William Lutz
English 419
9/24/08
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Steven Greenhouse’s book The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker is a look at
the ongoing struggle of the middle and lower classes to survive in the working environment of the
United States. The “squeeze” refers to tactics that businesses use to get the most productivity
out of each of their employees while offering as little compensation and benefits as possible.
Greenhouse examines these tactics by referring to specific human examples in varying industries
and areas of the country. The author delves into numerous possible sources of the problem at
hand to examine how the American working environment came to be in its current state of
emergency.
Wages
Greenhouse uses statistics to show just how many Americans are living below the poverty line.
He believes that workers need to be paid a more competitive wage by shifting government policy
to raise the minimum wage to attempt to combat this issue. Controlling inflation to give more
value to a worker’s wage to ensure that every dollar is stretched to its maximum buying power is
also a key.
A key focus of the text is corporations and business theft of earned wages from the American
workers. He cites numerous and specific examples of unpaid and mandatory overtime for which
workers are not compensated. He believes that in order to alleviate these crimes against the
worker, stiffer penalties must be implemented and enforced by an increased workplace
investigative body.
Health Care and Pensions
Exorbitant health care costs are also a point of emphasis of blame for the author. It is stated that
these costs cause employers to attempt to skirt offering these benefits to workers, and the workers
are unable to afford to provide themselves with adequate coverage. The author is a proponent of
government reform to provide universal healthcare for all citizens as a potential cure.
Pension blunders with companies such as Enron are also mentioned as an issue of concern for the
American worker. Cases in which loyal workers dedicate their lives to working for a
corporation and receiving nothing at the end of the road due to corporate finance fraud are used to
demonstrate a major violation against employees. The author believes supplemental
government retirement accounts and an overhaul of the nation’s social security system must me
implemented to alleviate this epidemic.
Unions and Globalization
The weakening of labor unions in the United States is looked at as a shift of power in the business
environment over the past half century. The focus on stock price, profit margin, and
government deregulation in respect to the issue have left the American worker with a feeble
bargaining chip in respect to their employers.
Free Trade, outsourcing, and illegal immigration are also contributors to the squeeze on the
American working class. Exploiting cheap labor from countries around the globe or from illegal
immigrants right here in our own country have made it harder for the American worker to
compete for what jobs are left. The author believes that a shift must be made for the American
worker to better educate themselves to obtain job in more technical and specialized fields of
employment.
Conclusions
Steven Greenhouse paints a picture of the American working environment as being in a state of
emergency. He uses real life human examples to give a face to the growing epidemic of the
decline or worker’s rights and the increase in worker exploitation. He chooses big business as
the culprit for the state of the working environment, and the government as an accomplice for
ignoring the opportunity to improve the situation. He outlines his ideas to combat these
injustices committed against the American worker with government reform and oversight, stricter
enforcement of law, and the strengthening of labor unions. Greenhouse believes that the time is
now for the American worker to speak up, unite, and return to the glory days of the American
working class in the middle of the 20th century.