George,

Reports of productivity at record levels is great for employers, but not doing much for creating more jobs.

Apparently, in many cases, employees are required to work many extra hours allowing employers to forestall new hiring with the consequent increased costs of fringe benefits (holidays and vacation pay, health insurance, etc.).

Nationwide, employees report their employers often intimidate and threaten with layoffs, firings or reducing full time employment by hiring more part time workers in order to keep their "costs low"

In short, it is a time for workers to be exploited because of the surplus of those desperate for work.

The current unemployment rate of 9.7% is obviously creating hardships for many American workers and much of the rise of the anti-Obama rhetoric coupled with the rise of organizations like the Tea Party and more extreme militia groups, and those who will vandalize and threaten are a direct result of the hopelessness confronting those losing their homes, education funds for their children and the lost hope of a decent retirement.

Much of the misfortune for so many can be directly connected to the dwindling power of labor unions, accelerated under the Reagan, Bush l years and almost to a fever pitch under the eight years of the Bush/Cheney reign .

Bush ll appointed the most anti-labor, anti-union Secretary of Labor in the person of Elaine Chou, who refused to enforce OSHA laws, mine safety laws (mining deaths doubled under her regime), used her position to illegally direct funds to the Republican Party, violated the Hatch Act and never missed an opportunity to support employers complaints about the role of labor unions..She was the classic "goat in charge of the cabbage patch".

The great propaganda war against labor unions included the classic cliche' that "corporations in the United States have become more enlightened as to the role of employer-employee, there was no more "need" for unions, as they became havens for corruption and dishonest leaders like the late Jimmy Hoffa".

Nothing is further from actuality, it is almost a complete opposite.

Now that our right wing dominated Supreme Court has given corporations and unions the same rights as human beings for the purpose of campaign financing , the workers in the United States will only suffer greater exploitation.The Right wing is quick to point out that unions have the same benefits under the court's ruling as corporations, is laughable, somewhat akin to a union pea shooter to a corporate atomic bomb in terms of the dollars to be spent!

Harry Tenney (Electronic mail, April 2, 2010)