Labor Union Blog

Why is the U.S. economy failing working people? It’s a failure of public policy at the highest levels. The solution is to push hard for a new agenda that puts working people first, according to panelists at “The Economics of Shared Prosperity,” a session at Take Back America 2008.

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka says the economic challenges of the past several years and the recession most of us believe we're in have been the “predictable result” of a set of policies that define growth only in terms of what’s good for corporations, not for working families. Unfair trade policies, privatization, deregulation and the suppression of workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain have been part of a public policy agenda that enriches a few at the expense of nearly everyone else. Even as productivity has gone up, workers have seen less and less of a share of the benefits, Trumka told the session.