Current Issue Highlights      Highlights Archive   Get to know your Business   Agent today!   Find out how the union   makes a difference on   the job.	Newsline: September 2001 Survey Shows Little Worker Faith in Bush Agenda A national survey of working Americans sponsored by the AFL-CIO has found that, by a large margin, working people believe the Bush administration cares more about protecting the rights of business than those of workers, and nearly two-thirds of those surveyed do not trust the administration very much to take positions in their interest on issues involving the rights of workers on the job. On key workplace issues such as a reasonable minimum wage, equal pay for women, privacy protections on the job, job safety, and discrimination, a majority of workers do not trust the administration, the survey found. The survey results were released by the AFL-CIO in a July 25 telephone news conference from Washington, D.C. The polling was conducted by Hart Research Associates. “The margins in the findings are telling, though not completely surprising, given the President’s record on workplace issues such as ergonomics, the minimum wage, and his tax cut for the wealthiest Americans,” said Gerry Shea, government affairs assistant to AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. On the question of whether the Bush administration cares more about protecting the rights of employers and business than of working people, 49 percent believed employers and business counted more. Only 4 percent believed protecting the rights of working people was more important to the administration. The remainder, 35 percent, believe Bush cares equally about both. A majority of Republicans believe that the Bush administration represents a fair balance between workers and employers. Democrats and independents both believe the administration cares more about employers than workers. Two out of three people polled say that on issues involving the rights of workers on the job, they either do not trust the Bush White House at all to take positions in their interest, or only trust him a little. Twenty-eight percent say they trust the administration “quite a bit” or “a great deal.” When asked how much they trust the administration to take a pro-worker position on creating a reasonable minimum wage, 63 percent said “just some” or “not at all.” On the issue of equal pay for women, 56 percent say they don’t trust the administration to take a position in workers’ interests. Thirty-one percent of women workers said they trust the administration on this issue. On trade agreements with other nations, 55 percent say they trust the administration “just some” or “not at all.” On workplace health and safety protections, it was 51 percent in those categories, while on protections against discrimination it was 50 percent.		Washington Watch Bush Shrinks Surplus The White House’s Office of Management and Budget announced last month that the nation’s projected budget surplus for fiscal year 2001 has plummeted by $123 billion since April’s estimate, which was made before President Bush’s $1.35 billion tax cut was signed into law. All but $1 billion of the remaining surplus is actually part of the nation’s Social Security surplus, not a general budget surplus. “By giving big tax cuts to the very rich, President Bush is squandering years of hard work by America’s families and their efforts to build up historic surpluses for Medicare and Social Security,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said. Panel Eyes Social Security Cuts President Bush’s commission to privatize Social Security admitted it has explored the possibility of cutting Social Security benefits or, as the commission termed it, “benefit adjustments.” Commission co-chair Richard Parsons told an Aug. 22 press conference the panel has not made any final decisions on benefit cuts. Bush’s commission was appointed to develop a plan to privatize a portion of Social Security. The AFL-CIO and other advocates for retirement security for working families have pointed out that the diversion of Social Security funds into Wall Street private accounts would cause benefit cuts. Activists Protest Sham Ergo Forum Hundreds of union activists protested at the third and final U.S. Department of Labor forum on workplace ergonomic injuries. The July 24 rally at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., kept pressure on Bush administration officials and their allies in Congress, who overturned a strong standard to protect workers from such repetitive motion injuries as carpal tunnel syndrome and conducted sham forums stacked with Big Business witnesses.
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