John Sweeney Wages Quotations

Guest worker programs are a bad idea and harm all workers. They cast workers into a perennial second-class status, and ... encourage employers to turn good jobs into temporary jobs at reduced wages and diminished working conditions.

Wages are flat or falling. Health care costs for families with employer coverage shot up 79 percent from 1996 to 2003. Imagine the hit on families struggling to make it without job-based coverage.

A core part of the global market is what might be called the 'Nike Economy' - footloose companies that play countries against one another while seeking subcontractors with the lowest wages and cheapest conditions.