The President of the Iowa Labor Federation says things are far from perfect for workers in the state on this Labor Day. Mark Smith says this is the 119th year workers have celebrated Labor Day.Smith says big business is profiting at the expense of workers.Corporations are cutting wages and benefits and major Iowa employers, such as Deere and Maytag, are sending jobs to Mexico. Smith says while the unemployment rate is low, the jobs aren’t paying much.He says half the people working in Iowa make less than 10 dollars-an-hour, and he says that’s not a “living wage.” He says companies need to pay better wages and give more benefits to employees.Smith says workers aren’t giving up the fight to improve their plight. He says they aren’t apathetic and says a lot of the problems are political.Smith says employers have used threats and intimidation to try and illegally keep workers from fighting back by forming unions.
