Youth Brigade

Welcome
 Friday

Afternoons and Me
You, Social Movements and Inequality
 Solidarity

Bingo
A “Snapshot” of America
 Wealth
and Income
Stuart Eimer
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Raised in Sayreville, NJ
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Rutgers University
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Student Activist: local third party called the New Party
Shop Steward & Delegate to AFL-CIO Central Labor Council
Professor of Sociology
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Union scholarship: first to go to college
Student Activist on range of issues: Strike Support, University Democracy, Tuition
Hikes, Third World Solidarity Work, National Student Organizing
Graduate School @ University of Wisconsin
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Working class union family: IBEW Local 3 in NYC
Teach courses on social class, poverty, unions
Research focuses on labor politics, labor history, central labor councils and SEIU
Youth Brigade Educator Since 2002
How About You
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Name and where you are from
College you attend or job that you work if you are not a
full time student
Main Groups or Organizations that you work with
Why you decided to spend your summer working in the
organizing department of a union
One way you see inequality growing (or lessening) in your
life or the life of your community
Solidarity Bingo…
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

Go around the room and find
someone who knows the answer
to one of the questions. If they
know the answer have them print
their name in the box of the
question they can answer.
Each person may only sign one of
your boxes. You may sign your
own name in one box.
If you get bingo down, across, or
diagonally, yell BINGO! and
you’ll win a prize.
The Untold Story



The role that social movements played in shaping our
nation is often invisible in our schools, media and
society at large
Much of what is taught in the schools, reported in the
media or talked about by politicians does not
critically examine the way our economy and society
have developed or how it works now
We need to change this
Today We’ll Examine Economic
Inequality

Income-money, wages, and payments that are
periodically received from investments
 For

most people a paycheck
Let’s take a look at the distribution of income in the US
Inequality in America

Income-money, wages, or payments that are
periodically received from investments

For most people a paycheck
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6 Volunteers Up Front
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Quintile?
Real Family Income Growth1949-1979
Inequality in America
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1 More Volunteer Up Front
Real Family Income Growth 1979-2009
Reactions to this? Comments?
In 2010: 93% of Gain went to the
top 1%

100 people
 99
take seven
steps forward
1
takes 93 steps
forward
Income Inequality in America

10 Volunteers Up Front
In 2010 the richest 10% of American Families
took home 48% of the Income
The Great Divergence
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
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Top 1% now takes
nearly 20% of the
income on payday
In NYC, the Top 1%
took 44% in 2007,
up from 17% in 1987
So how does this
impact your lives, our
communities, the nation
as a whole?
Income buys Wealth

Wealth-assets, particularly those that are income
producing.
 For
most households their home is the only real wealth
they have
 For
 But
many people…no net worth
for some people a second home in the Hamptons
or in the Virgin Islands, an apartment in London, a Van
Gogh painting, race horses, shopping malls, hotels,
ships, sports teams, bonds, stocks, cash…
Wealth

So how wealth distributed among our
society’s population?

Let’s explore this via Sound

The Sound of Inequality
Fewer People Own More Wealth
 1976: richest 10% of the
U.S. population owned
50% of all wealth.
 2007: richest 10% of
the U.S. population owned
73% of all wealth.
Source: Edward N. Wolff, “Recent Trends in Wealth Ownership”
18
Wealth: Top 10% Owns 73 % of
the Wealth
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Reactions? Feelings about this?
Impact our lives and communities?
Fight for a Fair Economy
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Research Suggests That the US Public Doesn’t Fully
Understand What’s Going On
And That They Prefer a Society More Like FFE Suggests
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It doesn’t have to
be this way
Brainstorm policy
and/or rule
changes that
would close the
income and/or
wealth gap


Brainstorm policy
and/or rule
changes that would
close the income
and/or wealth gap
What would it take
to enact these
changes or policies?
Closing For Today
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What Brings You Hope ?
Closing For Today
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What Brings Me Hope?
Next Week


Lunch and then a visit to the Museum of the City of
New York Check out Activist New York
Next Week: The Emergence of Class Based Social
Movements
Appendix
Similar Point Can Be Illustrated With Candy

Let’s look at this
another way
7
Volunteers up front
In 2010 The richest 10% of American Families
take 48% of the Income
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
Do you see any
trends?
What do you
think explains
the trends you
see?
What Do the Following Have in
Common?
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The weekend
The 8 hour day
Minimum wage laws
Laws prohibiting child
labor
Laws prohibiting
discrimination based
on race or gender
Social Security
Medicare
Inequality, Pizza

Homework
 Try
this with 10 friends
and a pizza tonight

What problems do you
think this kind of
distribution of income
and wealth might
cause?
Lowest 20 Percent
$0 - $25,394
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Second Lowest
$26,934 - $47,914

Middle 20 Percent
$47,914 - $73,338
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Second Highest 20 Percent
$73,338 - $112,540
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Top 20 Percent
$112,540 and higher
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Top 5%
$200,000 and up
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Top 1%
$1.2 million and up
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Budget Crisis or Revenue Crisis
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Camden, N.J., Braces For Police, Firefighter Layoffs, January 17, 2011
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PA Hospitals Face Cuts In State Budget, March 24, 2011
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Cuomo's budget cuts education, Medicaid, Feb 2011,
State budget cuts to students in poor districts could be ten times higher than those in
wealthier districts, March 16, 2011,
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Budget cuts deter Baltimore's promise to back affordable housing fund
Housing, April 8, 2011
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N.J. public school breakfast, private school lunch subsidies to be cut, April 2010
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See a Pattern Again???
Year
Pct. Of Wealth
Held by Top 1%
1922
32
1929
36
1939
31
1949
21
1958
24
1969
20
1989
38
1998
38
2007
34
What Do the Following Have in
Common?
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

The weekend
The 8 hour day
Minimum wage laws
Laws prohibiting child
labor
Laws prohibiting
discrimination based
on race or gender
Social Security
Medicare
Try this with a pizza tonight…

Top 1% of our
society controls 35%
of wealth




Gates, Trump,
Hilton
Top 5% controls
62%
Top 10% controls
73%
The rest of
us split
what’s
left…
It Isn’t Like this Everywhere…
Wealth Owned by Top 10%
(2000)
US
70%
France
61%
Sweden
59%
Norway
51%
Germany
44%
April 20, 2011
Washington Post:
Public Opinion
Supports Change,
but Disorganized
Public Opinion
Isn’t Worth Much
Present Moment…Tremendous
Economic Inequality in US

When so much is
controlled by so few,
what impact do you
think this has on
working families and
our communities?
 Pay,
Schools, Parks,
Libraries, Pools, Job
training, Health Care,
Etc.
Quiz


Inequality matters…
Rank of the U.S. among the seventeen leading
industrial nations with the largest percentage of
their populations in poverty:
Quiz
Rank of the U.S. among the seventeen leading
industrial nations with the largest percentage of
their populations in poverty:
We’re # 1

(United Nations Human Development Report 1998,N.Y.C.)
Child Poverty, March 2005
CEO Pay Compared….
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We’re number 1…
Poverty in America
Social Mobility

O.K…immense inequality…and a lot of
poverty…but if people in the bottom 90% don’t
like it, they can always work harder and join the
top 10%…
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Work hard and you’ll get ahead…Rags to riches..
Of the poorest 20 percent of Americans in 1989,
what percent were still in the poorest 20 percent
in 1998?
Mobility and Race
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2/3 of the Black children born in the bottom 25%
will remain in the bottom 25%
Reactions to this?
So…
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Growing levels of inequality in the United
States…
Research suggests that most people in lower
economic classes are not likely to move out of
those classes
 Some

will…but most will not…
And then we have the “AMBITION PILL”
problem…the “structural problem”
Ambition, talent and hard work are not
enough…Society needs GOOD JOBS…
Occupations Adding
ProjectedOccupations
increase
Weekly Pay
Weekly
Paythe Most
forJobsthe Ten
That
1) Systems Analysts
577,000
$1,008
Will
Add
the
Most
Jobs
Through
2010
2) Retail Salespersons
563,000
$329
Median
3)U.S.
Cashiers
Weekly Wages in 2000
4) General
Managers
1. Food
preparation &
serving (includes fast food).
5) Truck2.Drivers
Customer service
representatives.
6) Office Clerks
$261
$473
8. Security guards.
9. Computer
12) Nursing
Aides andsoftware
Orderlies
engineers, applications.
$321
$278
$406
$280
551,000
$797
$336
==4-person
family
poverty line
$336
4-person
family
493,000
$299 poverty line
463,000
$862
3. Registered
7) Registered
Nurses nurses.
8) Computer
Specialists
4. RetailSupport
salespersons.
5. Computer support
9) Personal Care and Home Health Aides
specialists.
10) Teaching Assistants
6. Cashiers (except gaming).
11) Janitors, Cleaners and Maids
7. Office clerks, general.
556,000
$419
451,000
$750
439,000
$983
333,000
$701
$321
375,000
$315
365,000
$324
325,000
$322
$338
Source:
1999
BLS data; $257
10. Waiters and
waitresses.
the 1999 poverty line
for a $500
$0
$1,000
$1,500
family
of four is
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Based on hourly earnings and a 40-hour week.
$327/week.
$1,901
$2,000
7
So…
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Questions emerge…

If we know that most people will not experience
individual mobility into a higher class…

And we know that no matter what, someone will have to
work as bakers, teachers, truck drivers, janitors, security
guards, gardeners, etc…

Are there strategies and actions that groups of
people can use to improve their lives?
Among other things...People can form unions to
redistribute the pie…
Anyone see a relationship…
Inequality over Time
Year
1922
1929
1939
1949
1958
1969
Pct.Wealth
Held by Top
1% of
Households
31.6
36.3
30.6
20.8
23.8
20.1
Union Density over Time

What has happened
to percentage of
workers who are in
unions over the last 40
years?
Percent of Workers Who
Belong to Unions Has Decreased
35%
30%
25%
20%
2006
15%
10%
5%
0%
2006
1935
1945
1955
1965
1975
1985
1995
2000
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
Source: Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Handbook of Labor Statistics, 1980.
Also, Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, January various years.
Union Density by State - 1983
0% to 9%
10% to 20%
Source: Union Members in 1983, Bureau of Labor Statistics
21% & over
Union Density by State - 2006
0% to 9%
10% to 20%
Source: Union Members In 2006, Bureau of Labor Statistics
21% & over
On Our Challenges

How do we get from the top bar to the bottom bar?
What are the main challenges that you see?
At Present, Almost Nobody in America
is in a union…
87%
of workers
not in unions
And the absence of unions means working families
have less…less power, less income, less wealth, less
retirement security…
Anyone see a relationship…
Inequality over Time
Year
1922
1929
1939
1949
1958
1969
1989
1995
Pct.Wealth
Held by Top
1% of
Households
31.6
36.3
30.6
20.8
23.8
20.1
38.3
38.5
Union Density over Time
Unions & Modern Society…

Currently 17.8 million
unionized workers in US

13.7% of all workers, down
from 35% in 1950s

US labor movement is
smaller & weaker than in
most other advanced
industrial capitalist societies
Lunch…

I hope this has sparked your interest in unions and
society…
 We’ll
explore the rise and fall of unions more in the
coming weeks
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
Right now…one hour for lunch…
Then a video and a walking tour of some NYC
labor history.
A Historical Context for the here and
now…
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
Take a look around this workplace…exit signs,
sprinkler systems, stairways…
Do you think building owners and employers
voluntarily put them in place?
Why do workplaces have these things?
Workers in New York City Change
America…

Video Clip sets stage for our walk
A Historical Context for the here and
now…

How many of you knew
about the Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory prior
to today?

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How many of your
friends and family
members do you think
know about this event?
Why?
A Historical Context for the here and
now…

Ordinary people organized
unions and used their collective
power to shape the society we
live in

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Marches, strikes, lobbying, voting…
But interestingly, as a society we
don’t make much of an effort to
remember this part of our
history…
Let’s walk…