UNIONS AND UNITED-STATES LABOR POLICY - RESPONDING TO THE LOW-WAGE STRATEGY

Labor policy in the United States has not been a central part of the o verall economic strategy. Human resource and labor policy has been mor e a passive social policy rather than an active economic policy design ed to facilitate economic change. Recent economic problems such as dec lining real incomes of workers and increasing inequality have led to p roposals for a more coherent labor policy and a shift from the low-wag e strategy for global competitiveness to a high-skill, high-wage strat egy. Unions support policies to upgrade skills of the workforce and ar e active in creating new education and training policies as well as ne w arrangements to enhance worker participation in the workplace.