Times reporter criticizes treatment of American workers

By: Barbara Jackson

Posted: 10/21/08

Steven Greenhouse, labor reporter for The New York Times, said many companies treat workers with a lack of dignity.

Greenhouse spoke to an audience of students, faculty and community members at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Monday evening. He visited Syracuse University to discuss his book "The Big Squeeze."

He said the American workforce is plagued by technology, globalization, income inequality and ill treatment of workers.

"These trends cause a squeeze on the American worker," he said.

"In this book I use 30 to 50 examples of companies breaking the law on how they treat their workers," Greenhouse said. "Unfortunately, it was easy for me to come up with all of these examples."

One of only two labor reporters in the country, Greenhouse said covering human suffering in the workplace has developed him as a writer.

"As a newspaper reporter for 25 years, I got a lot of front-page stories," he said. "That was great for my ego, but the stories were dry and boring. I wanted to write about flesh and blood people."

One of the examples Greenhouse mentioned was about a man who took his daughter to work on Take Your Child to Work Day and was fired by the company right in front of her.

Greenhouse also discussed a woman to which he said many students can relate.

"In the book I wrote about a woman teacher in Oklahoma who ran up a $60,000 debt because she had to work her way through college and it took her longer," he said. "She now only makes $35,000 a year, which goes toward paying her debts."

Greenhouse said he chose the testimonial style of writing to put faces on those suffering injustices in the workplace.

"It takes a village to write a book like this," Greenhouse said.

Pat Rector, a board member of the Central New York Labor-Religion Coalition, said she appreciates Greenhouse's translation of what is going on behind closed doors in big corporations.

"Greenhouse has such a genius as a writer to not only tell the human story, but to put together information in a way that people can understand," Rector said. "With 'The Big Squeeze,' he gives us empathy with a basis in fact, and that's powerful."

Greenhouse said it is unfortunate that 145 million people work in the United States and the news media fails to write about workplace trends.

"Many editors see workplace issues as unsexy," Greenhouse said. "When news is covered with Britney and other celebrities, who cares about immigrant workers making $3 an hour?"

Ruthnie Angrand, a magazine, newspaper and online journalism graduate student, said she wished more of the economic conversation focused on students.

"It frustrates me that conversations about the economy focus on the dirt poor and the extremely rich," Angrand said. "No one focuses on the soon-to-be middle class, the student, who will continue to contribute to the debt of the country."

Greenhouse said the workforce is getting progressively harder for young workers.

"As journalists, we are a Jesuit priesthood. We have to be willing to sacrifice," Greenhouse said. "But if you're very good at what you do, there will be a job for you."

bljackso@syr.edu