Ron Collins, Communication Workers of America (CWA) joins Thom Hartmann. A job that’s becoming increasingly harder and harder to find in America over the last few years is one in the call center industry. Since 2006 – a half-millions American call center jobs have been packed up and shipped overseas to low-wage countries. Companies like Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and T-Mobile are the some of the biggest culprits when it comes to killing American call center jobs. But, Democrats in Congress have been pushing legislation to put an end ot this mass exodus of jobs. The United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act cuts off federal loans and benefits to companies that off-shore their call center jobs. This bill also keeps a running list of companies that have off-shored call center jobs in an effort to discourage the practice. Back in June, the House of Representatives took a vote on this legislation – and most Republicans lined up against it – killing the bill – and leaving the few Americans who still have call center jobs screwed. But now, Democrats in the Senate are trying to revive the legislation with the help of Senators Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Bob Casey in Pennsylvania – two states that have been hit really hard by call center job losses. As Senator Sherrod Brown said this week in defense of the United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act: “When companies send call center jobs overseas, they don’t just frustrate consumers – they hurt our economy as well. With thousands of Ohioans looking for work, it just doesn’t make sense to ship these jobs overseas.” He’s right – so what can be done to make sure this legislation passes to stimulate OUR economy – instead of stimulate foreign economes with what used to be American call center jobs.
The United States is the only developed nation that does not guarantee paid sick leave for workers when they are ill, or when they need to miss work in order to take care of a sick family member. Sarah Jane Glynn, a Policy Analyst at the Center for American Progress, explains why there is a need for paid sick days, who benefits and why guaranteed paid sick days for workers is good for the economy.
In 2008, Barack Obama pledged to raise the minimum wage every year once elected, but the hourly rate of $7.25 hasn’t increased since 2007. Low-wage workers now make far less than they did four decades ago. Last week Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. introduced The Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2012. It draws its name from the idea that the federal minimum wage would be $10.55 an hour now if it had kept up with inflation over the past 40 years. While the bill has about 20 co-sponsors so far President Obama has yet to endorse it. We speak to longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader.
Ross Perlin, author of Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy, explains that while growing up, he was exposed to a “myth of work” that involved spending one’s entire career in a single industry and working 9am to 5pm in office parks or factories. But in recent decades, he says, the idea of standard employment has “come apart at the seams,” and now as much of a third of the labor force in developed countries—including the United States—consists of precarious workers such as freelancers, independent contractors, seasonal part-time workers and interns.
“Tim Bell of the Chicago Workers Collaborative speaks to PDA IL members about the exploitation of temp workers and how the progressive community can reach out and support these workers in their fight for labor equality, justice and access to health care. Visit http://chicagoworkerscollaborative.org/“
