New York Times reporter Steven Greenhouse put it plainly: Unions must make organizing and expanding membership a priority during these tough economic times.

If they don’t stand together, they will fall to employers who horribly mistreat workers to bolster their bottom lines and ensure that executives bring home big bonuses.

Greenhouse, the paper’s labor correspondent since 1995, passed his advice on to more than 50 UUP Stony Brook HSC members—most of them academics—during the chapter’s new UUP Academic Lecture Series. Greenhouse discussed his new book, The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker, at the March 24 event.

“One of the reasons I wrote my book was that I felt the national leaders, the networks and the news media weren’t paying nearly enough attention to this huge squeeze – greater workloads, stagnant wages, diminishing health insurance coverage, and an inadequate pension systems among other troubles—faced by millions and millions of workers,” Greenhouse said.

Greenhouse was the second speaker in the lecture series, launched last year by the chapter with funding from a NYSUT Local Action Project (LAP) grant. LAP, a NYSUT community and political action initiative, trains local leaders to increase their community presence, involve new members and improve union communications.

The chapter is using the three-year grant to invigorate membership—particularly among academics—and to do more outreach programs, such as the lecture series, said Chapter President Kathy Southerton. The series, which started in December 2008 with a lecture by UUP Vice President for Academics Fred Floss, is designed to get academics more involved in the chapter, she said.

During his 90-minute appearance, Greenhouse spoke about and read from his book, which provides an in-depth account of how American companies have “squeezed” millions of workers by cutting wages and benefits, eroding job security and trampling wage and hour laws. The book explores how workers have been impacted by corporate plans to cut labor costs and increase profits.

“Throughout the lecture, Mr. Greenhouse held the audience’s attention with tales of unconscionable offenses against the working class,” said Chapter Membership Officer Bruce Kube.

Greenhouse cited several examples, including one company that told its fired workers they must spend a month training their replacements—low-wage workers from India—to get severance pay. Another company gave laid-off workers pamphlets about how to get along with less, with advice like not being ashamed to look through people’s garbage for things they need, said Southerton.

The days of making a decent living—and earning a dignified retirement—without a college or master’s degree are long gone, said Greenhouse, who told of retired people who have had to return to work—and in many cases, compete for entry level jobs with twentysomethings without a college degree or just out of college.

That’s part of the reason why it’s so important for unions to work harder at attracting new members. Otherwise, the future of America’s workers is at risk.

“In my book, I wrote that one way to improve things for workers is for unions to go out and organize,” Greenhouse said. “Unions are needed, especially for lower wage workers.”

— Michael Lisi