State Worker's Contract a Sign of the Times

This is from Doug Grow's column in today's Mpls Star Tribune regarding the contract two state employee unions just negotiated. It's worth a read, I had to cut a lot to stay within copyright rules.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/4152511.html

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There are two ways to look at the tentative agreement workers reached with the state over the weekend: 1) It's bad. 2) It's going to get worse.

The 28,000 union employees -- represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) -- are being asked by their leaders to accept a two-year deal that will end up taking dollars from each member's pocket.

Those of us in the middle class, of course. We're being retaught the old lesson that if we don't hang together, we'll hang separately. And we're hanging everywhere. Real wages are down. (In 1973, the average wage was $9.08 an hour. Today, the average wage (based on 1973 dollars) is $8.33 an hour.) Other costs are up. The middle class is shrinking.

But there is a deeper problem, Monroe said. Somewhere along the line, workers in this country stopped looking out for each other.
"Maybe labor did too good of a job for people for too long," Monroe said. "I think people in this country have forgotten how it was that the middle class was created. There are too many people who believe if they're getting a bad deal, they won't be happy unless you're getting a bad deal, too. People are pulling each other down."

I was able to buy a mountain bike AND a home stereo that year. I guess I have made about a .50 raise per year since then, but my tax rate is way up and, of course, cost of living is insurmountable. Still have the beat up bike, though.

$9.08 an hour in 1973? Can that be true? Min wage was probably $.95 an hour back then?