Labor and a Second Economy

In publishing “The ‘Labor Boss’ as the Ultimate Bogyman” (Opinion, Nov. 23) The Times has greatly helped correct a one-sided view of organized labor as the subversive villain of workplace peace and harmony.

What is truly subversive nowadays is not the revitalized labor movement but an agreement among corporate and government decision-makers to ignore the reality of a second economy in this country. Their “global economy” counts on the unwilling compliance of that second, “throwaway economy,” consisting of hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers in the L.A. Basin who have no health insurance, who are at constant risk of layoffs, the contracting out of their jobs, company moves to Mexico or other countries, increased industrial accidents and being harassed or fired just for wanting to join a union.

This second economy is now beginning to be addressed by a revitalized labor movement whose increasingly minority leadership knows in its gut what worker oppression is. It also has the support of activist Christian, Jewish and Muslim men and women working in concert with organized labor. Their recent activities on behalf of garment workers, hotel workers, airport security guards and janitors and most prominently in living-wage campaigns in Los Angeles, Pasadena and elsewhere constitute a recognition that a truly just and healthy economy must ultimately involve a level playing field between the rights of working people and the rights of capital.

THE REV. RICHARD GILLETT

Clergy and Laity United

for Economic Justice (CLUE)

Pasadena