Labor Union Blog

IUE-CWA Local 201 Executive Board member and Ward 6 Councilor Pete Capano on the porch of one of two houses on his street that are under foreclosure. Alley Street is part of the historic “Brickyard” neighborhood of Lynn, Mass., home to waves of shoe workers, GE workers and new immigrants for the past 150 years.

“We just lost a big chunk of our retirement,” grumbled more than one person down at the Union Hall last week, when General Electric Co. (GE) stock tumbled. “I got two houses on my street under foreclosure already,” added Pete Capano, an IUE-CWA Local 201 Executive Board member and Ward 6 city councilor in Lynn, Mass. We are entering the fear stage of the recession, where people swap stories about the trouble we’re in.

We in the United States work the longest hours of any workers in the industrialized world.

Our productivity is up by any standard—two-thirds or more in the past 10 years.

So why were 102 houses in Lynn facing foreclosure in February, more than double the 44 houses one year ago? Why did GE workers and retirees take a beating on their 401(k)s last week, when GE stock dropped $4 a share? Why have more than one hundred people stopped by my office for help in getting jobs—jobs that I don’t have to offer? Why is nearly every city and town in Massachusetts facing layoffs?

Why is the economy falling apart?