Web Letters: Dilberts of the World, Unite!

By David Sirota

This article appeared in the June 23, 2008 edition of The Nation.

June 5, 2008

Write a Web letter about this article.

What's a Web Letter?

Web Letters are continuously published e-mails from real people, signed with their real names. No registration is required. Each article page on The Nation includes a Web Letters link.

Read the best Web Letters on this page.

We're committed to publishing your comments as they are received. We place a red star () on the best submissions and may edit your e-mail for length or content. Your e-mail address will not be published or shared with any third party without your consent.

If you prefer, you may submit a letter to the print edition only.

We look forward to hearing from you.

  • I really liked Sirota's article--enough so that I went online so that I could follow the links that I was sure would be there. Where can I see the government prediction that about a third of employment growth will be white collar? Where are the links to the Seattle Times article, the quotation attributed to a NLRB chair, Seymour Martin Lipset, Alan Blinder, Business Week, the Roll Call ad, the Financial Times, the Census figures--even Saul Alinsky? It's not that I don't trust Sirota (although maybe I shouldn't), but that I figure I could learn more if I followed the footnotes.

    Jessie Sackler

    Dallas, TX

    07/07/2008 @ 5:02pm


  • I am the mother of two college-educated people in their 20s. Neither can find a full-time job, let alone a full-time job in their field. They have loan payments that will continue for twenty years and their prospect of buying a house is close to zero. They followed the advice we all gave them, and they got screwed.

    I suggest that WashTech expand its base. Go for office temps and bank tellers (banks are notorious for hiring folks to work just under the number of hours required for benefits). Then go for full-time office workers--their wages are held down by the use of temps.

    I think the time is ripe for unions to rise again. It will take time for a new Congress to realize that it needs to move away from considering the needs of corporations over the needs of citizens. Unions are a great tool for persuasion.

    I was raised a child of management, but my sympathies have always been union.

    Kathleen Schultz

    Portland, OR

    06/05/2008 @ 4:16pm


Advertisement
Advertisement

Blogs

» Act Now!

Coal Country | "This is a civil war."
Peter Rothberg
25 Comments

» The Notion

A Blow to Privatization in Israel (and Perhaps Beyond) | A potentially historic ruling on prison privatization, in Israel.
Eyal Press
15 Comments

» The Dreyfuss Report

Can China Help on Afghanistan? | Beijing wants a broader role in the Middle East and South Asia. Will Obama bring them in?
Robert Dreyfuss
17 Comments

» Editor's Cut

Around the Nation | The week we went Rouge. Plus, Moyers on Afghanistan.
Katrina vanden Heuvel
77 Comments

» The Beat

Health Care Bill Advances, as Harry Reid Trumps Sarah Palin | The death panelist-in-chief rallied her followers to "KILL THE BILL." But 60 senators decided to follow the real leader.
John Nichols
101 Comments

» Altercation

Slacker Friday | The "Second Amendment" sale; the raving paranoids of the right.
Eric Alterman