Mott's Strike Highlights Pressure on Workers

A strike at the Mott's apple juice plant in New York highlights a significant issue besides the pay for these particular workers, as noted by this New York Times article: "The union movement and many outsiders view the strike as a high-stakes confrontation between a company that wants to cut its labor costs, even as it is earning record profits, and workers who are determined to resist demands for wage and benefit givebacks."

The parent company here, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, is not alone in making large profits even as workers earn less and less. Our economy, however, cannot start growing again on a sustainable basis unless workers' wages increase. The Great Recession shows that families need higher wages to prosper in the long run instead of relying on more and more debt.