Let's talk about "jobs, jobs, jobs" and full employment.

Quite the discussion has taken place on the Justice Party's web site on my initial post on the issue of full employment which has garnered over 2,326 hits and generated much discussion. I am blocked from participating in my own post by folks purporting to believe in democracy; sad commentary on the state of democracy in the in a party calling itself the "Justice Party."

This is a recent exchange I had with the Editorial Page Editor of the Duluth News Tribune here in Minnesota over this issue of full employment; he too would like to prevent and restrict discussion of this issue.

I find it interesting how far so many people will go and the undemocratic means and methods these people will use to try to thwart discussion on an issue instead of engage in dialog, discussion and debate which is the way people interact in a democratic society.

I would also note that it was around the issue of making the government responsible for full employment which was the point upon which the forces of Wall Street decided it was time to restrict democracy in our country and they began massive repression against the labor movement and its leaders, including socialists and Communists, who were targeted under the Taft-Hartley Act and then Hubert Humphrey's "Communist Control Act."

And it has taken some 70 years for the issue of making the President and Congress responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment to surface again after this political repression.

And, once again, we see this issue attacked without merit and the attacks "backed up" with myths and lies like full employment causes some kind of rampant inflation (an obvious scare tactic not backed by any empirical evidence) combined, again, with the attempt to prevent dialog, discussion and debate through all kinds of devious, undemocratic methods.

The right of the American people to discuss making the government responsible for full employment is as important as the issue itself.

I would note there has been no response from Editor Frederick to my response to him; I provide my Letter to the Editor first; followed by the letter from Editor Frederick to me and my response back to him:

On Sun, Feb 17, 2013 at 11:45 AM, Alan Maki <alan.maki1951mn@gmail.com> wrote:

Submitted exclusively for publication as a Letter to the Editor of the Duluth News Tribune

Once again with President Barack Obama's State of the Union Speech we got another politician hypocritically talking about "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs."

If just one job was created every time some politician opened their mouth and started talking about "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" we wouldn't have any unemployment in this country and everyone who wanted to work would have a decent, living wage job.

So, what is the main obstacle to full employment? Accountability from the very politicians who mouth the words "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" whenever they want to get elected, re-elected or want thunderous applause then go about their business forgetting about jobs as they go looking for their next bribe from a Wall Street lobbyist who views unemployment as the way to keep all wages down which pushes profits up.

What we need in this country is a real "Full Employment Act" which mandates--- by legislation and law--- that the President and the United States Congress must maintain full employment as part of their responsibility to the American people. 

What good is a government that gets us into war after war but can't even assure full employment for the very people it taxes?

Wars cause government debt and deficits; peace and full employment eliminate debts and deficits.

--

Alan L. Maki

Director of Organizing,

Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

 

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell: 651-587-5541

Primary E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

E-mail: alan.maki1951mn@gmail.com

Blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

*********

On Mon, Feb 25, 2013 at 9:01 AM, Chuck Frederick <cfrederick@duluthnews.com> wrote:

Hello Mr. Maki. The subject line of the email containing your letter to the editor submission to the News Tribune indicated the letter was exclusively for publication in the News Tribune. Exclusively, as in ONLY submitted to the News Tribune. But I'm finding your letter already published by the Bemidji paper and already published on at least two blogs. That's hardly exclusive. So were you lying to us when you submitted your letter or did you not understand what "exclusive" means?

Chuck Frederick

Editorial Page Editor

Duluth News Tribune

Chuck Frederick

Editorial Page Editor

Duluth News Tribune 

424 W. First St.

Duluth MN 55802

cfrederick@duluthnews.com

218-723-5316

**********

February 25, 2013

Mr. Chuck Frederick

Editorial Page Editor,

Duluth News Tribune

Dear Editor Frederick,

When I did not hear back from your newspaper in a timely manner I decided to submit my Letter to the Editor to other newspapers. Your newspaper was the very first newspaper I submitted my letter to.

I think I have the right to publish my own letter on my own blogs, do I not, with it still remaining an exclusive submission to your newspaper?

Anyways, if the original ideas in my Letter to the Editor are not worthy of being published in your newspaper that is up to you.

The fact of the matter is, you repeatedly publish the views expressed by all kinds of politicians as they hypocritically talk about "jobs, jobs, jobs" and not once have you as the Editorial Page Editor of the Duluth News Tribune challenged these politicians by holding them accountable by asking where these jobs are. Nor have you ever suggested that since these politicians consider "jobs, jobs, jobs" to be the primary issue facing the country at election you don't follow up after the election asking them why they don't pass legislation making themselves responsible for full employment.

If one newspaper does not respond as to whether they will publish my letter I merely submit it to another for consideration.

Obviously I am aware my letter was on my blogs because I placed it there. I was also aware another newspaper, not the one you mentioned, published my letter--- after I had submitted my letter to the Duluth News Tribune.

What are you suggesting; I have a responsibility to notify you the letter is no longer an "exclusive" or else I become a "liar?" This seems rather petty of you.

In my opinion, you have gone way over the line as an Editor in calling one of your loyal readers a "liar" over this.

Make no mistake you are calling me a "liar" because I do know the meaning of "exclusive."

When was the last time you called Barack Obama or any politician a "liar" for saying they are for "jobs, jobs, jobs" when you know full well they aren't talking about creating jobs for every unemployed person who wants to work--- what is it now, Something like FIFTEEN MILLION unemployed people in this country and counting?

When was the last time you called any of these politicians "liars" because they continue to talk day after day about debts and deficits yet they continue funding these dirty wars for which they always manage to find the money even though this adds to debts and deficits?

In my opinion; I have not written about some kind of trivial issue. Nor have I written about something that is anything other than a very major issue that the entire Nation is focused on--- jobs and unemployment. I have not only written about an important issue; but, I have suggested a solution to unemployment by making the President and the members of the House and Senate legislatively responsible for attaining and maintaining full employment.

If these politicians are going to campaign for our votes on the basis that "jobs, jobs, jobs" are their highest priority items on their agenda then they should be held accountable once elected. Accountability can only be assured if full employment is made part of their job description and legislative duty.

Feel free to call me any names you want. You obviously have the "power" to decide whether my Letter to the Editor is published or not in the Duluth News Tribune. 

In the interest of "freedom of the press" and the right of people to have access to all ideas and suggestions for solutions to pressing problems discussed in the proverbial "public square," I am requesting you publish my Letter to the Editor in the Duluth News Tribune because it merits publication no matter how many times or where it has been published. You are certainly free to add your Editorial comments about what you think of me, or my ideas, before or after the Letter. This is what would best serve the public interest.

Perhaps one of the politicians receiving this would like to respond to my Letter? Perhaps some of your readers would like the opportunity to respond to my Letter. Perhaps since "jobs, jobs, jobs" is such a newsworthy issue you could assign some reporters to go out and talk to people in the Duluth area to see what they think about my Letter in relation to what the politicians have done to live up to their campaign promises of making "jobs" their number one priority when it comes to seeking votes but forgetting once elected.

I have noticed on the Editorial Page of the Duluth News Tribune you frequently endorse politicians who lie. And you endorse them more often than not on the basis of their lies--- "jobs, jobs, jobs" being the perfect example; drone warfare being another.

Use your power as an Editor to do as you see fit with my Letter to the Editor; not printing my Letter won't hurt or bother me; it will be your readers who will be deprived of an alternative viewpoint; it will be your readers who will pay the price in not having access to one more idea.

Let's see if there are any politicians who talk about "jobs, jobs, jobs" who might want to weigh in on this controversy of whether or not my Letter to the Editor should be published... the Duluth News Tribune has endorsed enough of them--- all liars when they talk about "jobs, jobs, jobs" being at the top of their legislative agendas.

All I ask is you not sue me nor turn me over to the authorities for punishment as the last Letter to the Editor I wrote that was published in the Duluth News Tribune ended up in the FBI's "Red Squad" file they maintain on me--- but there is another dirty little government secret like just like the drone wars killing our jobs just like they kill people we shouldn't read about or talk about.

By the way, Mr. Frederick; have you ever considered there is a reason so many people turn to blogging in this country?

I guess I can assume if I decide to run for the United States Senate there won't be any use my stopping by the Duluth News Tribune's Editorial Offices seeking your endorsement if I should choose to run on a platform of "jobs, jobs, jobs." 

Alan L. Maki


Note: I have prepared a blog specifically dedicated to the issue of full employment:

http://fullemploymentnow.blogspot.com/

Labor should dump the Democrats and learn from Canada.

Why labor needs to dump the Democrats and build its own progressive working class based people's political party:

The Minneapolis Star Tribune on January 29, 2013 claims the American Crystal Sugar Company lockout of 1,300 workers here in the Red River Valley is a “work stoppage.”

Does anyone see any workers who stopped working?

This is NOT a work stoppage as claimed by the union bashing Star Tribune newspaper.

Workers did not stop working; nor did workers go on strike.

The company locked workers out of the plants and their jobs; and the work in these plants goes on with the American Crystal Sugar Company using scab labor.

The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Miller's (BCTGM) International Union’s leaders even insisted workers had to train these scabs who workers knew would be used to replace them over many months should workers turn down American Crystal Sugar Companies “final offer.”

Why hasn't the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party with its controlling majorities in the Minnesota State House and Senate and a Democratic Governor brought forward both anti-lockout and anti-scab legislation?

What good is having this super majority if it isn’t going to be used in the interests of workers?

Why isn't the call for this kind of legislation being brought forward by any DFL legislators, members of the DFL state central committee or DFL county committees?

Why haven't the union representing the workers and the Minnesota AFL-CIO insisted their DFL partners bring forward anti-lockout and anti-scab legislation?

Why haven't rank and file union members insisted on getting this legislation out of the MNDFL in return for their votes?

This is one more very typical case where labor leaders refuse to act responsibly in defense of the workers rights and interests  they are supposed to represent and to make sure this never happens again to any workers in Minnesota.

The first cowardly mistake these labor leaders made was telling workers they had to leave these plants as ordered by American Crystal Sugar Management instead of occupying these plants from the very beginning.

These labor leaders should have had the decency to place plant occupations before American Crystal Sugar workers to let them make a democratic decision as to what they wanted to do in order to defend their rights and their livelihoods.

The Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco and Grain Miller's (BCTGM) International Union is a union that has been engaged in working class betrayal for years both in the United States and Canada and it has operated to the detriment of not only its own members, but the entire working class as a whole when it comes to refusing to insist on a real living wage for the minimum wage. In plant after plant and workplace after workplace the national leadership of the BCTGM International Union has pursued the very worst kinds of class collaborationist policies, and often very racist policies, of stabbing militant rank-and-file activists in the back over even very obviously legitimate workplace grievances in which the International repeatedly takes the side of management and insists local labor leaders tow this non-struggle line.   

As for this so-called "boycott" Richard Trumka and the "leaders" of the AFL-CIO have initiated; workers employed in union plants all across the country are still handling and using American Crystal Sugar in the production of everything and anything requiring sugar. From the shipping to processing to retail sales. What kind of a boycott do you call this where the public is being asked to boycott a product union members are still handling?

And why is a petition campaign underway "asking" a Democratic Governor and Democratic State Legislators here in Minnesota to stop purchasing and using American Crystal Sugar? Shouldn't these Democrats who know to come to workers for their money and their votes not to mention insisting the unions do their "heavy lifting" know enough on their own not to be purchasing and using a scab product? Apparently not.

If this lockout by the American Crystal Sugar Company's management and the failure of the Democrats to properly respond isn't a good enough reason to start a progressive working class based people's party on top of the firm foundation of what remains of the socialist Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party, I don't know what it is going to take.

Reactionary shit-ass Minneapolis Star Tribune reporters like Jane Friedmann take it upon themselves to attack me time and time again but this dirty anti-working class rag can’t even get it straight that there has been no work stoppage as it declares:

“...It (American Crystal Sugar Company-ALM))has grown into one of the longest work stoppages in Minnesota history. Unemployment benefits for workers have expired…”

Lie after lie when it comes to this anti-labor rag.

American Crystal Sugar Company lockout--- a botched union strategy.

American Crystal Sugar Company lockout--- a botched union strategy.

What a botched union strategy on the part of the leaders of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International union and the state and national AFL-CIO:

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-12-01/locked-out-crystal-sugar-workers-hold-4th-vote

Here is one thing I find really interesting... the leaders of the AFL-CIO which include the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International union told the rest of us how great Obamacare will be for us but they aren't willing to accept the terms of Obamacare for their own members.

This is from the Associated Press today:

"Contract opponents say the sugar beet processor's five-year contract offer would cut health care benefits and weaken job security and seniority protections..."

No one should find it strange that the betrayal of the AFL-CIO's executive council on health care in undermining the movement for single-payer universal health care in order to protect Barack Obama's worthless political butt should be anything other than a betrayal of the 1,300 American Crystal Worker Company's workers, too.

This is where class collaboration leads--- first we get union leaders like Richard Trumka supporting AIPAC and the Israeli killing machine, then we get Trumka and his 50 or so cronies on the AFL-CIO Executive Council supporting Wall Street's Barack Obama, then we get these same union leaders ordering American Crystal Sugar workers to leave the plants as management orders instead of occupying the plants to prevent a lockout; then these union leaders tell workers they should re-elect Obama will solve their problems and now these same union leaders proclaim a "boycott" with no support for the boycott except press conferences.

Why aren't the leaders comprising the AFL-CIO Executive Council putting the same effort into organizing an American Crystal Sugar Company boycott that they put into re-electing Barack Obama who brought us Obamacare and now they won't accept this same Obamacare for their own members?

Kind of like these same 50-plus "leaders" sitting on the AFL-CIO Executive Council headed up by Richard Trumka are willing to accept such a miserly poverty minimum wage for tens of millions of non-union members without so much as consulting the workers who are then saddled with this poverty minimum wage.

Class collaboration paves the road straight to hell for the working class and this American Crystal Sugar Company lockout should teach every worker in this country this lesson.

George Edwards... Communist and rank-and-file working class activist

The working class and people lost a great leader, activist, and fighter for justice and equality this past week when 94 year-old George Edwards died. While his accomplishments were many and will have positive influence on our lives for generations, what those who knew George will remember most was his all abiding humanity. While a lifelong champion of worker's rights, civil rights, and peace, George was as at home with a beer watching the game, gardening, hiking, camping, or visiting friends as he was at a meeting of his beloved steelworker unionists.

Born in 1918 in South Dakota, his family moved to Tennessee and homesteaded land in what is now the Great Smoky National Park. His father worked in the Indian Service until becoming frustrated with mistreatment of native peoples.

George obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee, then received his graduate degree from Oberlin Seminary, studying to enter the ministry. After completing his studies, George went to work as a machinist at the huge U. S. Steel Works in nearby Lorain, Ohio, making less than $1 an hour. His goal was to set up a "labor church."

However, he quickly joined the Steelworker's Organizing Committee, which was campaigning to organize that mill, and joined the Communist Party USA, along with many of the other organizers. He was active as a member/leader for the rest of his life.

Denise Winebrenner-Edwards, George's wife of 31 years, said, "He was absolutely convinced that the only way working people could achieve justice was for the people, not the wealthy, to control our economy. He saw that inherent in capitalism was inequality and injustice and that the system needed to be changed fundamentally to meet the people's needs."

After winning unionization in 1942, George founded the local union newspaper, the Lorain Labor Leader, founded a veteran's committee, and was part of the local's Political Action Committee. He was elected the local's vice president.

When America entered World War II, George immediately joined up, fighting to defeat the fascist menace in Europe.

After victory, he came back, but to a much different political climate. McCarthyism was rearing its ugly head. Still, George was elected to the 1948 United Steelworkers of America (USWA) convention, where he raised the first resolution calling for an African American vice president of the union. Although this wasn't won at that convention, George was a leading part of the movement that achieved that goal at the USWA convention nearly 40 years later.

For George, the 1950s were difficult times. Hounded by the FBI, spied on, and ostracized at the union he helped found, his name was even chiseled off of the founders' plaque at the union hall. He suffered isolation and tough times, even going through a divorce.

However, George used this time to become a photographer, setting up a studio in Lorain, became involved in hiking, camping, and became a serious artist, painting and producing metal sculptures. His metal chess sets are highly valued and are on display as gifts in presidential offices in Vietnam and other nations.

Even in these hard times, George still found ways to fight for justice. Seeing Puerto Rican workers brought in to work at the mill housed in railroad cars on company property, without running water, heat or sanitary facilities, he invited leaders of the Puerto Rican independence movement to Lorain to help the workers understand what rights they had and to push for decent housing. When African American steelworkers were unable to buy homes in still-segregated areas, George purchased homes which he resold to those workers. As the civil rights and peace movements developed, George jumped on board.

In the '70's, George really began to put his stamp on policy changes that would shift political ground for all of us. Seeing a lack of democracy, a slackening of the fight against the big corporations, in the USWA, George formed the National Steelworkers Rank & File Committee. It pushed for democracy, membership involvement and solidarity. He literally ran the budding rank and file movement from an old mimeograph machine in his front room, almost permanently having blue-stained fingers. Local committees were formed in Steelworker locals across the nation, mainly made up of younger workers.

The Lorain committee did not come about because George made great speeches, but grew out of what will forever be known as the "Pink Hard Hat" incident. By now, George was a machinist instructor, teaching young apprentices the trade. But the shop foreman was making life hell for the young workers, harassing them in numerous ways, including forcing them to shave beards and cut their hair short (a big deal for those guys in those days). George painted his hard hat pink, stating that it looked like "the boss's bald head."

He was suspended for his protest, but the union, especially the young workers, rallied to his side and he won his grievance and back pay.

This was during a time that the mainstream media all trumpeted the "generation gap," the idea that only young folks were progressive and that if you were older, you couldn't possibly relate to young people. Throughout his life, and especially during this period, George showed this concept up for the lie it was. He was beloved by the younger workers and he fought for them, as well as all workers.

An important principle of the rank and file movement that George often spoke of during this period was: "We have no enemies that are workers. We are fighting for all workers. We need a rank and file movement always, to involve regular workers in the union. It needs to support union leaders when they're right and push them when they aren't!"

The rank and file movement that George began expanded and won many gains during this period. The right of workers to ratify their own contracts was won, as well as the election of an African American USW vice president. The movement fought against an experimental negotiating agreement that would have ended the union's ability to strike. The well-known Consent Decree, which ended practices of keeping minority workers in the worst, most dangerous and low paid jobs, opened up all jobs to bidding and brought women and minorities into the trades, was a major victory of the movement. All these had George Edwards' fingerprints on them.

The Steelworkers union began to shift, becoming the progressive union it is today, mobilizing its members, building coalitions, standing up for solidarity with other workers and unions across the globe.

After retiring, George married Denise Winebrenner and moved to Pittsburgh. Winebrenner, a USW activist in her own right, was elected to the Wilkinsburg City Council.

Hardly ready to relax and enjoy "golden years," George spoke of these as "the best years of my life." He was a founding member of the Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees (SOAR) and was a member of SOAR's ruling executive board. With his wife Denise, they formed a local coalition, Wilkinsburg for Change, which stopped privatization of the local elementary school and pushed for better services and more access for the community to local government.

George was especially proud of the fact that he was "the first one arrested" for sitting in, blocking trucks carrying copies of the Pittsburgh Press, when workers there were on strike. The strike was successful, especially due to the massive solidarity movement.

Even into his 90s George Edwards was active, mobilizing steel retirees to rallies for health care and retiree security. When Occupy Pittsburgh held demonstrations and news conferences this past year, George was out front, attending and bringing friends.

Finally, in his late years, George got something he'd never asked for: credit for his work! He used to say, "It's amazing what you can get accomplished if you don't care who gets credit!"

Certainly, at least for the rest of us, it was wonderful to see some credit finally go his way.

At the 70th anniversary of the United Steelworkers union in Cleveland last year, George Edwards was honored with a long, very loud, standing ovation. He was recognized for his work and as the only one present who was at the founding USW convention as well as the present one.

George had just returned from a USW Civil Rights Conference in Cincinnati when he fell into a coma. At that conference, USW President Leo Gerard had honored George, saying, "He was an activist every single day of his life." The comments were occasion for another long, standing ovation, which brought tears to many eyes, including George's.

George died peacefully. He didn't live that way!

He is survived by his wife Denise, a son, daughter, and three sisters.

Denise has asked that those wishing to send flowers instead send donations to SOAR, or Next Generation (USW organization for young workers). Both of these can go to:

USW-Attn. Sec'r./Treasurer

60 Blvd. of the Allies

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Jim Centner, national president of SOAR, probably said it best when he said the best way to honor George is to "live life like George, be an activist every day!"

AFL-CIO Endorses Nationwide Consumer Boycott of American Crystal Sugar in Response to Crystal Sugar’s 14-Month Lockout

The national AFL-CIO is calling for a boycott of American Crystal Sugar after management has kept workers locked out for over a year here in the Red River Valley.

http://www.enewspf.com/latest-news/latest-national/37077-afl-cio-endorses-nationwide-consumer-boycott-of-

american-crystal-sugar-in-response-to-crystal-sugars-14-month-lockout.html

I find it very interesting that local, state and national AFL-CIO leaders were opposed to American Crystal Workers occupying the plants when faced with a lockout but now claim they will organize a boycott of American Crystal Sugar.

Does anyone really believe that this boycott will consist of anything more than a another press conference?

Richard Trumka has given American Crystal Sugar's management the ultimatum:

Negotiate a contract in good faith or face a boycott.

Given the fact that Trumka was opposed to workers taking over the plants when management first threatened the lockout; and for over a year Trumka has made no effort to stop replacement workers from entering the ACS plants and operating them at maximum capacity... I bet American Crystal Sugar's management are just shaking in their boots at the threat of the AFL-CIO threatening a consumer boycott as many consumers already "boycott" sugar simply because they can't afford its high price as a result of the AFL-CIO working with ACS management and politicians (Democrats and Republicans) to keep the price (and profits from) beet derived sugar artificially high.

Let's get real here.

The union has already agreed to most of ACS management's concessions and ASC management refuses to negotiate in good faith.

Do you suppose ACS management wants to shed itself from the union altogether?

In fact, the owners/shareholders of American Crystal Sugar stated long before the lockout that it was their intent to get rid of the union and Richard Trumka and the corrupt local and national "leaders" of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) used intimidation tactics against their own members who dared to so much as mention that a worker take-over of the plants be considered.

Here is a list of sugar companies from all over the world:

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/companies/sugar/

How many of these companies' products do U.S. consumers see on the shelves when it comes to beet derived sugar that they can choose from as an alternative to American Crystal Sugar?

Union leaders are subjecting American Crystal Sugar workers to a losing "battle" behind all kinds of militant sounding talk that amounts to nothing but more betrayal from which workers will continue to suffer because they were not encouraged to do the right thing in the first place when ACS management threatened a lock-out.

The correct response should have been a take-over of the plants by the workers until the contract was settled.

There is a lesson in this for other workers.

For American Crystal Sugar workers this is now a done deal. They have lost; if the AFL-CIO union "leaders" have their way these workers will not only lose out on what they should have won in a new contract; they will end up losing their union--- and their jobs... the ultimate in concessions.

U.S. workers are paying a terrible price for class collaboration trade unionism.

What is required is a return to class struggle trade unionism with a good heavy dose of anti-imperialist education.

Part-time faculty pay reaching poverty level

by: Michelle Kern 

September 21 2012 

The American Federation of Teachers recently highlighted the tenuous employment and poor compensation of part-time college teachers in an article titled: "New report blasts working conditions of adjunct faculty."

The article spotlights findings of two recent reports. In the first, a survey of 500 adjunct faculty found they are frequently hired at the last minute for courses they have little time to prepare for, with little or no support from the institution. They rarely have opportunities for professional development or chances to share in the collegial culture of education.

The second report, "Dismantling the Professoriate," paints a bleak portrait of the poverty-level wages and lack of professional support for adjunct faculty, who often make significantly less per course than their full-time counterparts:

"The median pay per course, standardized to a three-credit course, was $2,700 in fall 2010, and ranged from a low of $2,235 at two-year colleges to a high of $3,400 at four-year doctoral or research universities.

"Part-time faculty respondents saw little, if any, wage premium based on their credentials.

"Professional support was minimal for part-time faculty members' work outside the classroom and for their inclusion in academic decision-making."

Grassroots efforts are also drawing attention to the low pay, lack of benefits and lack of support in a field that has come to depend on the presence of a surplus of "freeway flyers," as adjuncts are often called.

A "crowd-sourced" spreadsheet at adjunctproject.com lists data from part-time faculty all over the U.S., on wages, health benefits (or more commonly, lack thereof), access to institutional support, union membership and retirement.

Budget cuts are often blamed for the over-reliance on part-time adjuncts to handle the bulk of teaching. Budgets have indeed been slashed in education, but data shows at the same time, the non-teaching administrative sector has grown.

While college administrations often tout the fiscal advantages of using part-time faculty, they don't apply the same logic to their own ranks. Between 1976 and 2005, part-time faculty rose from 31 percent to 48 percent, while part-time administrators declined from 4 percent to 3 percent.

College administrators' salaries are several levels higher than the wages of adjunct teachers. Although full professors' salaries may seem commensurate with those of administrators, salaries and wages for all teaching staff have not kept pace, even with rising tuition, as reported by the American Association of University Professors.

The AAUP says tuition rose much faster than full-time faculty salaries, with the greatest gap at public institutions, where tuition and fees grew by 72 percent, accounting for inflation, while professors' salaries rose by less than 1 percent at doctoral and baccalaureate institutions and fell by over 5 percent at master's universities.

Meanwhile, the AAUP says, between 2006-7 and 2010-11, median presidential salaries jumped by 9.8 percent, adjusted for inflation, while median full-time faculty salaries rose by less than 2 percent."

In fact most adjuncts have been hired when universities were not facing budget cuts, the AAUP reported .

At the same time, colleges are increasingly turning toward corporate models and business culture. And corporations and businesses are taking more of a role in diverting public education funds intended for colleges, and instead directing them to private profit. Cheap and surplus labor is the model for an expanding bottom line in Wall Street-driven institutions and the same process has taken hold of our institutions of higher learning, especially in privatization at public universities.

Without tenure, adjuncts are among the first to be fired when cuts are on the table, just like temps and contract workers across many other fields. This can translate to depressed wages across the board for teaching staff, higher class loads for the remaining faculty (in some cases throwing teaching duties on "stipend" paid graduate students who make even less than adjuncts), and a decrease in dues in the teaching union locals, attacking their ability to fight educational austerity measures.

Slashing the teaching workforce in education does not cause the economy to grow or save the budgets of universities in the long run. Expanding wages and benefits and teaching opportunities for adjuncts would bring more regional prosperity, increasing the tax base and helping to grow available funds for education.

The political will must also be found to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations, who benefit from the presence of public universities and a well-educated labor force. Full time and part time teaching staff must forge organized and unified fight-backs, to press universities to benefit the teaching staff who attract students to the school. Resisting the privatization of our public resources will also help reverse the trend of making education jobs poverty-level.

Adjuncts should not view themselves as "the expendables," but as a workforce that now makes up the majority of higher education staff. If there is a union at your college, join it. If the adjuncts are not organized or not part of the existing union, press to become a part of the union or form an adjunct union.

Organization is the best weapon against capitalism, which has definitely entered the arena of higher education. The future of our working people, teachers and students alike, is at stake.

http://www.aft.org/newspubs/news/2012/082412adjuncts.cfm

http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/oc/septoct12dismantling.cfm

http://dbacon.igc.org/Students/students.htm

http://www.adjunctproject.com/us/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/septemberoctober_2011/features/administrators_ate_my_tuition031641.php

http://chronicle.com/article/Median-Salaries-of-Senior/126455/

http://chronicle.com/article/faculty-salaries-barely-budge-2012/131432/

http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/issues/contingent/contingentfacts.htm

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=12066

http://cio.chance.berkeley.edu/chancellor/sp/privatization.htm

http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2012/06/how-public-pays-for-privatization-ucla.html

http://www.aft.org/about/resolution_detail.cfm?articleid=1634

http://www.themillions.com/2012/08/got-an-mfa-teach-high-school.html

http://chronicle.com/article/Adjuncts-Working-Conditions/133918/

Native Americans left out of economic recovery, as always

Albert Bender, a columnist for News From Indian Country, writing in the Communist Party's publication--- The People's World, wrote about Native American unemployment in Indian Country and Obama. I wonder why so few publications carried this article?

http://peoplesworld.org/native-americans-left-out-of-economic-recovery-as-always-2/

Native Americans left out of economic recovery, as always

by: Albert Bender

June 11 2012

Up until the past few weeks, there had been a lot of hoopla about a blossoming economic recovery. Job creation for the early part of the year had been averaging 200,000 a month. (Keep in mind, though, that responsible economists maintain that 345,000 jobs per month are needed for at least two years to get back to even five percent unemployment - and the latest numbers for May show only 69,000 jobs created.)

Indian America, looking at the historical record, would have found little reason to rejoice at the so-called "good economic news." Why? Because historically, economic recovery, as a national news pundit recently said, "is growth for white America, but there will still be three times the unemployment rate for blacks and Hispanics."

But that statistic can look good, considering that the Native American unemployment rate would be 10x greater than the white jobless rate. Indeed, as is well known in Native circles, on reservations across the nation the unemployment for Native Americans routinely ranges from 80-90 percent - and this has been the economic situation for generations. For urban Native Americans, the jobless rate averages around 48 percent. In general, Indian Country is in a permanent depression even when the national economy is on the upswing.

But once again it seems the economy was just having another false start, as in the last couple of years, and now appears at the edge of falling off the economic cliff. I cannot but take wry satisfaction in a failing recovery, a recovery that bypasses Native American misery.

The above quoted statistics of Native unemployment are years old because reservations in particular and urban Native Americans in general, incredibly, have been purposely excluded from government employment data since 2005. To cite a not atypical example, South Dakota has nine reservations, with unemployment ranging from a "low" of 12 percent on one smaller reservation to 89 percent on the largest reservation. These figures were last compiled in 2005. South Dakota's overall unemployment rate is 4.7 percent, exclusive of reservations.

Native American joblessness is so high, it is off the charts. It is so staggering and is not compiled because to do so would be an additional stunning moral indictment of U.S. government treatment of Native Americans.

The last absurd excuse given by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for not collecting American Indian employment data was that there was no money in the government budget for such compilation.

This government attitude is highlighted by the fact that as far back as 1990, in statistical tables from the U.S. Bureau of Census that contained information on American Indians, African Americans, Asian Americans and others, the category "American Indian unemployed" contained, instead of numbers, the letters MD=Missing Data. No other population had such a classification. Again, this was a shocking, clumsy attempt to hide astronomical unemployment.

The position of the Obama administration to combat joblessness in American Indian communities and others of color is that an economic recovery will uplift all the jobless; a strong, robust economy will translate into jobs for all. This simply will not work due to the institutional racism endemic in American society. The very disturbing question is who always gets the lion's share of the jobs even when the economy is on the upswing? Whites have always received a disproportionate share of jobs.

To cite an example of who does not get the jobs: In early March, the mainstream media was touting apparent job gains, but noted that Latinos were being bypassed. The national jobless rate dropped to about 8.1 percent, but the Latino unemployment rate remained at 10.6 percent. The white jobless rate dropped to 7.9 percent. Incredibly, the media posed the question: Why the disparity? - and remarked that economists and labor experts also weren't sure.

More absurdity: the 'experts' subsequently stated they simply didn't know. Whites have always gotten the lion's share of employment. Without massive employment programs for communities of color, this will continue. After all, white Americans have for over 200 years had their own special "jobs programs" - racism. Communities of color, in particular those of Native Americans, need affirmative action jobs programs; otherwise, "economic recovery" will do little to remedy Native American joblessness.