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Wednesday, February 11, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I N I O
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Robert B.
Reich
American Voices
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone
number. Letters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not neces-
sarily shared by the Editor. The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters
submitted to the Editor. Letters should be no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or
returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
I’ve learned for every challenge there are
at least three solutions. I would like to give
kudos to the Nugget’s editor for suggesting
the same in his February 4 editorial. “Come
to the table with a problem, sure. Try to bring
along a solution, too.”
After learning of an approved paved trail
to Crossroads in 2013, requests for dialogue
had been rejected for nearly 6 months, until
November 2013, when the Deschutes Forest
Supervisor provided opportunity to submit
an acceptable alternate trail location (bring
a solution). Two proposals were submitted,
to improve one of the two existing dirt trails
along Highway 242.
Early 2014, there was acknowledgement of
mistakes made in the trail project processes.
Fast-forward to fall 2014, the Sisters District
Ranger chose to withdraw her draft decision
for the Sisters Community Trails Project.
John Allen, (trail) objection review officer,
indicated it had become clear that a broader,
community-led process would help with a
clearer path. Allen supported the decision
to withdraw, and anticipated future dialogue
about the trails system in the community.
Sisters residents were offered opportunity
to engage in a trail committee which was to
form this winter. The Sisters District Ranger
indicated that she provided the community
list to Deschutes County Commissioner Alan
Unger and to Chuck Humphreys, who offered
to help with the community trails committee.
In last week’s Nugget, STA President
Humphreys describes his disappointment in
“a victory of selfishness over the best inter-
est of the community.” It is insulting to area
residents who invested time, offering solution
with reasonable compromise. Had a broader
See LeTTerS on page 20
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My recent column about
the growth of on-demand
jobs like Uber making life
less predictable and secure
for workers unleashed a
small barrage of criticism
from people who contend
that workers get what they’re
worth in the market.
A Forbes Magazine con-
tributor, for example, writes
that jobs exist only “when
both employer and employee
are happy with the deal being
made.” So if the new jobs are
low-paying and irregular, too
bad.
Much the same argu-
ment was voiced in the late
19th century over alleged
“freedom of contract.” Any
deal between employees and
workers was assumed to be
fine if both sides voluntarily
agreed to it.
It was an era when many
workers were “happy” to toil
12-hour days in sweatshops
for lack of any better alter-
native. It was also a time of
great wealth for a few and
squalor for many. And of
corruption, as the lackeys
of robber barons deposited
sacks of cash on the desks of
pliant legislators.
Finally, after decades
of labor strife and politi-
cal tumult, the 20th century
brought an understanding
that capitalism requires min-
imum standards of decency
and fairness — workplace
safety, a minimum wage,
maximum hours (with time-
and-a-half for overtime) and
a ban on child labor.
We also learned that capi-
talism needs a balance of
power between big corpora-
tions and workers.
We achieved that through
antitrust laws that reduced
the capacity of giant corpo-
rations to impose their will,
and labor laws that allowed
workers to organize and bar-
gain collectively.
By the 1950s, when 35
percent of private-sector
workers belonged to a labor
union, they were able to
negotiate higher wages and
better working conditions
than employers would oth-
erwise have been “happy” to
provide.
But now we seem to be
heading back to 19th century.
Corporations are shifting
full-time work onto temps,
freelancers and contract
workers who fall outside the
labor protections established
decades ago.
So it’s not surprising
we’re once again hearing
that workers are worth no
more than what they can get
in the market.
But as we should have
learned a century ago, mar-
kets don’t exist in nature.
They’re created by human
beings. The real question is
how they’re organized and
for whose benefit.
In the late 19th century,
they were organized for the
benefit of a few at the top.
But by the middle of the 20th
century they were organized
for the vast majority.
Yet since around 1980,
even though the economy
has doubled once again
(the Great Recession not-
withstanding), the wages of
most Americans have stag-
nated. And their benefits
and working conditions have
deteriorated.
This isn’t because most
Americans are worth less. In
fact, worker productivity is
higher than ever.
It’s because big corpora-
tions, Wall Street and some
enormously rich individuals
have gained political power
to organize the market in
ways that have enhanced
their wealth while leaving
most Americans behind.
That includes trade agree-
ments protecting the intel-
lectual property of large cor-
porations and Wall Street’s
financial assets, but not
American jobs and wages.
Bailouts of big Wall Street
banks and their executives
and shareholders when they
can’t pay what they owe,
but not of homeowners who
can’t meet their mortgage
payments. Bankruptcy pro-
tection for big corporations,
allowing them to shed their
debts, including labor con-
tracts. But no bankruptcy
protection for college gradu-
ates overburdened with stu-
dent debts.
Antitrust leniency toward
a vast swath of American
industry but less tolerance
toward labor unions — as
workers trying to form
unions are fired with impu-
nity, and more states adopt
so-called “right-to-work”
laws that undermine unions.
We seem to be heading
full speed back to the late
19th century.
So what will be the galva-
nizing force for change this
time?
© 2015 By Robert Reich.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.