Even though worker productivity has risen 45 percent since the 1970's, worker's wages have not risen in kind.

Unemployment in the U.S. is the highest it's been since the Great Depression, and a large number of businesses have been forced to cut labor costs--which they do by getting rid of workers. However, manufacturing expectations don't reflect these reduced workforces.

Rather, workers are just expected to do the work equivalent of 1.5 to 2 full-time jobs. (Sound Familiar)

Mass layoffs have also resulted in a fear of job loss that has greatly eroded workers' bargaining power.

Let's put all of this together: Workers' productivity has increased at a negative costs to employers. Companies are keeping a bigger share of profits, and their labor costs are falling--all while workers' wages remain relatively stagnant. What does this all mean?

There used to be an unspoken deal between labor and capital that profits from productivity increases would be split, wages would rise as productivity increased. That deal was broken in 1980, and since then, capital has taken all the money, at least the part that didn't go to pay bonuses on Wall Street. Wages have been stagnant.

Even as workers take on more responsibilities and work longer hours to enable their employers to produce the same results with fewer employees, they are not sharing in the wealth they helped create.

If the minimum wage had moved in tandem with the vast increases in productivity over the past 30 years, it would be $19/hour. Instead, more than 28 million people--about a quarter of the working-age workforce--who work full time yet still earn less than the income that marks the federal poverty line for a family of four.

The only answer to this inequity in the workplace is the Employee Free Choice Act, which will enable workers to join a Union to bargain and obtain a contractual agreement with their employer, just like their boss does. If you are not in a Union now, your wages will most likely remain stagnant for years to come while your productivity rises without adequate compensation.