I seem to have missed the original message(s). But, I think that the earnings expansion is not a simple one. One of the main effects of deregulation was to deunionize the industry. The year before the ATT breakup, the industry was almost 100% unionized (though there are some really questionable unions out there which began an employer run organizations). Now, the industry is less than 50% unionized. HOWEVER, the unions are still the trend setters for wages and benefits. MCI, Sprint, Joe Blow Phone Co, all tie their wage structure to what is being offered in the BOCS (baby bells spun off att like nynex) and ATT. At the same time, earnings have taken a nose dive in the almost all other blue collar jobs. So, union gains for those remaining workers in communications look bigger than they might otherwise. There is also the question of benefits. NYNEX is the only phone co (local or long distance) in the usa which still does not cost share benefits. (that was why we struck for so long in 1989--the great unremembered strike never acknowledged by either the left press or the establishment press--hey, 5 months on the street makes me bitchy). Sooo, at least a percentage of that industry raise in wages is now being paid towards medical/dental care which formerly was paid for by the companies. maggie coleman [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >At 05:14 PM 5/7/97 -0700, Doug Henwood wrote: >>Sid's tales of telecoms made me wondering how U.S. telephone workers are >>faring. A trip to the BLS web site and some quick work with Excel show the >>following. >> >>EMPLOYMENT AND EARNINGS IN TELECOMS, U.S. >> >> share of hourly earns, % of avg >> total ---------------------- >> employment all private manuf'g >>1947-49 1.4% 96.8% >>1950-54 1.4% 96.9% >>1955-59 1.4% 97.2% >>1960-64 1.2% 111.0% 102.8% >>1965-69 1.2% 107.8% 102.1% >>1970-74 1.3% 109.3% 105.3% >>1975-79 1.2% 129.6% 120.2% >>1980-84 1.1% 137.9% 125.2% >>1985-89 0.9% 145.9% 132.4% >>1990-94 0.8% 142.5% 131.5% >>1995-97 0.8% 141.6% 131.0% >> >>Now I'd have thought that the earnings premium would have declied with the >>Bell breakup and dereg, but it's expanded. And the decline in total >>employment has been slower since 1980 than before. >> >>Does that look like Canada, Sid? Maggie, what would a Nynex worker say? >> >>Doug >> >>-- >> >>Doug Henwood >>Left Business Observer >>250 W 85 St >>New York NY 10024-3217 USA >>+1-212-874-4020 voice +1-212-874-3137 fax >>email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>web: <http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/LBO_home.html> >> >> >> > > > >----------------------- Headers -------------------------------- >Return-Path: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Received: from anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu (anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu >[132.241.9.84]) > by emin02.mail.aol.com (8.8.5/8.8.5/AOL-1.0.1) > Wed, 7 May 1997 23:33:43 -0400 (EDT) >Received: from anthrax (localhost [127.0.0.1]) > Wed, 7 May 1997 20:33:08 -0700 (PDT) >Date: Wed, 7 May 1997 20:33:08 -0700 (PDT) >Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Precedence: bulk >From: Michael Eisenscher <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: [PEN-L:9942] Re: telecoms >X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas >X-Comment: Progressive Economics >Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >Mime-Version: 1.0
