From David Coates, the Worrell Chair of Anglo-American Studies at Wake Forest University, in response to "How Democrats' overreach hurts jobs" (Aug. 24 Viewpoint):

As Labor Day approaches, there is little to celebrate about the state of American labor -nationally or here in North Carolina.

The real value of household median income has declined over the last decade in its first real fall since the 1930s. Unemployment rates remain high across the board: 9.1 percent overall, 10.1 percent statewide, and a disturbing 11.1 percent in Charlotte-Mecklenburg. So, this is hardly a great time for American labor, particularly here in the South.

But it is a great time for attacking American labor. It is a great time for blaming the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers for stopping Boeing from bringing jobs to the Carolinas. It is a great time for flushing public sector unionism out of Wisconsin and Ohio. And why not? In the well-established litany of the American Right, trade unions stand condemned for causing unemployment (by inflating wages), for creating inequality (by depressing the wages of the non-unionized), and for blocking investment and productivity growth (through their resistance to change).

But do they really do all these awful things? American labor did not cause this recession, and is not prolonging it. American capital did, and is. The cause of contemporary unemployment is not trade union power. We are downwind of a recession triggered by Wall Street excess. Trade unions are not the cause of low wages among the non-unionized. Try looking instead at the negative impact of "right to work" legislation on wages here in the South. Investment is not currently blocked by trade union pressure on corporate profits. Trade unions are too weak for that. Corporate profits are too high.

The key blockage on job creation now is lack of demand - the product of low American wages, not of high ones. In the modern economy, American corporations outsource without penalty. Corporations take the profits and American workers take the hit.

We have known two great periods of prosperity in post-war America - one when trade unions were strong, one when they were weak. In the first, from 1948-73, union power kept wages high, demand up, and sweatshop routes to profitability blocked. In that first growth period, blue collar incomes rose, income inequality fell, and the American economy led the world. In the second growth period, from 1983-2008, unions were weak, wages stagnated, and inequality grew. Personal debt soared, and China led the world.

We're still living in the rubble left by the collapse of that second growth period, seeking a route to a third period of prosperity. What we need is a modern version of the first - a period of growth built again on strong labor unions, a restored manufacturing sector, higher American wages, and greater employment in America.

If Labor Day is meant to be what its creators intended, "a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country," let's use this one as a wake-up call to American labor. We have been led (and misled) by corporate America for far too long. It's time for labor to say "enough!"