% of children

(VQB5)

g economic inequa

Most Americans Say There Is Too Much Economic Inequality in the U.S., but Fewer Than Half Call It a Top Priority

The reason for this is that middle-income families are more dependent on home equity as a source of wealth than upper-income families, and the bursting of the housing bubble in 2006 had more of an impact on their net worth.

Partlybecause it was established with little scientificbasis roughly 50 years ago, the thresholds forthe official measure are widely understood tobe too low

crowding effect,

f demo-graphics and economic performance are thedominant influences on U.S. working pov-erty, unionization might play only a marginalor insignificant role.

Unions and theregulations they establish might create rentsonly for protected insiders, and might exclude,have little impact on, or even worsen thelabor market for poor workers.

Third, even if unions raise some workers’earnings, these benefits might not reach thebottom of the labor market. Less-skilled, low-paid workers are unlikely to be unionized orcovered by union contracts.

Since the early2000s, only about 3 percent of workers inNorth Carolina have been unionized—a levelunprecedented in available data for affluentdemocracies

The problem is that the working poor, notthe unemployed poor, are the most typicalpoor

The effects ofunionization are larger than the effects of states’ economic performance and social policies

Researchthat does exist on working poverty concentrates on demographics and economic performanceand neglects institutions.

U.S.poverty research devotes much more attention to joblessness than to working poverty.

The Treaty of Detroit was succeeded bythe Washington Consensus, an era of deregu-lation and eroded pay norms in which earn-ings inequality increased as managers’ andprofessionals’ compensation rose.

n the1960s,

Union political pressurealso reaches beyond wages to social legisla-tion. For example, major unions regularlybacked proposals for universal healthcare andsupported the creation of Medicare in themid-1960

Reuther aimed to “reshape theconsciousness of millions of industrial work-ers, making them disciplined trade unionists,militant social democrats, and racial egalitar-ians.”

In our theory of the moraleconomy, unions help materialize labor mar-ket norms of equity (1) culturally, throughpublic speech about economic inequality, (2)politically, by influencing social policy, and(3) institutionally, through rules governingthe labor market

We relax these assumptions, arguing thatthe labor market is embedded in a moraleconomy in which norms of equity reduceinequality in pay. The moral economy con-sists of norms prescribing fair distributionthat are institutionalized in the market’s for-mal rules and customs. In a robust moraleconomy, violation of distributional normsinspires condemnation and charges of injus-tic

The theory of union threat takes a rationalistview of employers and a minimalist view oflabor market institutions. Employers mini-mize labor costs and only raise wages whenthreatened with even greater pay increasesthrough unionization

The theory of union threat has distribu-tional implications. If unions threaten toorganize low-wage workers, employers mayraise wages, thereby equalizing the wagedistribution

Employer opposition unfolded in anincreasingly adverse political context forlabor. Hacker and Pierson (2010) report thatan influx of corporate donations influencedpolicymakers to oppose pro-union reforms oflabor law in the 1970s. Union reform effortswere defeated, and the National Labor RelationsBoard’s rightward shift under Republicanadministrations made organizing more diffi-cult in the 1980s. Political defeats in the1970s and 1980s yielded a set of “enervated”labor laws that enabled employers to blockorganizing campaigns and weaken existingunions (Cowie 2010:288)

The biggest driver of decline in the per-centage unionized was employment growthoutside the traditional union strongholds ofmanufacturing, construction, and transportation,utilities, and communication

In this case, deunioniza-tion explains a fifth of the inequality increasefor women and a third for men. The decline oforganized labor among men contributes asmuch to rising wage inequality as does thegrowing stratification of pay by education.

Union decline marks an erosion ofthe moral economy and its underlying distri-butional norms.

We argue thatunions also contribute to a moral economythat institutionalizes norms for fair pay, evenfor nonunion workers

market explanation

Finally, other employers in the same geographical area, although not affected by the ordinance, may boost wages to effectively compete for comparable employees in the labor market, an economic phenomenon also referred to as a spill-over effect.

One earlier stud

ssuming this entire increase was passed on to consumers, prices would rise approximately 2.1 %

Finally, more employers noticed improvements as opposed to deterioration in employee behavior after living wage implementation including overall worker performance (35 % vs. 4 %), morale (47 % vs. 16 %), customer service (45 % vs. 3 %), less absenteeism (29 % vs. 5 %), reduction in disciplinary problems (44 % vs. 9 %) or equipment maintenance problems (29 % vs. 4 %).

As estimated by these researchers, this lost revenue could be recovered in its entirety by charging each airline passenger an additional $1.42

According to Freema

these critics, implementing a living wage will result in a decreased number of jobs for low-wage workers; alternatively, it also could lead to covered employees being replaced by workers possessing higher skills. Decreased employment opportunities for low-wage workers in cities with living wage ordinances also would result from companies fleeing to locations where they are not required to abide by these wage provisions. Finally, increased costs for municipal governments will ultimately lead to less money being devoted to ameliorating poverty as well as providing more job opportunities to low-wage workers

Although calculating the number of low-wage workers included under living wage statutes is difficult, a conservative estimate would place the figure at between 100,000 to 250,000 as of the end of 2002. This represents a tiny percentage of the estimated 30 to 40 million people who receive poverty-level wages in this country (Luce 2002; p. 404, 2004, p. 53).

Effective monitoring is an essential component for the successful implementation of a living wage ordinance.

Research has demonstrated that living wage laws are more likely to be passed because of the specific political, rather than economic, conditions that exist in geographic areas throughout the country. These circumstances include the presence of more liberal voters, a local chapter of ACORN and higher union density rates

iving wage statutes usually assume one of two types

or of this

222 State and Local Government Review 43(3)increases that local government employeesmay have received during this survey periodsuch as merit increases, step increases, and/orlongevity pay. While it is reported that benefitshave generally increased during this surveyperiod, this may or may not be a result of moregenerous benefits being extracted. Risinghealth care costs are a major budgetary drainon local governments and paying for these mayaccount for significant compensation increases.In light of this discussion, it is important toconsider limitations to this study. First, datacollection methods in this study relied on selfreports that may be susceptible to response bias.Second, the survey focused on the largest countyand city governments. The extent to whichsmaller local governments have similar or different experiences and practices is not clear.Finally, the survey did not capture the size of thebudget shortfall, and this may have influencedthe choice regarding some responses. Despitethese limitations, this research offers importantinsights into public sector compensation practices in the United States.ConclusionThe fiscal stress on local governments is projected to continue for the next several years;and the choices available for cities and countiesappear to be limited. The workforces of localgovernments are becoming increasingly unionized. As a result, wages and benefits have beenincreasing; even during tough economic times.The inability (or unwillingness) of many jurisdictions to raise taxes and the reluctance ofpublic sector unions to agree to wage and benefit reductions will leave many state and localgovernments with limited options and make itincreasingly difficult to offer the same levelof services in their jurisdict

ne of the key observations from this table is that roundworm and whipworm were found in more countries than any other parasites. They are both faecal-oral parasites, spread by poor sanitation and faecal contamination of food.

There is some evidence for the use of topical medications containing mercury to treat ectoparasites in 1400s Europe. Ferdinand II of Aragon was the King of Naples in Italy, and he lived from 1467 to 1496. Analysis of his naturally mummified body shows that he was infected with both head lice (P. humanus capitis) and pubic lice (P. pubis). Tests of the hair from his head showed very high levels of mercury (827 parts per million), suggestive of the topical application of a mercury-containing medicine to try and kill off the head lice. However, his pubic hair did not show these very high levels (10 parts per million), implying that he did not undergo treatment for his pubic lice

Hippocrates was an ancient Greek medical practitioner who lived on the island of Kos in the Aegean Sea during the fifth and fourth centuries BC. He and his students wrote a number of medical texts that attempted to give a framework to their understanding of disease at that early time (Mann, 2012, Totelin, 2009). This is relevant to the study of the medieval period as the Hippocratic Corpus of texts was still regarded as the fundamental basis for the understanding of disease and its treatment right through the medieval period.

After 1163, when the Church forbid the clergy to shed blood, 32 priests and monkscontinued to practice medicine, and the surgery was relegated to their former lay assis-tants whose primary duty was shaving the monks’ heads and thus arose the lower pro-fession of barber-surgeons

toothpicks, tweezers and ear-scoops; while corrective measures included medieval spectacles, carved in bone or wood

Prayer and good food were long thought to be the main cures for sickness used by medieval monks,

t seem inspired byFrankenstein and Jurassic P

Information and ideas aboutmedicine circulated orally and from one generation to the next, meaningthat people were the key vector for cultural transmission. While there weredistinctive local differences in terms of medical knowledge and practice, itis evident that there was a shared medical culture in the Norman worlds,reflecting both broader cultural homogeneities and the fact that peoplewere on the move, transmitting information about health and disease thatwas fundamentally important to all sectors of society.This content downloaded from128.172.10.194 on Mon, 08 May 2023 20:39:13 +00:00All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms

the development ofthe professional roles of the physician and the surgeon, and the possessionof knowledge about practices such as bloodletting, apothecary and evenabortion, testify to less tangible aspects of transmission and exchange

other women, however, undoubtedly engaged in medical practice, fulfillingroles such as midwifery, surgery and nursing. The Register mentions thepresence of two village midwives when the nun Nicola gave birth inside thenunnery of Saint-Saëns (north-east of Rouen) in July 1259. The midwivesare described as ‘mulieres ... obstetrices’,

For Normandy, further light on the presence of medical practitioners isshed by the Register of Eudes Rigaud, archbishop of Rouen from 1248 to1276, which records his numerous visits to parish churches, monasteries,hospitals and leprosaria in the archdiocese of Rouen between 1248 and

were associated with springs whose waters were certainly in later centuriesbelieved to have beneficial effects; these springs would also have provided awater supply for the resident leper communities. 18 Although the sulphurousspring at Burton Lazars was located outside the monastic precinct, waterwithin the precinct itself has been shown also to have likely had a mineralcontent. 19 Bathing was an important aspect of the bodily care of lepers, andwas linked too to the care of their souls, since it was analogous to baptism

his letteris suggestive of the transmission of medical expertise by correspondence atthis time. A detailed description of the characteristics of the illness was vitalto facilitating the practice of medicine from a distance; when a physicianwas able to examine a patient in person, he still took a detailed case history,as well as examining the patient’s blood and urine

At Canterbury, Archbishop Lanfranc established twohospitals within the city, and a leprosarium outside the walls, in the 1080s.The hospital of St. John provided for the poor, the sick and the elderly, whilethe hospital of St. Gregory, opposite, catered for the clergy of St. John’s andfor elderly priests. St. Gregory’s very quickly ceased to have a hos

Hospitals for the sick and the poor in Normandy and England predate theNorman Conquest.

Medical texts also circulated as a result of diplomatic exchanges betweenroyal courts. In 1157–8 a number of gifts were sent from the imperial courtat Constantinople to that of Henry II of England. A Latin translation ofa Greek gynaecological text, the Gynaecia Cleopatrae, was almost certainlysent to Henry’s queen Eleanor of Aquitaine as part of this envoy. One of theextant copies of this translation, a late thirteenth-century French manuscript(Cambridge, Trinity College MS. R. 14. 30) includes a dedication statingthat the work was brought from Constantinople by Henry, a member ofthe household of Emperor Manuel (1143–80), and written (or copied) forthe queen of England.11

The expertise in medicine at Bury during Baldwin’s abbacy is furtherindicated by the use of precise medical vocabulary in the Miracles of St.Edmund composed by Herman the Archdeacon at this time

A mid eleventh-century manuscript with a Bury pressmark (BritishLibrary MS. Sloane 1621), containing medical recipes, was transportedfrom the continent to the abbey, and appears to be closely associated withBaldwin himself. As Debby Banham has shown, this manuscript marksa key moment in the introduction of new medical knowledge and newframeworks for presenting medical information into England

f life in monastic communities, where regular bloodletting was practisedto maintain the proper humoral balance within the bodies of monks andnuns, and the infirmary served as a space for treatment and recuperationwhen necessary

In the1960s, unions influenced national pay policywhen the Kennedy and Johnson administra-tions set wage and price targets to stabilizeprices and promote the “distributional equity”of wages (Ulman 1998:170). The Nixonadministration also adopted a tripartite wagepolicy. Concluding that “no program workswithout labor cooperation,” (Matusow1998:160), Nixon’s national pay board urgedwage restraint in major contract negotiationsbut also examined executive pay levels, sup-ported raises for low-wage workers, and mon-itored merit pay increases

In our theory of the moraleconomy, unions help materialize labor mar-ket norms of equity (1) culturally, throughpublic speech about economic inequality, (2)politically, by influencing social policy, and(3) institutionally, through rules governingthe labor market

Union effects on nonunion workers canwork in several ways. Nonunion employersmay raise wages to avert the threat of unionorganizatio

Further, a “premium” of 10% to 20% higher income for union households compared with non-union households from the 1940s through the mid-2010s remains “relatively consistent over our long sample period, despite the large swings in density and composition of union members that we document,” the authors write.

Families can put these additional assets toward important uses such as children’s education or, as demonstrated in Table 1, home ownership,

Black households with a union member have median wealth that is more than three times the median wealth of nonunion Black households. Hispanic households with a union member have median wealth that is more than five times the median wealth of nonunion Hispanic households. White households with a union member have nearly two times the median wealth of nonunion white households

Finally, strong union contracts create more stable jobs, with protections such as dispute resolution giving workers the ability to stay with a single employer for a longer period of time

Right-to-work laws undermine unions’ ability to collect “fair share fees” from workers whose interests they represent. Fair share fees cover the costs of bargaining, contract administration, and grievance processes that unions are required by law to undertake on behalf of all (union and nonunion) members of a collective bargaining unit. Without fair share fees, union power degrades quickly

Unions communicate with their members about issues and candidates to make sure workers have information when they go to the polls on Election Day

Unions boost civic participation

Union workers get more advance notice of their work schedules

e.g., on account of race, religion, disability, or other identities that are protected classes). Union contracts typically have provisions that require employers to have a proper, documented, performance-related reason for disciplining or dismissing a worker (“just cause”) and generally the worker has a chance to improve performance before the employer moves to dismiss the worker. Collective bargaining agreements also typically include a grievance and arbitration process to allow workers and the union to challenge unfair discipline or termination

n my previous books,Reviving the Strike andStrikeBack, I looked back to labor history to argue that we needto revive the strike. I argued that in both the 1930s forprivate workers and the 1960s for public-sector workers,the strike was the indispensable tactic that helped win ourunions. Here, likewise, we can look to labor history todemonstrate the power of a unionism shaped by classstruggle principles.

We are getting ourasses kicked. Only six out of a hundred private-sectorworkers belong to unions. Most major industries such astrucking, residential construction, retail, and finance arevirtually non-union. Where remnants of unionism do exist,such as meatpacking, the established unions arebureaucratic and ineffectual. Our contracts have beendecimated, and once-strong pensions and health-careprograms have been gutted. Optimism only goes so far, andat some point realism needs to take hold

Class struggle unionism is responsible for some of thebrightest moments in labor history. It motivated theIndustrial Workers of the World in their brand ofrevolutionary unionism, which contributed to some of thegreatest strikes in US history. The great socialist leaderEugene Debs moved from conservative railroad businessunionism to socialism through participation in classstruggle. The key militants in the great strikes of 1934 inMinneapolis, Toledo, and the West Coast were classstruggle unionists. Adherents built a civil rights unionism inthe US South following World War II

Victoria Pierson, a second-year teacher at Elkhardt-Thompson Middle School in Richmond, said unpredictable heating and cooling, exposed wiring and cockroaches undermine gains students have made in reading and attendance. Her school is one of three Richmond campuses scheduled for replacement.“Teachers aren’t speaking out to put shame on our school buildings or to put shame on their school districts,” Pierson said. “This is a state funding issue. Our legislators are telling us constantly, over and over again, that we don’t value public education because they’re not passing budgets that reflect that.”

Two other measures did not survive scrutiny — one that would have dedicated money to repairing school roofs and another that would have asked voters whether they wanted the state to issue $3 billion in bonds for school construction.

A bipartisan panel of Virginia lawmakers examined school modernization, developing a slate of proposals. One measure, which encourages schools to design buildings powered by renewable energy and allows them to sell excess energy, was signed into law by Northam.

Despite broad consensus in Richmond and other cash-strapped Virginia school systems that classroom conditions are a problem, most of the dollars needed to fund construction have not materialized.The state budget includes $35 million in new money for school construction, less than half of the $80 million initially proposed by Gov. Ralph Northam (D).

Last year, the Richmond City Council imposed a 1.5-percentage-point increase in the meals tax to pay for $150 million in school construction. Mayor Levar Stoney laid out an $800 million plan to fully fund school construction over two decades, after voters resoundingly approved a ballot measure that required him to do so or admit it can’t be done.

Concerns over school building conditions are long-standing. Former governor Robert F. McDonnell (R) ordered a building inventory of Virginia’s public schools. The state determined in 2013 that more than 60 percent of schools were at least 40 years old and that it would cost more than $18 billion to complete renovations for Virginia schools more than 30 years old.

School systems are forced to shuffle local dollars to keep employees, siphoning money available for construction projects. And communities with more robust tax bases can generally afford to contribute more local dollars for schools and often do, aggravating inequities.

Aghomo, a 10th-grader who aspires to study public policy in college, said classroom surroundings — chairs that fall apart, paint that chips, scant or outdated technology — affect her morale.“We’re asked to compete nationally or statewide when we don’t have the resources other schools have,” Aghomo said. “If we’re forever trying to catch up, then there’s really no use.”

Since the 2008-2009 school year, state aid per student has dropped 8 percent when adjusted for inflation, said Chris Duncombe, a policy director for the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, a left-leaning Richmond think tank.

The consequences persist — at Hayter’s daughter’s elementary school, parents have volunteered to beautify the campus, including playground cleanups and grounds­keeping.“I’ve used weed whackers at my daughter’s school,” he said.

“I’ve looked at city budgets from the 1980s and the 1990s, and it’s not as if Richmond wasn’t trying to pump money into the city school system,” Hayter said. “It’s just that they didn’t have it.”

Building conditions also speak to issues of equity, Richmond educators say: Students in the city school system are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic, and 66 percent are economically disadvantaged.

White flight to the suburbs depreciated tax bases in Richmond and other cities in the late 20th century, often meaning fewer dollars were available to public schools, said Julian Maxwell Hayter, an associate professor of leadership studies at the University of Richmond. The ubiquity of neighborhood schools also meant Richmond had to deal with highly concentrated poverty at some campuses.

Classroom temperature, noise and cleanliness can have significant consequences for students’ well-being, said Lorraine E. Maxwell, an environmental psychologist and associate professor at Cornell University.Learning is affected not just by personal characteristics such as ethnicity, family income and individual potential, but also by “the multiple ways in which the school communicates that learning and achievement is possible and important,” Maxwell wrote in a 2016 study of New York public schools.

At Binford Middle School, a long, commanding building that sits among rowhouses, the tall windows to Sarah Pedersen’s first-floor classroom are sealed shut. Temperatures have risen to 95 degrees when the boiler runs too hot, she said, prompting her to turn on the air conditioner.ADBut the unit is so loud that she can run it only a few minutes before students complain of headaches and discomfort.“It’s inhumane. These are inhumane conditions,” said Pedersen, who noted that she hasn’t had problems with her heating in recent months.

Lux Aghomo recalled hovering over her science midterm exam in the top floor of Richmond Community High in January, keeping warm with a puffy green winter jacket. Her fingers were cold as she moved a pencil down the page.AD‘Kids are freezing’: Amid bitter cold, Baltimore schools, students struggleThe heating problem was eventually fixed, Aghomo said, but her story wasn’t exceptional: Other students and teachers in Richmond said faulty heating and cooling systems produce temperature extremes that make it difficult to focus and, in some cases, have caused or inflamed health problems.“Students are forced to do work even in conditions where they can’t really think or function as well as they could,” Aghomo said. “It makes me feel like my education isn’t valued as much as people from other counties and other schools.”

Lux Aghomo recalled hovering over her science midterm exam in the top floor of Richmond Community High in January, keeping warm with a puffy green winter jacket. Her fingers were cold as she moved a pencil down the page.

“Our schools should convey the notion that we, the adults, love our kids when they walk into them,” said Kamras, who built his career in D.C. Public Schools. “And our schools convey the notion that, at best, we are indifferent and, at worst, we don’t care.”

But it could be decades before all 44 public schools in the city are rehabilitated or rebuilt, meaning at least another generation of students will sit in buildings that Kamras condemned as “borderline criminal.”

The district approved $150 million in school construction spending last year, most of which was earmarked to replace three schools.

In Virginia, the issue has resonated across geographic and political lines, unifying urban and rural school systems that have struggled to raise enough local dollars to compensate for what they describe as inadequate state support. But measures to infuse state coffers with money for school repairs failed to clear the General Assembly this year.In Richmond, the city has reached its debt ceiling, meaning it cannot borrow money to pay for school construction, said Superintendent Jason Kamras. It would cost $800 million to pay for all the construction needed in Richmond’s public schools, according to the city.

Officials in Maryland’s Prince George’s County plan to use public-private partnerships to build and maintain several public schools in hopes of hastening construction and paring down an estimated $8.5 billion maintenance and construction backlog.

A 2014 federal study found that 53 percent of schools needed repairs, renovations or updates and that $197 billion was needed to bring schools to “good overall condition.” Other projections peg construction costs even higher, with the National Council on School Facilities estimating that public school buildings are in need of $542 billion in upkeep.

Substandard conditions can compromise students’ attendance and performance, leading to absenteeism and lower achievement, studies show.