expect it soon, even if Kerry gets in.