Whither the worker perspective

Two stories today, which I would contend should be viewed as related


Powell gets earful on inflation, interest rates from businesses
Powell gets earful on inflation, interest rates from businesses - Tampa Bay Times



YORK, Pa. — Federal Reserve officials typically gather many of their insights and observations about the economy from some of the top Ph.D. economists in Washington.

On a visit Monday to York, Pennsylvania, Chairman Jerome Powell got an earful from a group with a decidedly different perspective: small-business people who are grappling personally with inflation, high interest rates, labor shortages and other challenges of the post-pandemic economy.

Powell, along with Patrick Harker, head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, traveled to York to learn about the efforts of the longtime manufacturing hub, where York Peppermint Patties were once made, to diversify its economy.

The Fed Chair seeks to expand his inputs from economists to small business owners. Good for him. It may be performative, but is still a positive.

But the statute that creates the institution he heads has a dual mandate. And one of those mandates is regularly ignored by consensus- full employment.

And the labor sphere is not without stories. I’m sure Chair Powell would rather not have all these strikes trying to combat labor exploitation, a cornerstone of our economy. But maybe workers’ perspective is also important. If the 2016 election meant every media company had to send reporters to Ohioan diners to understand the perspective of those who wanted to blow up the whole government, maybe Powell and others should try to understand the perspectives of so many ready to strike. Now it’s Kaiser Permanente, a bete noir of the Trump Right as a health care company that uses science. They would likely be fine with KP being destroyed with some ceremonial hangings.

But still, are workers worth listening to?




Health care is in crisis. The looming strike by 75,000 health workers is just another sign of that | CNN Business



New YorkCNN —
Savonnda Blaylock, a pharmacy technician in northern California, has worked for health care giant Kaiser Permanente for 22 years and she’s never been on strike. That could change on Wednesday when she becomes one of 75,000 workers who participate in the nation’s largest health care strike in history.

Blaylock said it will be tough to walk off the job and away from her regular patients, even though the strike is set to last only three days. But Blaylock said she feels she has no choice given the staffing problems she now sees at the hospital, both as an employee and as a patient.