By Mark Gruenberg
PAI Staff Writer

WASHINGTON (PAI) - With the economy tanking and with Congress headed for a lame-duck session at which a second stimulus package - which may total upwards of $300 billion - could come up, there is no shortage of ideas from unions and their allies about measures to get people back on the job and dollars back in their pockets.

From reconstructing 40-year-old schools to rebuilding the nation's roads, from extending unemployment benefits to expanding Medicaid aid to the states, unionists trooped up to Capitol Hill in late October to tell lawmakers about how to get the nation moving again.

But whether any or all of these ideas are enacted on the attitude of one key player who wasn't at the hearings: Lame-duck anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush, whose staffers now only grudgingly admit a "Stimulus II" might be necessary.

The latest piece of evidence the economy is in the tank was an 0.3% decline in gross domestic product from July 1 through the end of September. It led AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney to say even Bush should realize something must be done. He left many specifics to others, and to Congress, which will reconvene Nov. 17-19.

"We need a genuine economic stimulus package now, in the next 30 days, to boost our economy before already struggling, hard-working families suffer even more from a downward spiral," Sweeney said. And Bush should "announce that he will, in fact, sign this legislation.

"Such a package must provide relief for the 1 million unemployed workers who will exhaust their benefits before the end of the year, aid state and local governments" to "provide needed services and jobs and jump-start infrastructure investments to create jobs quickly and rebuild our crumbling schools, bridges, and roads. Surely we can agree rescuing Main Street is just as crucial as rescuing Wall Street," Sweeney said.

The witnesses before the congressional committees were more specific:

Laborers President Terry O'Sullivan told the Transportation Committee on Oct. 29 that two prior stimulus packages - the tax rebates to consumers early in the year and the $700 billion Wall Street bailout - "provided no lasting impact, left no sustainable jobs behind and did not provide tangible assets to taxpayers," he declared. A jobs-based stimulus should have construction as a centerpiece, O'Sullivan advocated.

Citing figures from engineering and construction groups, O'Sullivan said thousands of construction projects are ready to go and could start almost immediately. And the workers are available, he noted, since the jobless rate in construction is 9.9%.

In the public sector alone, starting now to retrofit buildings - including schools - to save energy would not only help the U.S. in the long run but put up to 800,000 people to work, at an average construction worker's pay of $40,000 each, he added.

"Building America will build our economy now and for future generations in places such as Michigan, where 24,500 good construction jobs have been lost since 2007, Illinois, where 19,300 construction jobs disappeared, Minnesota, where 11,300 construction jobs have been lost and in Oregon, with 10,100 construction jobs lost," O'Sullivan said.

AFL-CIO chief economist Ron Blackwell laid out seven recommendations for putting money in workers' hands, headed by extension of jobless benefits from their current 26 weeks to 39. But he didn't just stick to the script of talking about an immediate stimulus at the Oct. 24 Education and Labor Committee hearing.

Blackwell also said Congress should start correcting "long-term economic imbalances." One is the nation's trade deficit, which should be fixed by making the terms of trade equal so that U.S. workers can fairly compete. The other is the imbalance between workers and bosses, by passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

"The imbalance of bargaining power between workers and their employers is responsible for the stagnation of wages and the rupture of the crucial relation between wages and productivity that served as the foundation of the social contract," Blackwell said. "Stagnation of wages motivated workers to work more, save less and borrow imprudently against appreciating assets to maintain their living standards. Correcting this imbalance requires…something close to full employment, a meaningful minimum wage and reforming our labor law to allow workers to freely associate with their fellow workers and form a union to bargain collectively." 

IRON WORKERS place a beam during bridge construction of South Huron River Drive over I-75 in Monroe County earlier this year. Road and bridge work is expected to drop in Michigan and numerous other states next year because of gas tax shortfalls and legislative (in)action.

RECONSTRUCTION OF I-94 this summer in Kalamazoo County. In July, a task force appointed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm estimated that Michigan needs to spend about $6.1 billion a year to fund road and bridge improvements to bring the system up to an overall "good" condition. That amount is double what Michigan is currently spending. Michigan is not alone in underfunding transportation, however, and public works construction is being proposed as an effective job creator. Photos courtesy MDOT Photo Lab/Bill Phillips above, Jim Lemay (top)