MLK Day report shows greater disparity between black and white

A new report says more than 35 years after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., America has failed to make significant progress toward closing the economic gap between blacks and whites. In fact, in certain areas — like infant mortality rates and unemployment — the gap is increasing.

Although the information, taken mostly from the US Census and the Federal Reserve, has been publicly available for years, few reports have pulled all the disparate pieces together. “The State of the Dream 2004,” released last week by United for a Fair Economy, challenges traditional notions about the success of the civil rights movement in the past 30 years. United for a Fair Economy is a nonprofit organization that focuses on highlighting income and other economic disparities in American society.

Among the more disturbing findings: Unemployment among blacks is more than double that for whites, 10.8 percent versus 5.2 percent in 2003 — a wider gap than in 1972. Black infant mortality is also greater today than in 1970. In 2001, the black infant mortality rate was 14 deaths per 1,000 live births, 146 percent higher than the white rate. The gap in infant mortality rates was 37 percent less in 1970.

Black Americans have also made little progress compared to whites in terms of income. According to the report, for every dollar of white income, African Americans had 55 cents in 1968. Thirty-three years later, in 2001, the gap had only closed by two cents. The report notes that, at this pace, it would take 581 years to achieve income parity.

The racial breakdowns for family income are even bleaker. Median income for black families went from 60 percent of white family income in 1968, to 58 percent in 2002, the report said.

According to the report, the average black college graduate will earn $500,000 less in his or her lifetime than an average white college graduate. Black high school graduates working full-time from age 25 to 64, will earn $300,000 less on average.

The statistics show that American society remains strongly racially divided in terms of economics, and that the impact of hundreds of years of black poverty, including slavery, remains powerful today. (The New Standard)

International union body slams US labor practices

An international trade union coalition has condemned what it says are continuing labor rights violations in the United States. In a report released yesterday, the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) condemned the US for “insufficient protection against anti-union discrimination,” charging that “the right to strike and the right to collective bargaining are severely restricted.”

The report has been submitted to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and coincides with a WTO review of US trade policies.

In the report, the ICFTU criticises the National Labor Relations Act, saying that this primary federal US labor law excludes many categories of workers from the right to union representation and collective bargaining. It stresses that only 40 percent of public sector workers in the US are able to bargain collectively.

The report says that, as remedies available to workers against employers remain weak, one-quarter of campaigns to organize unions end in supporters being dismissed. Furthermore, states the report, three-quarters of US employers hire consultants and security firms to run anti-union campaigns. The report lists a number of well-known companies, such as Wal-Mart, which have been accused of labor rights violations.

The ICFTU is an international union federation of 233 affiliated organizations in 152 countries and territories on five continents, claiming a membership of 151 million. (The New Standard)