The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker
Greenhouse, labor correspondent for the New YorkTimes, offers up a bleak picture of the current workplace environment. Violations of child labor laws and forced slave labor conditions associated with Third World countries or the robber baron era are occurring on a wide scale right here in America, expanding the ranks of the working poor. This isn’t just some hidden sweat shops; it’s happening in our largest corporations, such as Wal-Mart. Factory workers are forced to ramp up production to a pace rivaling that of Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times; others are fired for menial “violations,” such as going to the bathroom during their shifts; and anyone daring to organize a labor movement is brutally harassed and humiliated. Meanwhile multimillion-dollar CEOs such as Al “Chainsaw” Dunlap and Jack “Neutron” Welch have become the models for corporate success by laying off hundreds of thousands while Wall Street cheered. Greenhouse did find businesses that treat workers fairly, such as Costco and Timberland, which pay higher wages but are rewarded with worker loyalty and higher productivity. He also offers up ways to solve the current crises in wage stagnation, health care and retirement shortfalls. This is a real call to arms—a stark, jaw-dropping exposé with the usual, but inspiring, glimmers of hope. --David Siegfried