Fiscal Fallacy The Political Motives in the Current...

â€Å"Once again, Republicans are trying to erase the history of America’s working people† (Connel 1). It is happening in Maine where Republican governor Paul LePage has arranged for a 36 foot long mural depicting the state’s labor movement history to be removed from the Department of Labor. In addition, conference rooms in the Department of Labor named after prominent labor movement officials such as Frances Perkins (Connel 1). The actions of Maine’s Republicans and the similar actions of Republicans across the nation are only the superficial layer of the current attack on a weakened labor movement. The latest siege in the longstanding decline of American unions, conservatives are waging this assault under the guise of fiscal responsibility.†¦show more content†¦The first and most important affect has been the decline in manufacturing employment due to the liberalization of trade and globalization. This has had a compounding effect on unions; fa ctories or companies close or move elsewhere and lay off workers, thus diminishing union membership and reducing the collective negotiating power of the unions. Then, the factories and companies that remain in America can use the threat of a shutdown or relocation further reducing a union’s ability to negotiate with their employers. This has combined to cause a fragmentation of labor, undermining union’s ability to collectively bargain for wages and benefits. Deindustrialization has caused the United States to shift to a service economy adding the loss of traditional union occupations. At the same time, Republicans and the capitalist class launched political smear war against unions. They were effectively able to label unions with an anti-American and anti-prosperity stigma that greatly reduced their perception and popularity with the public at large (72-76). This has created a cycle, greatly weakening unions over time, which has lead to the deterioration in the quant ity and quality of labor which have come together to diminish the quality of living for American middle and working class families which is most easily seen in rising income inequality as seen in the chart below (Nation 24). The