
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, September 4, 1995                   TAG: 9509060105
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: WALTER W. WISE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

AMERICA'S WORKERS ARE UNDER ATTACK

THE AMERICAN working family has been bent over the barrel of declining wages for 20 years. Now, as the 15-second sound bites of conservative rhetoric are transformed into reality, the barrel is headed over the falls.

The most productive worker the world has ever known - the American production worker - has seen his real wages decline by 10 percent since 1979.

Meanwhile, executive compensation has soared to record heights as a reward for slashing payrolls and depressing wages.

The minimum wage has already lost 50 cents of its buying power since 1991, while corporate profits rose 28 percent, to 8.2 percent of the gross domestic product.

From company coffers to campaigns, the money has flowed to reverse 60 years of workers' rights and protections. (1994's No. 1 political-action committee contributor: UPS - $2.6 million). Under the populist slogans of ``no federal mandates'' and ``unshackle business,'' pending legislation threatens:

A reduction of 35 percent in the Employment and Training budget that provides funding for the Summer Jobs program, JOBS Corp., School-to-Work, Adult Training Grants and Dislocated Worker Re-training.

A 12 percent cut in enforcement for the Wage-and-Hour Division, which collected more than $160 million in wages owed to working families in 1994.

A 33 percent cut in enforcement for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has overseen a reduction of more than 50 percent in work-place fatalities since 1970.

A 30 percent cut in enforcement for the National Labor Relations Board that safeguards the rights of working men and women.

An attack on the Fair Labor Standards Act that protects the 40-hour work week, minimum wages and child labor laws; all ``unfunded mandates.''

Did any candidate campaign on these issues? Did any candidate cry, ``If elected, I'll return working Americans to the days of scrip and the company store''?

No! They campaigned to protect our Second Amendment rights, and now try to sell us into corporate slavery. They campaigned to protect the unborn, and now may sentence an additional 50,000 workers to injury and death in the work place. They campaigned to fight crime, and now steal the fruits of our labor and the future from our children.

As you enjoy the freedom of this Labor Day, take a moment to reflect on the courage, strength and sacrifice of past generations that stood up and created our country's middle class, and reflect on how close we and our families are to losing that legacy.

Join with men and women of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. Stand up for good jobs, good wages, worker protections, a real voice on the job, and for America's working families.

Walter W. Wise is president of the Roanoke United Central Labor Council.

by CNB