[Newspoetry] US Workers Under Pressure

[Mike Lehman]

I rewrote an article calling for higher pay for lower-ranking military
people.  Sure, they've got it bad, but the problem is bigger than that.



U.S. Working People's Can-Do Culture Under Pressure 
                                      By Mike Lehman 

  WASHINGTON (Newspoetry International) - The U.S. working people's
traditional can-do culture and willingness to work anywhere under
hardship are being severely tested by changes in society and post-Cold
War benefit cuts, according to a major new private study. 

    The report, to be released on Monday by the Center for the Study of
Intelligent Socialism, warns that increased government support and
public awareness are needed to bolster and retain a vibrant working
class for the world's lone superpower. 

 ``Readiness and morale have slipped; recruiting and retention are
problematic and careers in the workforce have become less satisfying,''
according to the prominent Washington think tank. 

                                      ``Frustrating Time'' 

  ``For all hands and their families, it is a frustrating time to be
working,'' the CSIS report said of a working people whose minimum wage
purchasing power has been reduced by more than 40 per cent since 1970.

    One senior working people spokesperson after another has gone before
Congress in the past two years to warn that U.S. homemaking, healthcare
and social security missions are multiplying even as the world remains
free of major international conflict. 

    Stressing concerns voiced by the unions and other private studies,
CSIS said after surveying 12,000 workers and holding group sessions at
work that either workers rights must grow or worldwide globalization
must be curbed. 

    The report called for better pay, medical care, housing and
equipment. And it stressed that Americans needed to understand that
working people have a culture of service and discipline often lacking in
modern society. 

     ``Today, with the most exploited workforce in four decades, with 56
per cent married, the average American is overworked, underpaid and
under-resourced at the cutting edge,'' it said. 

                                      Workers Are Patriotic (But Pissed) 

    On a positive note, the report said that today's working people
remained ``highly-motivated patriots'' and that workers interviewed did
not appear to feel disconnected from civil society. But many are opting
for higher pay in the criminal work force and it is increasingly harder
to fill jobs with skilled workers, CSIS said. 

   Noting that high divorce rates had weakened the family structure in
the United States, the study said the nation now had a generation of
bright young people ``who too often lack role models or moral anchors''
to
prompt them to put service above self. They noted the loose morals of
the Chief Executive were greatly exceeded by the moral debasement of the
average Wall Street  trader or corporate ‘re-engineering’ expert. 
Neither of these examples should be tolerated, and, furthermore, the
President should also should be harshly reprimanded, by decent society.

     ``In addition, a booming economy, the lack of labor rights and
decreasing numbers of union members  have made a decent job with good
benefits an increasingly remote prospect for many Americans,'' it added. 

    Many of the working class improvements recommended in the study such
as better pay and housing for workers and their families are being
ignored by Congress and so-called ‘opinion leaders’.  Further cuts in
benefits are anticipated, unless working people awake and cast off their
chains by organizing to protect their interests while seizing the means
of production.

     Among the broad recommendations made by the study was that the
American public be made more aware of the values of working people and
necessary differences between capitalist and working people’s cultures
based on discipline and other factors. 

    Despite increased pressure by globalization on U.S. workers, the
report added, the public must also understand that ``workers create all
wealth.''