Working Class Matters

Oh, what a difference a campaign can make, at least if you're working-class. Suddenly, you matter.

In recent months, John Russo has become one of the go-to guys for journalists across the country and around the world who want to talk about working-class voters in America.

Russo is not exactly flattered by this attention. In fact, his response runs more along the lines of, "It's about time."

"Most reporters didn't give a hoot when most of the job loss was blue-collar workers," Russo said. "They didn't want to cover the suicides among blue-collar workers, the rising child abuse and wife abuse.

"But now we're seeing job loss in the service industry, in banking and finance. Even reporters are losing their jobs. Now we all care."

Russo is co-director of the Center for Working-Class Studies at Ohio's Youngstown State University. His life's work is dedicated to advocating for blue-collar men and women, who still make up the majority of working Americans.

Forty years ago, he was one of them, when he paid for his college education by working at an Oldsmobile plant in Michigan. Later, he earned his doctorate and a career in academia, but the former autoworker never has forgotten what it means to work with his hands for a living. And while he is meticulous in his research, he makes no bones about his allegiance.

"I try to be objective, but I don't claim to be impartial," he said.

What comes through loud and clear in Russo's every answer to every question is that blue-collar workers are complex Americans whose opinions matter all the time, not just during presidential polls.

Russo listens — and learns.

"Back in February, we held focus groups with 20 Teamsters, 20 steelworkers and 20 health care workers," he said. "We heard very little about race. What they cared about most was the economy. It's no longer God, guns, gays and security.

For most of them, it's all about jobs."

I called Russo after Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, surrounded by a team of economists, announced plans this week to introduce another stimulus package before the end of the year.

We've bailed out the financial institutions. What will it take for working-class Americans to believe they are now the priority?

"Well, they really have to suspend their disbelief that Democrats will fight for them," Russo said. "Two years after the last Democratic president was elected, Congress passed NAFTA and welfare reform. Workers need to see specifics this time. They're looking for specific plans for working people, plans connected to creating jobs, like rebuilding our infrastructure. They see us rebuilding Baghdad and say: 'Why not New Orleans? Why not Youngstown?'"

Stupid stunts by bailout beneficiaries don't help inspire confidence. Only days after American International Group Inc. was saved by the federal bailout, some of its executives made national news by spending $440,000 on a posh retreat that included spa treatments, banquets and rounds of golf. Here's a proposal: Those folks should go to jail.

Pelosi told me Tuesday that specifics for the new stimulus package will come, but only after congressional hearings, which begin next week.

She can hear the collective groan but insists these public debates matter.

"We had a stimulus package earlier this year, and the president wouldn't support it," she said. "Now we need it more than ever, and one way to persuade him is to demonstrate in public that we need it. And I don't think there's anything more painfully eloquent than showing the need for jobs, jobs, jobs."

The question, Pelosi said, is who has the leverage.

"It should be the working men and women of this country," she said. "It's all about them."

I'm with Russo: It's also about time.

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and the author of two books from Random House: "Life Happens" and "… and His Lovely Wife." To find out more about Connie Schultz (cschultz@plaind.com) and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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