It is not easy, under our current "free market" economic rules, to push corporations to do the right thing when the overriding imperative of every CEO is to maximize their own massive pay packages. But, every year, the federal government spends billions of dollars in our tax dollars–our hard-earned money–to buy services. Here is a move by the president to shape policy on behalf of the middle-class, choosing workers over abusive corporate power.
Let us applaud the Administration for this step:
The Obama administration is planning to use the government’s enormous buying power to prod private companies to improve wages and benefits for millions of workers, according to White House officials and several interest groups briefed on the plan.
By altering how it awards $500 billion in contracts each year, the government would disqualify more companies with labor, environmental or other violations and give an edge to companies that offer better levels of pay, health coverage, pensions and other benefits, the officials said.
Because nearly one in four workers is employed by companies that have contracts with the federal government, administration officials see the plan as a way to shape social policy and lift more families into the middle class. It would affect contracts like those awarded to make Army uniforms, clean federal buildings and mow lawns at military bases.
Although the details are still being worked out, the outline of the plan is drawing fierce opposition from business groups and Republican lawmakers. They see it as a gift to organized labor and say it would drive up costs for the government in the face of a $1.3 trillion budget deficit.[emphasis added]
This is a place where the president is doing the right thing. There is simply no reason for our money to go to companies who are not willing to pay decent wages and be willing to make sure that American workers have a path to a middle-class livelihood.
But, as the media report indicates, Republicans and business have no interest in the concept of middle-class jobs. You can bet that, as they did with the health care debate and the financial reform initiatives (in particular, the attempt–apparently now abandoned–to push for the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency to protect the people), the anti-middle-class forces–the Republican Party and the irresponsible elements of the business community will attempt to block the president’s initiative.
We can’t let that happen.
