Labor & Economic News Blog
Compiled by Janice Kimball and the staff of the IRLE Library
Monday, July 31, 2006
OECD calls on Australian Fed Govt to abolish Award wages
OECD calls on Fed Govt to abolish Award wages
Source: The Age
THE OECD has called on the Federal Government to consider abolishing award wages, applying work tests to a million people on disability or sole-parent pensions and targeting tax cuts at low-income earners as part of a new wave of economic changes.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:58 PM
Attendants reject NWA deal
Attendants reject NWA deal
In StarTribune.com Business
Northwest Airlines flight attendants today rejected a concessionary contract that would have saved the airline $195 million per year. The vote was 3,266 to 2,637. The outcome sets up the airline for the possibility of an ongoing conflict between management and its most visible service workers. In late June, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper gave Northwest permission to nullify the attendants' current contract and set new work terms if no contract was approved by the union members. Northwest is likely to impose those terms within a matter of hours. The union, in turn, could follow through
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:53 PM
Higher college achievement doesn't give women an edge at hiring time
Higher college achievement doesn't give women an edge at hiring time
Across the country, women are outperforming men at the university level. Despite this disparity, college counselors at these universities say that women are not doing any better than men when it comes to finding a job.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:52 PM
U.S. Puts Onus on Employers of Immigrants
U.S. Puts Onus on Employers of Immigrants
By JULIA PRESTON
For years, workplace raids were a low priority for immigration authorities. Now, officials are cracking down on businesses.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:50 PM
An old lesson still holds for unions
An old lesson still holds for unions
By Steve Early
THIS SUMMER marks the 25th anniversary of a strike whose outcome still haunts organized labor -- and affects the job conditions of millions of nonunion workers as well.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:47 PM
Immigration Crackdown Alarms Ohio Workers
Immigration Crackdown Alarms Ohio Workers
MIDDLETOWN, Ohio -- At his Tienda La Raza grocery store and restaurant, Jose Bravo sells Spanish-language DVDs and Mexico soccer jerseys, chorizo sausage and chopped cactus. Lately, there has been another hot seller -- one-way bus tickets out of here.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:41 PM
UK Leaked report fears chaos over flood of new immigrants
Leaked report fears chaos over flood of new immigrants
A huge rise in immigration from eastern Europe next year could cause chaos in schools, hospitals and welfare services, according to a leaked report. It also warns that ministers may be forced to abandon their refusal to grant council houses and welfare
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:41 PM
Tiawan Government jobs being outsourced more frequently
Government jobs being outsourced more frequently
Increasingly, outsourcing job openings is not a phenomenon unique to private companies. It has become common among the nation's government agencies,
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:30 PM
Brazil's informal economy absorbs 60% of workforce
Brazil's informal economy absorbs 60% of workforce
Over half of Brazilian workers make their livings in the informal economy, estimated in 122 billion US dollars, according to an official report published Sunday in O Globo by the Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute, IBGE. The 'under the table'
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:28 PM
U.S. Employers Look Offshore for Healthcare
U.S. Employers Look Offshore for Healthcare
LA Times:
After going overseas to outsource everything from manufacturing to customer services, American businesses pressed by rising healthcare costs are looking offshore for medical benefits as well. A growing number of employers that fund their own health
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:25 PM
Nurses' Association of Jamaica (NAJ), Government to resume talks today
Nurses' Association of Jamaica (NAJ), Government to resume talks today
Executive Members of the Nurses' Association of Jamaica (NAJ) and senior officials of the Ministries of Labour and Social Security, Health and Finance are to resume salary negotiations today.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:15 PM
New Jersey Englewood nurses ratify three-year contract
Englewood nurses ratify three-year contract
Source: Bergen Record
The 660 striking union nurses of Englewood Hospital and Medical Center ratified a three-year contract Saturday that will bring an end to their monthlong work stoppage, as well as the hospital's employment of temporary medical staff at the 520-bed facility.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:09 PM
California Ballot measure endangers labor-business truce
Ballot measure endangers labor-business truce
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
Called the Clean Money and Fair Elections initiative, Proposition 89 on the Nov. 7 ballot is sparking renewed hostilities between the business organizations, particularly the California Chamber of Commerce, and one of the state's most aggressive labor unions, the California Nurses Association.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:07 PM
Putting the squeeze on middle managers:
Putting the squeeze on middle managers:
Source: NPR's Marketplace audio
A huge legal fight is underway to define employees whose positions are between the managers and workers; The government is expected to give management a huge victory
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:06 PM
Workers vote for Escondida mine strike
Workers vote for Escondida mine strike
SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) - Workers at Chile's Escondida, the world's largest copper mine, voted overwhelmingly on Friday to strike to demand a new contract offer from the company that reflected soaring copper prices.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:02 PM
Hilton reaches accord with hotel labor union
Hilton reaches accord with hotel labor union
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Hilton Hotels Corp. said on Saturday it has reached an accord with the union representing North American hotel workers that includes an easing of the company's stance on how hotels are unionized.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:02 PM
GM and UAW support pensions bill
GM and UAW support pensions bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Final pension reform legislation headed for a vote in the U.S. Senate this week not only will help bankrupt airlines save their traditional retirement plans, but also is supported by General Motors Corp. and the United Auto Workers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:01 PM
Wal-Mart first China union could mean more to come
Wal-Mart first China union could mean more to come
BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Employees of retail giant Wal-Mart have set up their first trade union in China, a move analysts said on Monday could lead to more unionization in the sector.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:00 PM
House OKs bill increasing federal minimum wage / Future uncertain -- its fate is linked to estate tax cut plan
House OKs bill increasing federal minimum wage / Future uncertain -- its fate is linked to estate tax cut plan
By Carl Hulse
The House approved an increase in the federal minimum wage today, but its future was clouded because Republicans tied the pay change to an estate tax cut that had been blocked in the Senate. In a prelude to a summer of campaigning in the battle for...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:57 PM
Mexico's corn farmers see their livelihoods wither away / Cheap U.S. produce pushes down prices under free-trade pact
Mexico's corn farmers see their livelihoods wither away / Cheap U.S. produce pushes down prices under free-trade pact
By Monica Campbell and Tyche Hendricks
Tending his sun-drenched half-acre cornfield, Jose Davila represents a part of Mexico that may fade away as the pressures of free trade intensify. "I'm an antique," said the hunched 90-year-old farmer. "Who wants to work all day in the sun and earn so...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:55 PM
Grunge Inc. / Live-in startups combine frat-house culture with venture capital
Grunge Inc. live-in startups combine frat-house culture with venture capital
By Jessica Guynn
Tucked away on a leafy Palo Alto street lined with manicured, multimillion-dollar homes is a low-slung apartment building that houses the Meetro commune. Not a commune in the Haight-Ashbury sense.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:52 PM
Living in topsy-turvy tech time / The global economy never rests, nor do the driven -- some say crazy -- workers of Silicon Valley
Living in topsy-turvy tech time / The global economy never rests, nor do the driven -- some say crazy -- workers of Silicon Valley
By Carolyne Zinko
Silicon Valley tech workers already have bragging rights when it comes to their workload -- they put in longer hours and take fewer vacation days than people in many other fields. Now, they're boasting about conditions that are getting worse: having to...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:51 PM
Ford reportedly plans more job cuts
Ford reportedly plans more job cuts
Ford Motor Co. may announce deeper job cuts as it tries to trim more costs in the face of a disappointing second-quarter loss. The nation's No. 2 automaker had already reported 4,000 salaried staff cuts and plans to trim 30,000 hourly jobs as it closes 14 factories in the coming years.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:07 PM
Friday, July 28, 2006
Hyundai labor union votes to accept 5.1 percent wage hike
Hyundai labor union votes to accept 5.1 percent wage hike
SEOUL, South Korea - Hyundai Motor Co.'s labor union voted to accept a 5.1 percent wage increase negotiated earlier this week by management and union leaders, the company said
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:32 PM
Immigrant Rights Groups Split Over Senate Bill
Immigrant Rights Groups Split Over Senate Bill
By Anushka Asthana
Even as Congress is stalled over legislation dealing with the growing number of illegal immigrants, a split has emerged among pro-immigrant rights groups over whether to back the Senate measure, seen as the more lenient of the two bills being considered by lawmakers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:23 PM
As gas prices rise, so do demands on employers
As gas prices rise, so do demands on employers
In smallBusinessNews
(Inc.com) - Bill Lathem's family has run Lathem Time, an Atlanta manufacturer of time clocks, since 1919, and it's the kind of company where workers stay for decades. "That family feeling around here is what keeps our tenure up," says Lathem, who employs 150 workers, "and a lot of the skills that these guys have are not easily trained."
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:16 PM
House set to vote on pension bill
House set to vote on pension bill
The House could approve a major pension overhaul bill as early as Friday after abandoning negotiations with the Senate over a larger package that combined pension reform with an extension of popular tax breaks, congressional leadership aides said. Such a move would be at best a partial victory for Delta Air Lines, which has pushed for a reform bill that will give ailing airlines extra time to fully fund their pension plans. Without such an extension, Delta says, it will have to terminate the plan as part of its bankruptcy restructuring. But the Senate would have to sign off on the House-passed version of the bill next week or the matter would likely be delayed until after both chambers return from their August recesses.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:15 PM
Delta to seek retiree health benefit cuts
Delta to seek retiree health benefit cuts
Delta Air Lines retirees could face higher health care premiums as the company continues its drive to pare costs during bankruptcy court restructuring. Executives of the airline said Friday they plan to propose higher health care costs for retirees over the next few weeks. They said they will seek to negotiate changes with committees representing pilot and non-pilot retirees in the bankruptcy case. That would be followed by possible litigation before Delta's bankruptcy judge.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:15 PM
Town Battling Illegal Immigration Is Emptier Now
Town Battling Illegal Immigration Is Emptier Now
By JILL P. CAPUZZO
The downtown streets of Riverside, N.J., were unusually empty the day after an ordinance banning employers and landlords from hiring or housing illegal immigrants was passed.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:13 PM
City Requires Registration Before Hiring Day Laborers
City Requires Registration Before Hiring Day Laborers
NPR Audio:
The city of Vista near San Diego is trying a novel way to control the number of day laborers who congregate in shopping centers and on street corners, looking for work. Individuals who want to hire these workers are being required to register first with the city.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:11 PM
Marketplace Report: Worker Pay Not Keeping Pace
Marketplace Report: Worker Pay Not Keeping Pace
NPR audio:
The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that employee compensation growth over the past two years has been even weaker than previously assumed, and the pay for many workers isn't keeping up with rising prices. Steve Tripoli of Marketplace talks with Noah Adams about the rising inflation rate and slowing economic growth.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:10 PM
Town bans hiring and housing illegal immigrants
Town bans hiring and housing illegal immigrants
TRENTON, N.J. -- Providing housing or jobs to undocumented immigrants has been banned in a southern New Jersey town, according to an ordinance adopted Wednesday night. In front of a noisy crowd of several hundred people _ whose numbers forced the group
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:08 PM
India: Banking services take a hit over outsourcing fears
Banking services take a hit over outsourcing fears
India's Public sector banking services were hit across the country today, as their employees went on a token strike against privatisation of state-run banks.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:36 PM
U.S. workers need work? Go to El Salvador
U.S. workers need work? Go to El Salvador
In order to meet the demands of companies outsourcing their call centers to El Salvador, the Central American country is beginning a program to recruit its employees from an unlikely location: the United States. The Salvadoran government's economic development organization has started a program called "Meet Your Roots" that "looks for children of Salvadorans born in the U.S. and Canada to reside and work temporarily in El Salvador in order to strengthen their identity and ties to the country," according to the organization's Web site.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:55 AM
The Face of Poverty Ages In Rapidly Graying Japan: Welfare Cuts Hit 'Elderly Orphans' Hard
The Face of Poverty Ages In Rapidly Graying Japan: Welfare Cuts Hit 'Elderly Orphans' Hard
TOKYO -- What is left after Gosuke Kakizaki's 73 years of life as a magazine typesetter turned failed businessman turned penniless retiree is contained in two small rooms of a gray public housing complex far from the glittery core of this city.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:52 AM
China Vows to Develop Outsourcing Industry
China Vows to Develop Outsourcing Industry
The Chinese government is to promote the outsourcing industry with the aim of making the country an international base for outsourcing, said a senior official with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Thursday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:38 AM
China: More than 1,000 workers riot at factory producing toys for McDonald's
China: More than 1,000 workers riot at factory producing toys for McDonald's
More than 1,000 workers riot at factory producing toys for McDonald's, US-based labour rights group reports Over 1,000 workers rioted over poor working conditions at a factory in Guangdong province which produces toys for McDonald's and other firms,
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:37 AM
Survey: African Americans Urgently Want Relief from Rising Student Debt
Survey: African Americans Urgently Want Relief from Rising Student Debt
WASHINGTON African Americans view a college education as more important then ever, but also worry that it is becoming less and less affordable while they see students graduating with more debt, says a new survey.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:34 AM
Ford workers look at new job options
Ford workers look at new job options
The question blasted from a yellow flier posted to the window of United Auto Workers Local 919: "Are you prepared for 2008?" In the union hall Thursday afternoon, Eric Olson tried to help two dozen Ford workers find the answer. About 2,275 hourly workers stand to lose their jobs at Ford's F-150 truck plant within two years. Olson, executive director of Virginia's Board for Contractors, was in town to describe how they could earn contractors' licenses and move into attractive new jobs.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:30 AM
Northwest Airlines and Striking Mechanics Will Resume Contract Negotiations
Northwest Airlines and Striking Mechanics Will Resume Contract Negotiations
Minneapolis - Minneapolis -- The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), which represents striking mechanics at Northwest Airlines Inc., confirmed today that Northwest Airlines and AMFA have agreed to resume contract bargaining.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:17 AM
Ralphs pleads guilty to illegal hiring
Ralphs pleads guilty to illegal hiring
Source: New York Times
Ralphs Grocery Co. formally entered guilty pleas in federal court Wednesday to several charges stemming from the grocery chain's hiring of hundreds of workers under fake names during a 2003 strike and lockout in the Southern California supermarket industry.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:55 AM
House GOP pressing vote on minimum wage
House GOP pressing vote on minimum wage
Source: AP
House Republican leaders, giving in to political reality, plan a vote to raise the $5.15 minimum wage before leaving Washington this weekend for a five-week recess.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:52 AM
Organizing Meatpacking Hell!
Organizing Meatpacking Hell!
Source: Labor Notes
After suffering two election defeats at the 5,500-worker operation, the largest hog-processing plant in the world, the UFCW has adopted a more long-term, multi-pronged approach. The union will rely on a combination of Tar Heel workers’ own activity, support from UFCW members in other facilities, and actions by supporters around the country who see the union drive as a civil rights and workers’ rights crusade.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:42 AM
Jobless claims decline by 7,000 (AP)
Jobless claims decline by 7,000 (AP)
AP - The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits dropped below the 300,000 level last week, signaling continued strength in the labor market despite a recent slowdown in job creation.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:41 AM
US Compensation costs pick up in 2Q (AP)
Compensation costs pick up in 2Q (AP)
AP - Employers' costs to hire and retain workers picked up in the second quarter, a development that could aggravate inflation worries.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:30 AM
Australian Unions urge a rise for poorest workers
Unions urge a rise for poorest workers
Source: SMH
UNIONS have called on the Government's new Fair Pay Commission to grant those on the minimum wage a pay rise of $30 a week in its first decision, expected in November or December. By the time the commission decides, it will be 18 months since the lowest-paid workers received a boost. The ACTU's $30 claim is roughly in line with inflation over that period.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:26 AM
South Africa: Welcome Warn Out for 'Foreigners'
South Africa: Welcome Warn Out for 'Foreigners'
"The wave of foreign migrants has coincided with an upsurge in internal migration as more locals escaping poverty in the rural areas flood the cities in search of scarce jobs," said Korth. "The number of Zimbabweans, Mozambicans, Somalis, Congolese and other refugee populations is doubling annually in the townships and informal settlements. There is serious competition for everything."
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:22 AM
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Chicago City Council OKs 'living wage' (AP)
Chicago City Council OKs 'living wage' (AP)
AP - Brushing aside warnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the City Council approved an ordinance Wednesday that makes Chicago the biggest city in the nation to require big-box retailers to pay a "living wage."
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:08 PM
Unions persevering
Unions persevering
Chicago Sun-Times
A year after two of the AFL-CIO's biggest unions broke away from the national labor federation to build a new one, local labor leaders say unions have been able to maintain solidarity here.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:52 PM
Chicago Hotel chains unlinked for union talks
Hotel chains unlinked for union talks
The unions representing 7,000 Chicago hotel workers, whose contracts expire next month, launched separate negotiations Tuesday with Hilton-owned hotels, and will do likewise this week with Hyatt as part of a new negotiation strategy.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:51 PM
Pension bill deal close, Isakson says
Pension bill deal close, Isakson says
After another day of intense negotiations to complete a pension overhaul bill, U.S. lawmakers are now close to announcing success, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said early Wednesday afternoon. "The bill is substantially done," he said, and could still be written up in time for the House to approve it on Friday, the last day before the August recess. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) told Bloomberg News the work is almost finished.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:50 PM
Chicago, Wal-Mart in tussle
Chicago, Wal-Mart in tussle
When Wal-Mart opened a store just outside the city limits last winter, it proudly announced it received a record 25,000 job applications, nearly all of them from Chicagoans.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:50 PM
PanAfrica: Domestic Workers Abused Worldwide
PanAfrica: Domestic Workers Abused Worldwide
AllAfrica.com
Domestic workers face a wide range of grave abuses and labor exploitation, including physical and sexual abuse, forced confinement, non-payment of wages, denial of food and health care and excessive working hours with no rest days, Human Rights Watch said in a new report today.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:45 PM
Napping Makes Inroads in the Workplace
Napping Makes Inroads in the Workplace
NPR audio
Some employers are doing the unthinkable: encouraging workers to nap on the job. And one firm near Wall Street is trying to cash in on the concept of workday napping. It has opened a napping boutique, filled with bankers, brokers and cops who pay $14 for a 20-minute nap.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:10 PM
Migration laws may be the end of globalization
Migration laws may be the end of globalization
Limiting migration from poor countries to richer ones threatens to put a stop to the present free movement of capital and goods
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:47 PM
More work, less play for older Canadians: StatsCan
More work, less play for older Canadians: StatsCan
By CBC
More Canadians aged 55 to 64 are working later in life and devoting less time to leisure activities than older people, suggests a Statistics Canada study released Wednesday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:13 PM
Movement to keep boomers on job
Movement to keep boomers on job
Arizona Republic
Companies are just beginning to understand that they need to adapt to an aging workforce. After grappling with careers filled with meetings, memos and long hours, a large number of boomers are getting ready to slow things down.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:18 AM
Minnesota Health costs slow down
Health costs slow down
Minnesota employers found some relief on health insurance premium hikes last year after six years of at times double-digit cost increases. Workers have been paying the price.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:00 AM
British Unions and Hewitt in NHS talks
Unions and Hewitt in NHS talks
In Health
Health unions are meeting with Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt amid concerns about "creeping NHS privatisation".
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:58 AM
UK: Hot staff 'at risk of accidents'
Hot staff 'at risk of accidents'
In UK
Employers may face legal action if they do not protect workers from extreme heat, says the TUC.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:57 AM
UK: Union ballots Bmibaby for strike
Union ballots Bmibaby for strike
In Business
Pilots at airline Bmibaby are balloted for a possible strike over pay that could take place around August bank holiday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:55 AM
SEC Wants Details of Executive Pay
SEC Wants Details of Executive Pay
By By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer
Regulators are moving to require companies to disclose more details of executives' pay and perks. They're also writing new rules on disclosure of the dating of stock options as controversy widens over suspect timing. The Securities and Exchange...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:25 AM
Washington state deal struck: Unionized state workers will continue to pay 12 percent of the cost of their health care i
Deal struck for state workers: Unionized state workers will continue to pay 12 percent of the cost of their health care insurance and will receive a rebate check for $756 next year
Source: The Olympian
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:21 AM
In Britain: Unison plans strikes as American firm hired to do all NHS shopping
Unison plans strikes as American firm hired to do all NHS shopping
Source: The Times UK
A GIANT American firm is poised to take over the responsibility for spending more than £4 billion a year of NHS money in the biggest privatisation yet seen in the health service, The Times has learnt.
Novation, the Texas-based group, is in the final stages of negotiating a far-reaching contract that will make it and its German partner, DHL, responsible for buying everything from bandages to hip implants for the health service. The move will mark a massive step towards opening up the NHS to outside companies and is certain to inflame simmering tensions within the Labour Party over what is perceived as creeping privatisation.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:20 AM
Limits sought on worker exposure to microwave popcorn flavor agent
Limits sought on worker exposure to microwave popcorn flavor agent
Source: LA Times
Emergency safety standards are needed to counter a widening outbreak of lung disease among workers exposed to a common ingredient in microwave popcorn, health experts and labor unions said Tuesday. The Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers plan to file an emergency petition today demanding that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration set exposure limits for diacetyl, a flavoring agent used in the manufacture of artificial popcorn butter, dog food and other products.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:18 AM
Wal-Mart adopts a tougher defense against union attacks
Wal-Mart adopts a tougher defense against union attacks
Source: New York Times
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. signaled a more aggressive defense against its union-backed critics by naming Democratic Party insider Leslie Dach its new chief of public relations this week.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:16 AM
FAA redirects air traffic controllers; NATCA files grievance
FAA redirects air traffic controllers; NATCA files grievance
Source: NY Times
The agency hopes that the change will cut costs and errors. But controllers say that they are working without breaks longer than rules allow and that their supervisors have lost the flexibility to assign rest periods based on how hectic a job has been. The controllers union has filed several grievances relating to the change, the latest result of an agency campaign to cut labor costs.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:15 AM
Borrowing language of civil rights movement, drive is on to unionize guards
Borrowing language of civil rights movement, drive is on to unionize guards
Source: NY Times
For Michael Johnson, a security guard for 16 years, unionization cannot happen soon enough. Mr. Johnson says the $10 an hour he earns guarding an office tower on Wilshire Boulevard is too little to support his family, so he has taken a second full-time job, guarding a construction site. His long hours exact a toll on him as a father: he leaves home at 6:15 a.m., before his four children wake up, and returns at 11 p.m., after they have gone to bed.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:14 AM
New York City MTA to consider selling railyard; MTA cautions against 'swalling the proposal whole'
MTA to consider selling railyard; MTA cautions against 'swalling the proposal whole'
Source: NY Times
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s board is expected today to consider New York City’s offer of $500 million for development rights to 26 acres of railyards on the Far West Side of Manhattan, the site of the city’s failed attempt last year to develop a football stadium for the Jets.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:13 AM
Michelin, union reach tentative US tire agreement
Michelin, union reach tentative US tire agreement
Source: Washington Post
Michelin and the United Steelworkers on Tuesday reached a tentative agreement on a new contract for hourly workers at three of its BFGoodrich tire plants in the United States. Details of the agreements, which cover about 3,450 workers, will not be released until the union has completed ratification votes, Michelin spokeswoman Lynn Mann said.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:12 AM
Botswana: Textiles Yet To Benefit From Weaker Pula
Botswana: Textiles Yet To Benefit From Weaker Pula
Tally Tshekiso, managing director of Caratex, a garment manufacturing company, says the textile industry has not yet reapt much from the devaluation. "Devaluation is a double-edged sword with cancellation effects. We import from East Asia and buy raw materials in US dollars," Tshekiso explained. "We are losing if you thought that we have gained," he added.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:11 AM
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
College degree no longer ensures rising pay
College degree no longer ensures rising pay
WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy has been steadily growing, with unemployment low and corporate profits at historic highs.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:10 PM
Lawmakers reach tentative agreement on pension overhaul
Lawmakers reach tentative agreement on pension overhaul
By Bloomberg News
Congressional negotiators reached a tentative agreement on portions of a measure overhauling the private US pensions system, and a final deal may come as early as today, House and Senate Republican aides said.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:08 PM
UK to toughen border controls
UK to toughen border controls
In BBC UK Politics
Home Secretary John Reid outlines plans to toughen up border controls as part of an immigration shake-up.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:03 PM
Florida city votes down immigrant bill
US city votes down immigrant bill
In BBC Americas
A Florida city council narrowly rejects imposing what would have been strict legislation on illegal immigrants.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:01 PM
Namibia: Rural School in Dire Straits
Namibia: Rural School in Dire Straits]
The practice of multi-teaching, that results from the dire shortage of teachers in rural schools, could have a negative impact on the performance of most learners in remote primary schools.
Multi-teaching, as it is commonly known, involves one instructor teaching two grades in one room at the same time.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:48 AM
Ghana: It is Promises And Promises to End Child Labour
Ghana: It is Promises And Promises to End Child Labour
Records on Child Labour Statistics available at the Ghana Statistical Service revealed that an estimated 1,239,680 children are in the agricultural sector, most of them in farming, fishing and forestry. Other sub sectors include animal rearing and hunting for grass cutters, snails, mushrooms. Over 73.6% of the children in agriculture are to be found in the rural areas.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:47 AM
PanAfrica: Tough Road for Africa As Trade Talks Crumble
PanAfrica: Tough Road for Africa As Trade Talks Crumble
The collapse of global trade talks was bad news for Africa, condemning the world's poorest continent to an uncertain future of high tariffs and lagging competitiveness, officials and experts said today.
World Trade Organisation chief Pascal Lamy was expected to formally announce the end of the Doha round of talks today after nearly five years of wrangling failed to produce a deal.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:45 AM
Health care summit attendees agree that action is needed / No other consensus emerges; issue looms over GOP campaign
Health care summit attendees agree that action is needed / No other consensus emerges; issue looms over GOP campaign
By Tom Chorneau
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger sat quietly Monday for three hours listening to some of the nation's top experts on health care, including business executives, union leaders and representatives of consumer groups. But Schwarzenegger left his health care...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:27 AM
Security won out over federal government workers, study says
Security won out over workers, study says
Source: Washington Post
The 122-page study, "Legislating Civil Service Reform: The Homeland Security Act of 2002," is the first major analysis of how the administration's ideas became law. The study's authors are Douglas A. Brook and Cynthia L. King , professors at the Naval Postgraduate School, and Navy Lt. David W. Anderson and Marine Corps Capt. Joshua P. Bahr , who earned masters of business administration at the naval school. (They have posted their study at
http://www.nps.navy.mil/gsbpp/CDMR/publications.htm .)
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:18 AM
New Jersey Pension fund reforms affect public employees
Pension fund reforms affect public employees
Source: Bergen Record
NEW JERSEY has just changed the way it invests the $72 billion state employee pension fund. The bad news is that it will cost at least $220 million a year in fees. The good news is that the move is designed to boost the fund's lackluster performance. It's long overdue.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:17 AM
Reid, labor key factors in Nevada caucus bid
Reid, labor key factors in Nevada caucus bid
Source: Washington Post
Democrats were lobbied hard by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and organized labor before they picked Nevada as the best bet to energize the party's early presidential voting in 2008. A Democratic rules panel on Saturday recommended that Nevada hold a caucus after Iowa's leadoff contest in mid-January 2008, but before New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary. South Carolina was awarded an early primary a week after New Hampshire.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:11 AM
Union trries to unite blacks, Latinos: Workers at meatpacking plant must first overcome distrust
Union trries to unite blacks, Latinos: Workers at meatpacking plant must first overcome distrust
Source: Washington Post
Bailey is a black, native-born American. Abrego is a Latino immigrant. At Smithfield Packing Co., the largest meat-processing facility in the world, the two think of themselves as being in the same boat. Recently, they attended a potluck to try to do something that is rare for African Americans and Latino immigrants: come together to fight for workers' rights.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:04 AM
Black U.S. Labor organization - Coalition of Black Trade Unionists - backs Zimbabwe liberation
Black U.S. Labor organization - Coalition of Black Trade Unionists - backs Zimbabwe liberation
Source: New American Media
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe now has a new American acronym to scorn – CBTU.The Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) has launched a major campaign to clip Mugabe of his “liberator” image in the African American community by exposing the thuggish actions of his regime against the Zimbabwean people.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:58 AM
Wal-Mart's woes tell tale of city politics
Wal-Mart's woes tell tale of city politics
Source: Chicago Tribune
Consumers watching Wal-Mart being put on the rack by the Chicago City Council might think this is just another political squeezing: The council's vote on the living-wage ordinance--which would require stores with 90,000 square feet or more to pay workers at least $10 an hour--is scheduled for next Wednesday. But there's much more to this than wages.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:35 AM
Monday, July 24, 2006
Huge Backlogs, Delays Feared Under Senate Immigration Plan
Huge Backlogs, Delays Feared Under Senate Immigration Plan
By S. Mitra Kalita and Spencer S. Hsu
Arturo Zavala entered the United States illegally from Mexico in 1976 and picked mushrooms in Pennsylvania for a decade before he became a legal resident. But that menial labor was not the toughest part of life here.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:11 PM
California - Overtime fattens paychecks of state workers / 77 employees topped $200,000 last year, a big jump from 2004
Overtime fattens paychecks of state workers / 77 employees topped $200,000 last year, a big jump from 2004
By Todd Wallack
Most state employees earn modest salaries of less than $50,000 a year, plus a decent pension and other benefits. But a growing number are earning more than $200,000 a year. For example: - Jose Chacon, a lieutenant in the state prison system,...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:22 PM
Coalition taking on anti-immigrant laws
Coalition taking on anti-immigrant laws
As Congress delays action on new immigration legislation, some local governments from Florida to Pennsylvania are drafting measures targeting undocumented immigrants.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:15 PM
High-tech jobs remain an unfulfilled vision in Mexico
High-tech jobs remain an unfulfilled vision in Mexico
During the first half of 2006, more than 546,000 jobs were added in Mexico the best showing during President Vicente Fox's six-year term. A closer look at the statistic reveals this growth is failing to provide many workers with jobs offering security and the potential for economic advancement.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:13 PM
Apparel manufacturing jobs declining in Mexico
Apparel manufacturing jobs declining in Mexico
She works long hours on her feet in a noisy, windowless factory and makes only $6.80 a day 45 cents more than most workers there because she embellishes denim jeans with dainty flowers. But Yesenia Garcia, 27, is glad to have a job. "Sometimes you have work and sometimes you don't. But I like working on design," Garcia said.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:13 PM
Union considers risk of acquiring Hoover
Union considers risk of acquiring Hoover
From the window in his small union hall office, Jim Repace can look out at the red brick, four-story Hoover Co. plant and dream about owning the well-known vacuum maker. Now his task is to inspire hundreds of workers that their best strategy to stop a job drain is a risky one: to buy a struggling company, if they can find some financial help.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:12 PM
Lawsuits over overtime increase
Lawsuits over overtime increase
Since 2000, the number of wage-related cases filed in federal courts has doubled, and most involve overtime claims.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:12 PM
Workers call off protest in Nepal
Workers call off protest in Nepal
In South Asia
Former bonded labourers in Nepal call off job protests after the government agrees to address their demands.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:05 PM
Spanish intercept migrant boats
Spanish intercept migrant boats
In Europe
Spain says it has intercepted boats taking almost 250 presumed African migrants to the Canary Islands.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:00 PM
South Africa: Skills Lack Threatens Refinery Shutdowns
South Africa: Skills Lack Threatens Refinery Shutdowns
A DIRE shortage of engineering skills is threatening the effective shutdown of fuel refineries in the coming three months and could result in yet another fuel shortage in the festive season.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:53 AM
Central Africa: Great Lakes States to Tackle Skills Challenge
Central Africa: Great Lakes States to Tackle Skills Challenge
Four states in the Great Lakes Region have committed themselves to initiate and implement urgent policies to develop human capacities and labour market to help them build sound knowledge-based economies.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:52 AM
Zimbabwe: Govt Mulls Preemptive Crackdown On Congress of Trade Unions
Zimbabwe: Govt Mulls Preemptive Crackdown On Congress of Trade Unions
THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) says government is planning to arrest its leadership as a pre-emptive move against threatened mass action by the labour movement over the worsening economic crisis in the country.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:50 AM
San Francisco hotel negotiations end without accord
Hotel negotiations end without accord
By George Raine
Contract negotiators for union hotel workers in San Francisco and the 13 hotels that employ them completed four days of bargaining Friday without resolving differences in a two-year dispute. More negotiations are scheduled in August by the union, Unite...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:49 AM
British Immigrant workers are stepping up their protest against changes to immigration laws, with a rally at London's Chinatown
Immigrant workers are stepping up their protest against changes to immigration laws, with a rally at London's Chinatown
Source: BBC
A policy change in April means immigrant workers must now wait five rather than four years before they can apply for settlement in Britain.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:29 AM
Union says unbowed by setback at JetBlue Airways
Union says unbowed by setback at JetBlue Airways
Source: Reuters
Union organizers plan to continue to target workers at discount airline JetBlue Airways Corp. despite getting rebuffed in an effort to unionize the airline. "The organizing effort will continue," Joe Tiberi, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, told Reuters.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:02 AM
Old issues echoing for Goodyear, USW
Old issues echoing for Goodyear, USW
Source: Akron Beacon-Journal
The contract clock keeps ticking down for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and its largest union.
Three years ago, Goodyear was losing buckets of money when it entered contract talks with the United Steelworkers of America. The resulting pact, negotiated under intense conditions, helped stabilize the Akron tire maker while giving most union members job security, pay raises and health insurance. The agreement helped Goodyear report profits the past two years.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:56 AM
American Airlines, mechanics to talk
AA, mechanics to talk
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Once-battling forces learn to work together for new income source.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:53 AM
American Airlines plans to open talks with pilots union
American Airlines plans to open talks with pilots union
Source: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
American Airlines has notified its pilots that airline management wants to negotiate a new contract -- a move likely to spark a debate over whether employees can reclaim wages and benefits given up three years ago.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:52 AM
Goodyear, union agree to extend contract
Goodyear, union agree to extend contract
Source: MarketWatch
DETROIT (MarketWatch) -- Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and the United Steelworkers of America have agreed to extend the current labor contract, which expires July 22, on a day-to-day basis. Goodyear and the union are working to forge a pact under a wider bargaining agreement that also covers workers at U.S. operations of Japan's Bridgestone Corp. and France's Michelin Group which owns BF Goodrich.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:41 AM
Labor's Mr. Fix-it
Labor's Mr. Fix-it
Source: Boston Globe
If you are a trade union boss and know your costs are out of whack with your nonunion competition, do you sharpen your pencil and try again? No way. Not when you can call Marty -- state Representative Marty Walsh,
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:36 AM
China: Caterpillar to Start Building Factory in 2007
China: Caterpillar to Start Building Factory in 2007
By REUTERS
The heavy machinery maker Caterpillar said it planned to build a factory in Jiangsu Province that would make midsize wheel loaders. Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Ill., said construction of the new plant was expected to begin in 2007. The loaders it produces will be sold across the Asia-Pacific region. That region is now largely supplied by a plant in Japan.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:32 AM
Trade Talks Fail Over an Impasse on Farm Tariffs
Trade Talks Fail Over an Impasse on Farm Tariffs
By TOM WRIGHT and STEVEN R. WEISMAN
The collapse of negotiations touched off a bitter new round of recriminations between the United States and Europe.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:30 AM
Friday, July 21, 2006
Proposed auto alliance worries labor
Proposed auto alliance worries labor
Source: Indianapolis Star
Today, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger is making clear that he has "very serious concerns" about a proposed global alliance between General Motors Corp. and automakers Nissan and Renault SA -- both headed by Ghosn. The flamboyant Ghosn's five-year-old stance against the UAW is hardly the only reason.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:49 AM
Hawaii resort Turtle Bay and hotel union settle dispute
Turtle Bay and hotel union settle dispute
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Turtle Bay Resort, Oahu's only major hotel on the North Shore, and hotel workers union Unite Here Local 5 have reached a tentative labor agreement that could end years of contentious negotiations, a consumer boycott of the property and several pending legal proceedings.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:48 AM
Watchdog slams prisons over guards' union work / Inspector general cites oversight lack, poor record-keeping
Watchdog slams prisons over guards' union work / Inspector general cites oversight lack, poor record-keeping
By Mark Martin
Poor oversight by California's corrections department has allowed leaders of the guards union to spend work time on union business without approval, a problem that could allow some guards to retire with bigger taxpayer-funded paydays than they would otherwise...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:48 AM
Indianapolis Library Board meeting gets loud as staff demonstrate for right to form union
Library Board meeting gets loud as staff demonstrate for right to form union
Source: Indianapolis Star
The conflict over union recognition provided the fireworks during a meeting to approve $25 million in bonds for cost overruns topping $40 million at the troubled Central Library expansion.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:47 AM
AK Steel employees at Butler plant approve 6-year contract
AK Steel employees at Butler plant approve 6-year contract
Source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Workers at AK Steel Corp.'s plant in Butler approved a six-year contract Friday that raises wages an average 9 percent to 10 percent in the first year, condenses 300 job classifications into seven and boosts health insurance co-payments, a union official said.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:45 AM
Administration rejects AFL-CIO call for China labor probe
Administration rejects AFL-CIO call for China labor probe
Source: Forbes
The Bush administration on Friday rejected a petition by American unions seeking an investigation into Chinese labor practices, arguing that there was evidence Chinese practices were improving.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:44 AM
University of California regents approve $1 million in improper pay for 60 top execs
UC regents approve $1 million in improper pay for 60 top execs
By Tanya Schevitz
About 60 top executives in the University of California system can keep more than $1 million they received in unauthorized extra compensation, the UC governing Board of Regents agreed Thursday. "The beneficiaries of this didn't do anything wrong, so...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:17 AM
United shuts gate on S.F.
United shuts gate on S.F.
By David Lazarus
After publicly flirting with the idea of moving its headquarters to San Francisco or Denver, United Airlines announced the other day that it'll stay in the Chicago area after all -- and score some very lucrative perks from Illinois officials. So San...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:06 AM
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Pension Deal Closer, but Hurdles Exist
Pension Deal Closer, but Hurdles Exist
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
Congressional negotiators have reached a preliminary oral agreement on a long-awaited package of amendments to overhaul the nation’s pension system.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:26 PM
Weekly jobless claims decline (AP)
Weekly jobless claims decline (AP)
AP - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits posted a big decline last week, reflecting fewer layoffs in the auto industry.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:21 PM
Hotels propose fewer benefits for new workers
Hotels propose fewer benefits for new workers
By George Raine
Negotiators for 13 hotels in San Francisco have offered workers a contract proposal in which new hires will have to work five years to be eligible for the level of health care current workers have -- a two-tier system union officials predict will be rejected
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:23 AM
Intel profit plunges, layoffs loom / Chipmaker also trims forecast for current quarter
Intel profit plunges, layoffs loom / Chipmaker also trims forecast for current quarter
By Tom Abate
Intel Corp. hinted at future layoffs Wednesday, as the microprocessor giant reported its biggest three-month profit drop in more than four years. Under pressure from an increasingly competitive Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Santa Clara's Intel reported...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:59 AM
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Immigration Enforcement Benefits Prison Firms
Immigration Enforcement Benefits Prison Firms
By MEREDITH KOLODNER
Private prison operators are jockeying for a bigger piece of the growing business of detaining immigrants.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:27 PM
Airlines still downsizing
Airlines still downsizing
The U.S. airline industry has not been the most stable workplace in recent years, statistics released Tuesday show. Continuing a downward slide, U.S. passenger airlines employed 5 percent fewer employees in May of this year compared with last year, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:26 PM
Minnesota reports job gains
Minnesota reports job gains
Minnesota added 14,700 jobs in June, capping a quarter of strong job growth that exceeded the fast pace the state experienced in the 1990s.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:25 PM
NWA lobbies for pension bill
NWA lobbies for pension bill
Congress must soon give Northwest Airlines more time to make payments to its massively underfunded pension plans, the airline warned Tuesday, or Northwest may start terminating the plans next month.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:24 PM
Italy police free Polish 'slaves'
Italy police free Polish 'slaves'
In BBC Europe
Italian police free some 100 Poles they say were "kept in a state of slavery" in forced labour camps.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:22 PM
Judge rejects state's Wal-Mart law
Judge rejects state's Wal-Mart law
Measure requiring more spending for health care said to violate federal lawA federal judge in Baltimore struck down a state law today that sought to require retailing giant Wal-Mart to boost spending for employee health care, saying the legislation violated a federal law that promotes uniform treatment of employers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:19 PM
House immigration hearing blasts Senate measure / Republican, Democratic ire, and actions at local levels indicate foes' rising tide
House immigration hearing blasts Senate measure / Republican, Democratic ire, and actions at local levels indicate foes' rising tide
By Carolyn Lochhead
A House hearing called "Should We Embrace the Senate's Grant of Amnesty to Millions of Illegal Aliens and Repeat the Mistakes of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986?" produced vivid warnings Tuesday about the Senate's version of a comprehensive...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:15 PM
Wal-Mart and its critics slam each other on the web
Wal-Mart and its critics slam each other on the web
Source: AP
The brawl between Wal-Mart and its union critics is escalating as groups on both sides, fighting over whether the world's largest retailer is good or bad, launched attack-style Web sites maligning each other's motives and politics.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:11 PM
How Wal-Mart hurt our feelings
How Wal-Mart hurt our feelings
Source: ABunchofGreedyRightWingLiarsWhoWorkforWal-Mart
So here we are, 16 months since the launch of America's campaign to change Wal-Mart. With a national debate raging about whether or not Wal-Mart is good for America and with the WakeUpWalMart.com movement growing to more than 246,000 supporters, it comes to this - Wal-Mart launches its very own personal attack website (yikes, it seems like someone is angry!).
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:10 PM
Firms unionized overseas resist U.S. organizing
Firms unionized overseas resist U.S. organizing
Source: WSJ Summary only. Full article available for WSJ subscribers only
Several large U.S. unions are increasingly targeting subsidiaries of foreign-based companies that have high unionization rates overseas, but they are finding stiff resistance instead of the more-receptive attitude they were hoping for.
The targeted multinationals say they support unions in general, but in some cases say they have problems with tactics employed by some U.S. unions. Many multinational companies also have economic incentives to resist U.S. unions. While health-care benefits are typically subsidized by governments elsewhere, such benefits in the U.S. are partly employer-paid, and unions generally push for even more.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:07 PM
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Washington June unemployment rate unchanged from May
June unemployment rate unchanged from May
Washington state employers added 3,800 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate remained unchanged from May at 5.1 percent, according to figures released this morning by the state's Employment Security Department.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:20 AM
Baseball begins to listen to sweatshop foes
Baseball begins to listen to sweatshop foes
Source: The Nation
At this year's All-Star Game in Pittsburgh, the party was crashed by a bull-headed group of about seventy activists determined to change the way the corporate game is played. The Pittsburgh Anti-Sweatshop Community Alliance (PASCA) held a spirited rally outside Tuesday's game at PNC Park followed by a march to Roberto Clemente Bridge. The procession was a celebration of something antisweatshop activists had never been able to claim with Major League Baseball: real progress.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:37 AM
Shortage of workers means Washington state berries going unpicked
Shortage of workers means state berries going unpicked
In Local News
A third of Jerry Dobbins' 155-acre strawberry crop rotted on the vine this year. His blueberry bushes are so heavy with fruit that the branches...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:28 AM
Alaska Airlines workers get raise
Alaska Airlines workers get raise
Alaska Airlines Inc. baggage handlers, ramp workers, customer-service agents and clerks approved new contracts that will raise pay and offer early retirement to some workers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:27 AM
Texas Hospitals Reflect the Debate on Immigration
Texas Hospitals Reflect the Debate on Immigration
By JULIA PRESTON
Public hospitals are facing an uneasy decision: demand immigration documents, or provide basic care to anyone.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:26 AM
British union calls for work dress-down to beat heat
Work dress-down call to beat heat
In BBC UK
A union calls for workers to be allowed to dress more casually, as temperatures continue to soar.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:21 AM
British Lecturers vote to take pay offer
Lecturers vote to take pay offer
In Education
University lecturers vote to accept a pay rise of 13.1% over three years, ending a long-running dispute.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:21 AM
Protesting workers held in Nepal
Protesting workers held in Nepal
InBBC South Asia
Nearly 100 former bonded labourers are arrested in Nepal after protesting in Kathmandu.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:20 AM
UK reaches deal over Airbus jobs
UK reaches deal over Airbus jobs
In Business
The UK government and plane maker Airbus agree a deal in principle that aims to safeguard 16,000 UK jobs.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:18 AM
Migrants stuck in Malta stand-off
Migrants stuck in Malta stand-off
In BBC Europe
Malta is refusing to allow African migrants aboard a Spanish trawler to dock.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:15 AM
More workers call wages inadequate, survey finds
More workers call wages inadequate, survey finds
But 50% of employers think pay is competitiveThe average worker hasn't seen a meaningful pay increase in three years, despite the economy's rebound, according to U.S. Labor Department data.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:14 AM
Nigeria: Labour Congress Backs Strike Over Retrenchments as Govt Raises Wages By 25 Percent
Nigeria: Labour Congress Backs Strike Over Retrenchments as Govt Raises Wages By 25 Percent
THE Federal Government plans to raise civil servants' salaries by 25 per cent from January next year, even as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), yesterday, expressed support for the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council (JNPSNC) to embark on a national strike should the Federal Government fail to halt the mass sack in the public service.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:12 AM
June output, capacity use up more than expected (Reuters)
June output, capacity use up more than expected (Reuters)
Reuters - Output at U.S. factories, mines and utilities rose by a bigger-than-expected 0.8 percent in June and capacity use also topped expectations, a report showed on Monday in a sign that a hot economy could weigh on an inflation-wary Federal Reserve.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:11 AM
Poor pay more for services, study says / S.F. has high density of check cashers
Poor pay more for services, study says / S.F. has high density of check cashers
By Leslie Fulbright
Low-income residents of 13 cities across the nation pay extra for many everyday services, sometimes thousands of dollars more over a whole year, a study to be released today shows. By taking out higher-interest mortgages, shopping at rent-to-own...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:07 AM
N.Y. Times to Reduce Page Size, Cut Jobs
N.Y. Times to Reduce Page Size, Cut Jobs
The New York Times Co. plans to reduce the width of its flagship newspaper by an inch and a half and close a printing plant in Edison, N.J., resulting in the loss of about 250 jobs, the company announced Tuesday. The reduction in width will bring the...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:04 AM
New York City labor pact OKs Long Island living
City labor pact OKs Long Island living
Source: NY Daily News
At a City Hall announcement with DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts and other union leaders, Bloomberg hailed the pact "as a good, fair contract" that sets the "framework" for negotiations with the remaining two-thirds of the city's 300,000 municipal employees.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:01 AM
A bid to get religion? Wal-Mart hires ex-nun: Firm seeks to address critical areas
A bid to get religion? Wal-Mart hires ex-nun: Firm seeks to address critical areas
Source: Washington Post
The world's largest retailer has hired Harriet Hentges, a former nun and foreign conflict mediator, to help steer the company's policies on the environment, health care and labor relations -- three areas where Wal-Mart's public image has suffered.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:00 AM
Honda Uses Ice-Making Plant to Cool Workers
Honda Uses Ice-Making Plant to Cool Workers
By By JAMES HANNAH, Associated Press Writer
Keeping Honda Motor Co.'s research facility in this western Ohio village cool in the middle of a heat wave without breaking the bank is as simple as freezing water. The Japanese automaker makes ice at night and then melts it during the day to cool the...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 8:55 AM
San Francisco Hotel contract talks resuming / After a strike, a lockout and nearly 2 years without a pact, 2 sides try again to negotiate
Hotel contract talks resuming / After a strike, a lockout and nearly 2 years without a pact, 2 sides try again to negotiate
By George Raine
Contract negotiators for 13 San Francisco hotels and the union that represents their workers are scheduled to resume talks today about wages and other economic matters that they have been unable to reach agreement on for nearly two years. The employers...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 8:23 AM
Monday, July 17, 2006
WTO Plan Reshapes Vietnam's Economy
WTO Plan Reshapes Vietnam's Economy
By Alan Sipress
HANOI -- A pair of eager workers gaze skyward from a billboard at the main gate of the Hanoi Textile and Garment Co., arms raised in proletarian zeal, a tableau of industry unfolding behind them. Bold slogans across the bottom urge worker solidarity and diligent labor.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:55 PM
U.S. Border Town, 1,200 Miles From The Border
U.S. Border Town, 1,200 Miles From The Border
By Dale Russakoff
DALTON, Ga. -- Jerry Nelson steered his grocery cart out of the Wal-Mart on a recent night, fuming about globalization, Southern style. "Another great night at the Mexican Wal-Mart," he groused to no one in particular. Dalton may be 1,200 miles from Mexico, but it is in many ways a border... To...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:54 PM
Democrats hope minimum wage push pays off
Democrats hope minimum wage push pays off
By Edward Epstein
House Democrats' election-year persistence in trying to force a vote on raising the federal minimum wage for the first time in almost a decade looks as if it could bear fruit. The Democrats have seized on the issue, which polls show is overwhelmingly...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:52 PM
AS WAGES STAY THE SAME, THE RENT GOES UP
AS WAGES STAY THE SAME, THE RENT GOES UP
The average rent in Miami-Dade County rose 20 percent in four years but wages stayed nearly flat, worsening the gap between what workers earn and where they can afford to live, according to a county housing report.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:30 PM
`Who takes care of the workers in this city?'
`Who takes care of the workers in this city?'
Frazzled, sweating and four months pregnant, Martha Pomare sat down for a minute, leaned forward in her chair and rested her head in her hands.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:29 PM
UK: Bosses to be sacked, firm's assets seized if found to be employing illegal workers
UK: Bosses to be sacked, firm's assets seized if found to be employing illegal workers
LabourStart headline - Source: Independent
The hardline proposals to deal with illegal immigrants would mean that business leaders could be dismissed and their firm's assets seized if they are found to be employing illegal workers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:27 PM
Weighing job offers? Compare their retirement plans, too
Weighing job offers? Compare their retirement plans, too
Like couples who are loath to discuss estate planning before the wedding, workers often fail to study retirement plans as they consider a new job.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:26 PM
UAW: Delphi strike still possible
UAW: Delphi strike still possible
DEARBORN, Mich. -- United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said the union had made little progress in recent talks with Delphi Corp. and that a strike still was a possibility.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:24 PM
Absence 'falls among UK workers'
Absence 'falls among UK workers'
In Business
Absences among UK workers fell last year a survey says, but sparks an angry public sector reaction.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:17 PM
Namibia: Lack of Skills Stunts Business Growth
Namibia: Lack of Skills Stunts Business Growth
AllAfrica.com
A deficit of technical and managerial skills continues to stunt growth and expansion of business in Namibia.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:11 PM
Zimbabwe: End Strike, Doctors Told
Zimbabwe: End Strike, Doctors Told
AllAfrica.com
GOVERNMENT has ordered striking intern doctors at Parirenyatwa and Harare hospitals to immediately return to work while their grievances are being addressed. The doctors started boycotting their duties last week after being informed about their impending deployment to district hospitals for a year.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:09 PM
Kenya: Recruitment - Thousands of Teachers Could Be Locked Out
Kenya: Recruitment - Thousands of Teachers Could Be Locked Out
AllAfrica.com
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) said it would give preference to teachers with registration certificates to fill the 7,332 vacancies in learning institutions. Teachers are deemed registered when they are licensed to teach by the commission, which issues them with registration numbers following the payment of a Sh500 fee. The fee was raised from Sh10 early this year following the introduction of a new code of regulations.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:07 PM
Sierra Leone: What Women Gain Out of Diamonds?
Sierra Leone: What Women Gain Out of Diamonds?
AllAfrica.com
In Koidu town the Programme for Women's Association (PROWA) is the only organisation trying to provide young women with skills training as an alternative to sexual slavery.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:07 PM
Group is pushing to raise pilots' retirement age to 65
Group is pushing to raise pilots' retirement age to 65
Source: The Hill
From the time it was imposed in 1959, a federal requirement that airline pilots retire at age 60 has been controversial, particularly from the perspective of older members of cockpit crews. Airlines at the time saw an economic benefit to the new rule, according to a Senate synopsis. It was cheaper to hire young pilots out of the military who had trained on new jet technology than retrain commercial pilots experienced in piston-powered flight.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:03 PM
UAW may have to turn to the South
UAW may have to turn to the South
Source: Chicago Tribune
As Jeremy Kimbrell watches thousands of United Auto Workers lose their jobs to plant closings at General Motors and Ford, he finds a silver lining.The workers aren't to blame, says Kimbrell, a pro-union activist at a non-union Mercedes-Benz plant near Tuscaloosa, Ala. "Their customers took a different route and went for more fuel-efficient vehicles.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:02 PM
Meatpacker's Treatment of Workers and Animals: Not Kosher
Meatpacker's Treatment of Workers and Animals: Not Kosher
Source: Confined Space
Washington Post reports that two Conservative Jewish organizations have created a task force to investigate the problems at the plant: A month after the [Forward] piece ran May 26, the Rabbinical Assembly and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism launched a fact-finding study to find out what wrongs, if any, are being committed at the plant in Postville, Iowa.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:01 PM
Boomers will change America again, by retiring
Boomers will change America again, by retiring
Source: Seattle Times
All experts agree that the sheer size of the baby-boom generation — one-fourth of all U.S. citizens today — will be felt, for better or for worse. It has been felt since their first breaths.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:59 PM
California State employee union ratifies $500 million deal
State union ratifies $500 million deal
Source: Palm Springs Desert Sun
The largest state employees union has ratified what union officials called their biggest contract ever, a package that could be worth $500 million over three years. The contract was approved by 94 percent of Service Employees International Union Local 1000's 85,000 members after a monthlong vote, the union said Saturday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:57 PM
Kauai Nurses, management to resume talks
Nurses, management to resume talks
Source: Lihue Garden Island
Wilcox Hospital and its striking nurses are scheduled to resume negotiations Monday for the first time in three weeks. Leaders for the union and Wilcox Memorial Hospital got the word from a federal mediator earlier this week that the two sides would meet on Monday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:56 PM
A new tone on concessions for New York City
A new tone on concessions
Source: NY Times
If Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had any motto in negotiations with the city’s unions, it was that the unions had to agree to money-saving concessions to help finance their raises. But in reaching a tentative contract on Wednesday with the city’s largest municipal union, District Council 37, Mr. Bloomberg appeared to have scrapped that motto.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:54 PM
Wal-Mart sends employees to search for bomb rather than evacuating them
Wal-Mart sends employees to search for bomb rather than evacuating them
source: Union-Network Org
Wal-Mart has scored new low points when it sent some forty Canadian employees to look for a bomb in a store instead of evacuating the premises. This followed a bomb threat received at a Wal-Mart store some 60 km from Montreal, in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
According to the Canada.com network, the story came out as a young employee, shaken by the incident, told her mother about it. She then complained both to Wal-Mart, and to the media.
Canadian newspapers reported yesterday that many store workers were indeed traumatised by having to stay behind, searching for a bomb, together with police, rather than leaving their workplace together with the evacuated customers. The store manager's comments that any worker who wanted could have left is a poor defence. Who would really have dared to do this in Wal-Mart, with its track record of brutal employer behaviour?
This latest incident is of course incredible, but not really surprising. We remember how Wal-Mart used to lock in workers in their store overnight, in an apparent attempt to make sure that merchandise is not lost. Also here, the Bentonville multinational acted differently: Normally, a retailer gives absolute priority to the safety of its workers, not to defending its property.
Luckily, there was no bomb in the Canadian Wal-Mart store. But there could have been one.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:52 PM
IPOD'S CHILDREN / China's young make them, America's youth buy them -- Apple probes work conditions
IPOD'S CHILDREN / China's young make them, America's youth buy them -- Apple probes work conditions
By Kathleen E. McLaughlin
Lunchtime arrives and hundreds of young, weary workers in company shirts flood through factory gates and out into the sweltering southern air. Most are migrants in their own country. Born poor in rural China, they have come to this manufacturing mecca...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:42 PM
Flight Attendants, Northwest Reach Deal
Flight Attendants, Northwest Reach Deal
A union official said flight attendants have reached a tentative agreement with Northwest Airlines...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:41 PM
Along Part of the Border, A Zero-Tolerance Zone
Along Part of the Border, A Zero-Tolerance Zone
By Sylvia Moreno
DEL RIO, Tex. -- On June 1, the three Ordaz-Valtierra brothers from Mexico illegally crossed the Rio Grande with the same dream that so many other Latin American immigrants have: head north from the border, get jobs and start sending money home.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:32 AM
Friday, July 14, 2006
Romney's minimum wage decision could have national implications
Romney's minimum wage decision could have national implications
Source: Boston Globe
The Democratic-controlled Legislature in Massachusetts also handed the Republican governor a bill that would eventually raise the state's minimum wage to $8 per hour, resurrecting an issue that Romney has thus far managed to hold at bay.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:17 PM
US immigration overhaul given less than even odds (Reuters)
US immigration overhaul given less than even odds (Reuters)
Reuters - U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Friday gave less than even odds that Congress would pass an immigration law overhaul before the November congressional elections.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:31 PM
5 decades at Ford
5 decades at Ford
Two weeks after Ralph Knudson started working on the assembly line at the Ford Motor Co. plant in St. Paul, managers warned him. "They told me maybe I should look for something else because they were probably going to shut this place down," he said.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:27 AM
PACIFIC COAST / More relief squeezed from Senate for salmon fishers
PACIFIC COAST / More relief squeezed from Senate for salmon fishers
By Zachary Coile
California and Oregon lawmakers on Thursday persuaded Senate appropriators to approve $10 million in relief for West Coast salmon fishermen who are reeling financially from the nearly complete closure of the fishery by the federal government. The...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:09 AM
Latinos forge political unity from immigrant rights rallies
Latinos forge political unity from immigrant rights rallies
By Tyche Hendricks
Pro-immigrant marches this spring and the nation's ongoing immigration policy debate have unified and politically energized Latinos, according to a national survey conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington, D.C. For the first time since the...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:08 AM
University and nurses union compromise on retirement
University and nurses union compromise on retirement
Source: Daily Californian
The parties resolved the first of several issues Wednesday after mediation talks, agreeing to make no changes to the existing health benefits plan. Three other issues that await settlement in talks are a meal and break schedule, wage increases and a health insurance plan for nurses in 2007.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:05 AM
For day laborers, a new day
For day laborers, a new day
Source: Wall Street Journal
Three months ago, about 120 immigrants who solicit work along a sun-drenched road in this town outside Los Angeles decided among themselves to only accept work for a minimum hourly wage of $15 -- about $2.50 higher than the previous, informal rate. "What they have here is the essence of a union," says Pablo Alvarado, national coordinator of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, who supervised the workers' roadside vote.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:02 AM
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Claims for jobless benefits up to 332,000 (AP)
Claims for jobless benefits up to 332,000 (AP)
AP - The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week, apparently reflecting the spring slowdown in the economy.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:04 PM
Wal-Mart singled out as anti-union by Chinese union leader: New legislation may be needed to secure the rights of workers in all foreign enterprises
Wal-Mart singled out as anti-union by Chinese union leader: New legislation may be needed to secure the rights of workers in all foreign enterprises
Source: UNI
Wang Zhaoguo, China's top trade union leader, has expressed serious concern over low trade union organising rates in the country's fast growing foreign enterprise sector. In a statement published on Thursday by the Xinhua news agency, Wang pointed at Wal-Mart as a particularly bad example when it comes to respecting the right of workers to unionise.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:02 PM
British University unions back pay deal
University unions back pay deal
Source: BBC
Universities say support staff unions have voted overwhelmingly in favour of a three-year pay settlement. They said Amicus, the T&G and Unison had told them that more than 93% of their members were in favour of the offer of a total increase of 13.1%.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:00 PM
STANFORD / Transsexual tackles sexism in sciences
STANFORD / Transsexual tackles sexism in sciences
By Keay Davidson
The debate over men's and women's roles in scientific research is drawing insights from an unusually well-qualified source, a Stanford scientist who has lived on both sides of the gender fence -- Ben A. Barres, a female-to-male transsexual. In January...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:58 PM
Tyson Trims 850 Jobs in Effort to Save
Tyson Trims 850 Jobs in Effort to Save
Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat company, said Thursday it would cut 850 positions to help trim $200 million in costs as it tries to boost profit amid slower sales of beef, chicken and pork The savings goal is up from the $110 million pledged...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:56 PM
Intel to Slash 1,000 Management Jobs
Intel to Slash 1,000 Management Jobs
By By DAN GOODIN, AP Technology Writer
Intel Corp. is cutting 1,000 management jobs as the chip maker tries to become more efficient amid stiff competition and weaker demand for personal computers. The reduction, which will take several days to be carried out, is the latest action in a...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:56 PM
Leaders of city workers union in New York announce deal
Leaders of Huge N.Y. Union Announce Deal
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
The Bloomberg administration and the city’s largest municipal union, District Council 37, reached a tentative 32-month contract late Wednesday that ends a residency requirement and provides a raise of more than 10 percent. Two union leaders, who insisted on anonymity because the agreement is not scheduled to be announced until Monday, said the deal contained no concessions. Voicing concerns about spiraling pension costs, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had demanded concessions on pensions so that future hires would receive lower pensions than current workers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:53 PM
Global: Trade union statement to the G8 Saint-Petersburg Summit
Global: Trade union statement to the G8 Saint-Petersburg Summit
LabourStart headline - Source: UNI
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:52 PM
Swaziland: Diversify Or Die - Economists Warn
Swaziland: Diversify Or Die - Economists Warn
AllAfrica.com
According to a Central Bank of Swaziland analyst: "Ten years ago, we put all our eggs into one basket - garment and textile manufacturing. Tens of thousands of jobs opened up. But the contraction has been just as dramatic. We need to court investors in all fields."
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:49 PM
Disney reportedly will cut jobs, film output
Disney reportedly will cut jobs, film output
In StarTribune.com Business
Walt Disney Co. will substantially reduce its workforce and slash its annual output of films from 18 to eight -- cutbacks greater than Hollywood had anticipated, Daily Variety reported Wednesday. The Hollywood trade paper said that all the movies will be Disney-branded, suggesting diminished roles for its Touchstone label, and that a Disney announcement was expected within 10 days. Burbank, Calif.-based Disney, basking in the glow of a record $135.6 million debut weekend box office for "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," wouldn't discuss the report. Disney's move reflects a trend in
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:11 PM
Employers see costs drop for big-deductible health plans
Employers see costs drop for big-deductible health plans
In StarTribune.com Business
People who have high-deductible health coverage plans are less likely to use the emergency room and have fewer hospital admissions than people with traditional coverage. They also are more likely to regularly visit their primary care doctor for free preventive checkups. Those are among the findings of a three-year study, released Wednesday by UnitedHealth Group Inc., of so-called consumer-driven health care plans. The plans feature accounts from which consumers pay for medical services until they've paid their full deductibles, and catastrophic insurance kicks in. The study, one of the large
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:10 PM
Washington state to pay $30 million to settle salary dispute
State to pay $30 million to settle salary dispute
In News
OLYMPIA -- The state has agreed to pay about $30 million to settle a lawsuit that accused the state government of paying unequal salaries to workers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:06 PM
Washington Mutual plans to cut 900 more jobs in U.S.
Wamu plans to cut 900 more jobs in U.S.
Washington Mutual announces 900 more job cuts around the country.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:04 PM
Report Shows Quick Growth in New York Since 9/11
Report Shows Quick Growth in New York Since 9/11
By PATRICK McGEEHAN
New York City’s economy bounced back after Sept. 11 with surprising speed and is much healthier now than its slow-growing job market indicates.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:03 PM
Out of College, but Now Living in Urban Dorms
Out of College, but Now Living in Urban Dorms
By JANNY SCOTT
A 60-unit building in Harlem has become a sort of dorm for the overeducated and underpaid in New York City.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:01 PM
Democrats Link Fortunes to Rise in Minimum Wage
Democrats Link Fortunes to Rise in Minimum Wage
By EDMUND L. ANDREWS
The party’s campaign to raise the minimum wage and focus attention on income inequality is playing a role in states where Republicans are vulnerable.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:58 AM
Migrants' scant hopes for summit
Migrants' scant hopes for summit
In BBC Africa
Alix Kroeger meets migrants in Rabat as a conference on African migration to Europe closes.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:47 AM
Maryland: Base realignment bringing jobs, costs
Base realignment bringing jobs, costs
Towson Univ. study forecasts impact across Md. of military buildupThe Pentagon's military base realignment will swell Maryland's population by roughly 28,000 households over the next decade, a Towson University report predicts, in what some economists suggest will be the biggest defense-related buildup in the Baltimore-Washington region since World War II.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:44 AM
Claims for jobless benefits jump by 19,000 (AP)
Claims for jobless benefits jump by 19,000 (AP)
AP - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week, apparently reflecting the spring slowdown in the economy.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:34 AM
New Zealand 90 Day Bill will be a "life shock" for families
90 Day Bill will be a "life shock" for families
Source: NDU
"Under National's proposed legislation, you could be fired after 90 days without reason or the right to challenge it," said Ms Harre. "If it's impossible to challenge the reason for being fired, you would face a longer stand down for a benefit and would have to declare your dismissal at your next job interview, which would lower your chance of getting a new job."
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:33 AM
British Steelworkers await pension ruling
Steelworkers await pension ruling
Source: BBC
The campaign by former Allied Steel and Wire (ASW) workers for compensation over lost pensions has suffered a blow at the European Court of Justice. The court's advocate general has ruled that the UK government is not breaking EU law by failing to compensate them.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:30 AM
Top court turns down Wal-Mart -- cities can ban big-box stores / Justices decline to take up appeal of Turlock ordinance
Top court turns down Wal-Mart -- cities can ban big-box stores / Justices decline to take up appeal of Turlock ordinance
By Bob Egelko
The California Supreme Court rejected Wal-Mart's appeal Wednesday of a ruling that allows cities and counties in the state to outlaw big-box superstores. The April 5 ruling by the Court of Appeal in Fresno upheld an ordinance enacted in 2004 by Turlock...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:23 AM
Unions object to Delphi executive bonus plan
Unions object to Delphi executive bonus plan
Source: Reuters
Unions representing hourly workers at bankrupt auto parts supplier Delphi Corp. on Wednesday objected to the company's plans to extend an executive bonus program to the second half of 2006.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:21 AM
Employers may have tough time replacing retiring boomers; Comes as no surprise to unions
Employers may have tough time replacing retiring boomers; Comes as no surprise to unions
Source: Newsday
An exodus of retiring baby boomers from the work force over the next several years means places like schools and hospitals will be hanging out help-wanted signs. But with a coinciding flight of 20- and 30-somethings from upstate, getting enough people to answer may be a challenge, according to a report released Wednesday by the Buffalo branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:20 AM
Grounded by layoffs, staying there by choice: Many furloughed pilots decline airline recall offers
Grounded by layoffs, staying there by choice: Many furloughed pilots decline airline recall offers
Source: Washington Post
Now, airlines are starting to call pilots back to work. Most of the legacy carriers, the airlines that dominated the industry before the era of budget carriers, are struggling to make a profit or emerge from bankruptcy protection. Pilots are working longer hours and taking steep salary cuts to help keep their airlines afloat. Some are away from home for 22 days a month, up from the 15 or 16 of a few years ago.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:18 AM
US Defense dept. switching more workers to National Security Personnel System; Unions have sued to stop NSPS implementation
Defense switching more workers to NSPS; Unions have sued to stop NSPS implementation
Source: Washington Post
About 66,000 Defense Department civil service employees will make up the second wave of workers converting to a new personnel system that more closely ties pay raises to occupations, locations and job performance, the Pentagon announced yesterday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:16 AM
Northwest Airline Attendants union plans 'chaos' tactic
Attendants union plans 'chaos' tactic
Source: St. Paul Pioneer-Press
The new union for Northwest Airlines flight attendants is already trying to show how tough it can be. It says it's launching a campaign to school flight attendants in how to create "chaos" for the airline with sporadic strikes.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:15 AM
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Qantas jobs fly overseas: union
Qantas jobs fly overseas: union
Source: The Australian
The airline is reviewing narrow-body maintenance in Melbourne and expects to make a decision within three months on whether that work, employing 450 people, will remain in Australia or be shifted to a cheaper country. Many airlines are shifting jobs to countries such as China, where labour is cheaper.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:27 PM
Push to bring in overseas truckies, farmhands reignites debate on importing unskilled workers to Australia
Push to bring in overseas truckies, farmhands reignites debate on importing unskilled workers
Source: The Australian
FOREIGN truck drivers and farmhands could be brought to Australia as part of an overhaul of the guest-worker program designed to address chronic skills shortages.
The Immigration Department is reviewing the system of classifying occupations covered by the skilled migration program and is under pressure from employer groups to open the program to semi-skilled workers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:25 PM
Workers confused about employment arrangements: many wrongly assuming they have already signed Australian Workplace Agreements
Workers confused about employment arrangements: many wrongly assuming they have already signed Australian Workplace Agreements
Source: The Australian
A Roy Morgan survey, to be released today, found 17 per cent of workers believed they had signed an AWA. However, official statistics published by the Office of the Employment Advocate show individual agreements have been taken up by only 4 per cent of the workforce.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:24 PM
GOP joins symbolic vote on minimum wage (AP)
GOP joins symbolic vote on minimum wage (AP)
AP - Democrats gained some traction in their election-year campaign to raise the minimum wage Wednesday when 64 Republicans joined in a symbolic vote supporting more money for the nation's lowest-paid workers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:15 PM
GOP schedules more immigration hearings (AP)
GOP schedules more immigration hearings (AP)
AP - House Republican leaders are scheduling a new round of immigration hearings, saying three already held have strengthened their case for enforcement-heavy legislation.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:13 PM
World Business Briefing | Europe: Switzerland: Reinsurer to Cut More Jobs
World Business Briefing Europe: Switzerland: Reinsurer to Cut More Jobs
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
The Swiss Reinsurance Company, the largest reinsurer in the world, will cut as many as 2,000 jobs, or 17 percent of its work force, after the purchase of the reinsurance unit of General Electric. Swiss Re, which is based in Zurich, said the reductions would affect employees in Zurich; London; Munich; Armonk, N.Y.; and Kansas City, Mo. In January, the company said the purchase of GE Insurance Solutions, based in Kansas City, would result in the loss of as many as 1,700 jobs. Swiss Re surpassed Munich Re as the largest reinsurer last month after completing the $7.4 billion purchase of the G.E. unit.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:49 PM
In Southern Florida Blacks urged to discuss immigration
Blacks urged to discuss immigration
Union leaders, politicians and professionals urged members of South Florida's black communities to take part in the ongoing debate on U.S. immigration reform.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:47 PM
Immigrant arrivals at 25-year high in Minnesota
Immigrant arrivals at 25-year high
More than 15,000 immigrants arrived in Minnesota last year, more than in any of the previous 25 years, the state Department of Administration said Tuesday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:35 PM
China: Injured migrant workers network spreading
http://www.union-network.org/uniflashes.nsf/58f61ccf5875fe90c12567bb005642f9/cbe438b65cbc22acc12571a9004d9a2f?OpenDocument
Rong Xia is a migrant worker on China's Pearl River Delta. An accident with a circular saw in his factory meant 40 days in hospital and left him with a permanent reminder - a missing finger. Now he is a volunteer helping in a project that aims to reach out to other migrant workers to advise them on their rights, to network and to visit other injured workers in hospital as they recover.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:29 PM
UK jobless level at six-year high
UK jobless level at six-year high
In Business
The number of people out of work in the UK has hit its highest level for six years, official figures show.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:20 PM
Iberia pilots end strike action
Iberia pilots end strike action
In Business
Pilots at Spanish airline Iberia call off a strike which had grounded flights and cost the firm 5m euros a day.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:20 PM
Senegal migrant song hits net
Senegal migrant song hits net
In BBC Africa
A song castigating Senegal's government for forcing young people to risk their lives to seek their fortunes abroad is an internet hit.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:49 PM
British Shop workers face daily abuse
Shop workers face daily abuse
Source: BBC
Up to half a million shop workers suffer verbal abuse every day, a report by the retail union Usdaw suggests.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:42 PM
British Unions angered by lack of talks over plan for MG cars to be built in USA
Unions angered by lack of talks over plan for MG cars to be built in USA
Source: BBC
The MG car, formerly built at the Rover plant in Longbridge in Birmingham, is to be built at a new factory in the US. MG Rover's new owner, Nanjing Automobile, has said it plans to build a new assembly plant in Oklahoma.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:41 PM
British Rail workers to strike in pay row
Rail workers to strike in pay row
Source: Reuters
Thousands of railway workers are to strike later this month in a long-running pay dispute, their union said on Wednesday. Members of the country's biggest rail union, the RMT, will walk out for 24 hours at noon on July 21 and again for two days from July 27, a spokesman said.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:39 PM
Namibia: Firms in Hot Water Over Affirmative Action
Namibia: Firms in Hot Water Over Affirmative Action
AllAfrica.com
THE Employment Equity Commission has laid criminal charges against more than 200 Namibian companies for failing to comply with the law.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:05 PM
Colorado OKs curbs on illegal immigrants, employers / Some state services will be unavailable to undocumented
Colorado OKs curbs on illegal immigrants, employers / Some state services will be unavailable to undocumented
By T.R. Reid
Ending a bitterly divisive special session of the General Assembly, Colorado's Republican Gov. Bill Owens cut a deal with Democratic leaders on a package of bills to deny some state services to illegal immigrants and to punish employers who hire them....
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:01 PM
Minimum-pay boost sought in big Spokane stores
Minimum-pay boost sought in big Spokane stores
SPOKANE -- The City Council has agreed to let a group begin collecting signatures for an initiative that would require large retail stores inside the city to raise their workers' minimum wage.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:56 PM
Protecting workers' rights
Protecting workers' rights
Source: Boston Globe
VANISHING retirement security. Rising healthcare costs. Gas prices north of $3 a gallon. Workers in every industry are feeling the crunch of an increasingly harsh economy. As if it weren't difficult enough for working families to make ends meet, the Bush administration's National Labor Relations Board is poised to issue a series of decisions that could take away the one avenue to economic security left for many of America's workers: the freedom to form and join unions.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:34 PM
California Nurses protest move to narrow union roles
Nurses protest move to narrow union roles
Source: San Jose Mercury-News
More than 400 nurses rallied Tuesday in downtown Oakland, hoping to prevent a legal decision they said could sharply restrict union membership and limit the power of the influential California Nurses Association and other labor groups.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:27 PM
Hockey union's summer meetings kick off with chill in air
Hockey union's summer meetings kick off with chill in air
Source: ESPN
Trevor Linden said he will not seek re-election as president of the NHL players' association, and a group of players continued to press for Ted Saskin to be removed as executive director at the start of the union's summer meetings Tuesday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:25 PM
Target: Wal-Mart Lite
Target: Wal-Mart Lite
Source: Corpwatch
Shopping in a Target store, you know you’re not in Wal-Mart. But the differences may be mostly skin deep. “People ask what the difference between Wal-Mart and Target is,” said UFCW organizer Bernie Hesse. “Nothing, except that Wal-Mart is six times bigger. The wages start at $7.25 to $7.50 an hour [at Target]. They’ll say that’s a competitive wage, but they can’t say it’s a living wage. We know a lot of their managers are telling people, ‘If we find out you’re involved in organizing a union you’ll get fired.’”
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:16 PM
Amid massive protests FTA talks finding common ground on handling labor disputes
Amid massive protests FTA talks finding common ground on handling labor disputes
Source: Korea Herald
Korea and the United States have made significant progress in the area of labor by finding common ground on handling labor disputes during the third day of the free trade agreement talks here yesterday, Seoul officials said. azsrzlnp
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:15 PM
Massive anti-FTA protests paralyze Seoul
Massive anti-FTA protests paralyze Seoul
Source: Chosun Ilbo
A coalition of anti-FTA groups bringing together some 300 groups including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union gathered in different parts of the capital from 2 p.m. Some 25,000 marched to Seoul Plaza at 4 p.m
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:13 PM
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Labor fears ruling in Massachusetts could hurt efforts to organize
Labor fears ruling could hurt efforts to organize
By Diane E. Lewis, Globe Staff
Massachusetts labor leaders are awaiting a decision that could level a powerful blow to labor's organizing efforts in the rapidly growing retail and healthcare industries.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:33 PM
BBC employees face strike vote
BBC employees face strike vote
In Entertainment
Unions are to ballot 10,000 BBC employees on strike action over wages and pensions at the corporation.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:29 PM
In Britain more vacancies for new graduates
More vacancies for new graduates
In Education
Graduates have the best chance for a decade of a job with a top employer in Britain, a survey suggests.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:27 PM
Wales Unions in assembly job cuts claim
Unions in assembly job cuts claim
In Wales
Some 1,200 Welsh assembly jobs could be lost in a drive to cut costs, civil service unions claim.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:27 PM
UK Union to decide on rail strikes
Union to decide on rail strikes
In UK
Rail union leaders are to decide whether to call a series of strikes by signal workers which are expected to cause travel chaos.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:26 PM
Countries agree migration plans
Countries agree migration plans
In Africa
European and African countries meeting in Morocco agree a declaration on how to tackle illegal immigration.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:20 PM
GM to close sole Portugal plant
GM to close sole Portugal plant
In Business
GM says 1,200 are to be lost when it closes its only plant in Portugal and transfers van assembly to Spain.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:19 PM
Britain: Rescue for T&N pension fund
Rescue for T&N pension fund
In Business
More than 35,000 Turner & Newall pension scheme members could be rescued by the Pension Protection Fund.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:18 PM
Iberia strikers face legal action
Iberia strikers face legal action
In Business
Spanish airline Iberia is to ask a court to declare a pilots' strike illegal if the two sides cannot reach a deal.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:16 PM
Chad: Poorest Suffer As Hospital Strike Enters Second Month
Chad: Poorest Suffer As Hospital Strike Enters Second Month
The poorest residents of the Chadian capital N'djamena are struggling to cope as a strike that has closed hospitals across the city enters a second month, and union and government leaders say they are still not ready to compromise.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:10 PM
Google Plans to Hire 1,000 in Michigan
Google Plans to Hire 1,000 in Michigan
By By DAVID N. GOODMAN, Associated Press Writer
Google Inc. plans to open a new facility in the Ann Arbor, Mich., area that will employ 1,000 people within five years to handle advertising generated by the search engine, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and company officials said Tuesday. The plan, which...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:47 PM
Monterey California hospitality workers barely eke out a living
Area's hospitality workers barely eke out a living
Source: Monterey Herald
Sal Sandoval, a bright, Seaside-grown 21-year-old with a hearty laugh, is leaving Monterey County.
He has worked at several Monterey Peninsula hotels as a houseman, a bellman and in room service. Sal is a second-generation hospitality worker, who saw his mother, Alicia, struggle for 16 years cleaning rooms at the Monterey Hilton to carve out a middle-class life for him and his siblings.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:45 PM
Monday, July 10, 2006
Airlines pressure Congress over pension bill
Airlines pressure Congress over pension bill
By Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bankrupt U.S. carriers Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines have stepped up pressure on Congress to finish pension legislation that would give them more time to fund plans that are billions of dollars in the red and in danger of termination.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:12 PM
ADP's error on job stats
ADP's error on job stats
By Kathleen Pender
Automatic Data Processing must be feeling like the rookie pitcher who steps to the mound his third inning in the big leagues and allows a grand slam. On Wednesday, ADP -- the big payroll-processing firm -- predicted the U.S. economy created 368,000...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:07 PM
Immigrants get chilly treatment in Milford / Small Massachusetts town, settled by Europeans, cracks down on waves of newcomers
Immigrants get chilly treatment in Milford / Small Massachusetts town, settled by Europeans, cracks down on waves of newcomers
By Anna Badkhen
In this working-class town built by immigrants from Europe generations ago, some locals have taken to calling the latest arrivals from overseas "the ladder people," for the cranes and ladders on the utility trucks they drive. Their unfurnished...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:02 PM
$50 million tab for furloughed New Jersey workers?
$50 million tab for furloughed NJ workers?
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
New Jersey government workers who were idled this week because of the state shutdown might end up with an extra week of paid vacation. Unions representing the 45,000 state workers ordered to stay home during the historic government shutdown are pushing for full pay for the lost workweek.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:36 PM
FedEx pilots like that deal over at UPS
FedEx pilots like that deal over at UPS
Source: Memphis Commercial-Appeal
As details of the tentative agreement between UPS and its pilots leak out -- including nearly 18 percent raises for captains -- pilots at FedEx Corp. are steeling themselves for a showdown. "There is no way we are going to accept less than what the UPS pilots have accomplished," said David Webb, chairman of the FedEx unit of the Air Line Pilots Association.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:35 PM
Court upholds vote to unionize held by Honeyville drivers
Court upholds vote to unionize held by Honeyville drivers
Source: Salt Lake City Tribune
A federal appeals court has ordered Utah-based Honeyville Grain to bargain with a union, even though organizers made personal attacks against the company owners' Mormon beliefs during an election campaign.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:34 PM
Seventh-day Adventist wins workplace case
Seventh-day Adventist wins workplace case
Source: Washington Post
A former UPS deliveryman was awarded more than $300,000 last week by a U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, Ark., that affirmed his right to religious accommodation to observe the Sabbath.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:33 PM
Day laborers, silent and despised, find their voice
Day laborers, silent and despised, find their voice
Source: NY Times
Illegal immigrants are a diverse bunch. There are about 12 million in this country, working in all industries and living in a range from middle class to working poor to something well below that. They are mostly Latino, but are Asian, African and Eastern European, too. The illegal Irish get a lot of press, but are just one tiny subset, a green sprig of parsley in the melting pot.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:32 PM
UPS pilots hear details of tentative deal
UPS pilots hear details of tentative deal
Source: Louisville Courier-Journal
About 500 UPS pilots turned out in Jeffersontown yesterday as their union explained details of a tentative agreement between the shipping company and 2,700 members of the Independent Pilots Association.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:31 PM
UC files charges against nurses' union
UC files charges against nurses' union
Source: UCLA Daily Bruin
The University of California has filed charges against a nurses' union, alleging the union was using unfair negotiating tactics during ongoing contract bargaining sessions.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:30 PM
Charles Krug winery fires union workers; UFW, labor relations board argue that company illegally refused to bargain over contract
Charles Krug winery fires union workers; UFW, labor relations board argue that company illegally refused to bargain over contract
Source: SF Chronicle
Thirty-six workers at Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena were fired Friday when their employer turned farming operations over to a land manager and severed ties with their labor union.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:28 PM
Workers at a local US-owned company threatening 2nd strike
Workers at a local US-owned company threatening 2nd strike
Source: Gulf Daily News
The workers, led by the Dyncorp Workers Trade Union (DWTU), have asked for Bahraini and Asian employees be given equal food allowance and the reinstatement of an annual 2.5 per cent pay rise in salaries for employees earning the minimum wage.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:27 PM
Tire plant workers share goodbyes; Hundreds lose their jobs at Continental Tire plant in Charlotte
Tire plant workers share goodbyes; Hundreds lose their jobs at Continental Tire plant in Charlotte
Source: Charlotte Observer
Continental Tire North America Inc. was once one of the Charlotte area's largest manufacturers, employing 1,450 workers in 1999. But executives say soaring operating costs and the faltering U.S. automotive industry had made Continental's factory off Westinghouse Boulevard its most expensive. For seven months, the company and the union bargained over steep pay cuts. But in late April, as the union's contract expired, managers abruptly ended negotiations.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:25 PM
France urges action for migrants
France urges action for migrants
In Africa
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy says Europe must not turn into a fortress against African migrants.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:21 PM
Job strike grounds Iberia flights
Job strike grounds Iberia flights
In Business
Iberia cancels more than 200 flights after pilots at the Spanish airline began a seven-day strike.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:17 PM
New York City and police lieutenants reach contract
City and police lieutenants reach contract
Source: NY Times
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the police lieutenants union announced an innovative contract settlement yesterday that calls for newly promoted lieutenants to work 13 extra days a year and for some senior lieutenants to work 12-hour shifts but far fewer days.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:58 PM
Court upholds mandatory arbitration to settle farm labor disputes
Court upholds mandatory arbitration to settle farm labor disputes
Source: San Luis Obispo Tribune
In a victory for unions, a state appeals court has upheld a 2002 state law that authorizes binding arbitration to settle long-stalled farm labor contract negotiations. The 2-1 ruling by the 3rd District Court of Appeal turned down a broad challenge to the law by the Hess Collection Winery of Napa. Among other arguments, the winery contended the statute violated the state and federal constitutions' equal protection clauses, interfered with contract rights, created economic protectionism and improperly delegated legislative authority.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:57 PM
Trade, grocery unions clash over Wal-Mart
Trade, grocery unions clash over Wal-Mart
Source: Long Island Business News
When it comes to building new stores, Wal-Mart is used to opposition. But its plans to relocate within Riverhead have created an unusual rift within Long Island’s typically solidified unions. One opposes it; others embrace it. “It’s a pingpong match … the tale of two unions,” said Riverhead Supervisor Phil Cardinale. It is “unusual, indeed precedent-setting, I think, that the two unions are at loggerheads about the application.” The unions’ quarrel centers on jobs.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:54 PM
Labor unions' popularity is growing
Labor unions' popularity is growing
Source: Detroit News
Why are unions so popular? Consider this: The UAW is a strong advocate of raising the federal minimum wage -- a position supported by 83 percent of those surveyed by the Pew Research Center in 2006. We're also strong advocates of single-payer national health insurance -- and the Pew Center found in 2005 that 65 percent of the public is in favor of a government guarantee of health care, even if it means higher taxes.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:52 PM
Black security officers march for freedom from poverty
Black security officers march for freedom from poverty
Source: SF Bay View
Hundreds of mostly Black security officers, joined by the NAACP, SCLC, elected leaders and community groups from South L.A. marched downtown on Friday to the Building Owners and Managers Association headquarters, protesting poverty conditions in the private security industry.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 1:51 PM
Friday, July 07, 2006
Southern Africa: Delegates Commit to Curbing Child Labour
Southern Africa: Delegates Commit to Curbing Child Labour
AllAfrica.com
The first Southern African conference on child labour has ended on a positive note with delegates committing themselves to getting national child labour action plans in place, in their respective countries.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:48 PM
PanAfrica: For First Time, 26 African Nations Join to Fight Human Trafficking
PanAfrica: For First Time, 26 African Nations Join to Fight Human Trafficking
AllAfrica.com
Delegates from 26 countries in the two regions who concluded a two-day meeting in the Nigerian capital on Friday, resolved to adopt "as quickly as possible, such legislative and other measures necessary" to combat trafficking in people in their countries.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:47 PM
Sierra Leone: Diamonds Not Always a Girl's Best Friend
Sierra Leone: Diamonds Not Always a Girl's Best Friend
AllAfrica.com
In Koidu the Programme for Women's Association (PROWA) is the only organisation trying to provide young women with skills training as an alternative to sex work.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:44 PM
Whither the Women?
Whither the Women?
By Nell Henderson
The trend was clear and consistent. Since the end of World War II and stretching to the start of the current millennium, the percentage of American women entering the labor force rose steadily, at a rate so fast that it offset the steady decline in participation by men.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:38 PM
Thailand: Poverty wages for women making World Cup footballs
Thailand: Poverty wages for women making World Cup footballs
LabourStart headline - Source: Thai Labour Campaign
A report released today by the Thai Labour Campaign (TLC) shows that workers at Molten (Thailand), a Japanese/Thai joint venture company producing the adidas Teamgeist (team spirit) football, in use during the current World Cup matches, earn as little as 173 baht per day (3.6 euros).
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:08 PM
Canada's Jobless rate steady at 6.1% in June
Jobless rate steady at 6.1% in June
By CBC
Job growth went flat in June as the country's unemployment rate held steady at 6.1 per cent, Statistics Canada said Friday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:57 AM
University of Texas Medical Branch layoff number at 720
UTMB layoff number at 720
The head of the University of Texas Medical Branch predicted that its plan to cut 1,000 jobs will require about 720 people to be laid off, with other reductions coming through attrition and transfers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:53 AM
Panel urges state pension overhaul in Massachusetts
Panel urges state pension overhaul
By Andrea Estes, Globe Staff
A commission created by the Legislature is recommending major changes to a public pension system that allows well connected state employees to get better benefits than their peers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:47 AM
Deal is set on Massachusetts minimum wage hike
Deal is set on minimum wage hike
By Russell Nichols, Globe Staff
The state minimum wage would increase to $8 an hour over the next two years under a deal reached yesterday by legislative negotiators that would provide raises to more than 300,000 workers and would probably give Massachusetts the highest rate in the country in 2008.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:46 AM
Katrina Evacuees Encounter Obstacles in Job Hunt
Evacuees Encounter Obstacles in Job Hunt
By By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press Writer
In the middle of a Tuesday afternoon, Katrina evacuee Samuel Smith sits on a donated futon and watches a borrowed television in a subsidized apartment the Federal Emergency Management Agency has provided for six months. The unemployed truck driver just...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:09 AM
Immigration hearings brought to border (AP)
Immigration hearings brought to border (AP)
AP - A House subcommittee traveling the country for hearings about illegal immigration is asking local law enforcement officials to explain the challenges they face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:39 AM
Budget woes hit Army posts nationwide (AP)
Budget woes hit Army posts nationwide (AP)
AP - A diversion of dollars to help fight the war in Iraq has helped create a $530 million shortfall for Army posts at home and abroad, leaving some unable to pay utility bills or even cut the grass.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:26 AM
Judge dismisses NYC firefighter's lawsuit (AP)
Judge dismisses NYC firefighter's lawsuit (AP)
AP - A judge has dismissed a lawsuit that claimed the union representing the city's bus and subway workers was responsible for an accident that left a firefighter critically injured because workers went on strike.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:21 AM
Survey: Service sector expands in June (AP)
Survey: Service sector expands in June (AP)
AP - The service sector of the U.S. economy expanded in June, but at a slower pace than in May, according to a monthly survey of supply managers released Thursday. The expansion was also slower than analysts had been expecting.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:18 AM
June job growth weaker than expected (Reuters)
June job growth weaker than expected (Reuters)
Reuters - U.S. employers added a fewer-than-expected 121,000 workers to their payrolls last month, but the jobless rate stayed at a five-year low and hourly earnings rose, a government report showed on Friday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:17 AM
Hang up and drive, many workers told
Hang up and drive, many workers told
''Hang up and drive,'' a popular bumper sticker says, and increasingly, employers are telling their workers to lay off the cellphones while driving.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:10 AM
158 foreign workers land a day in Australia
158 foreign workers land a day
Source: The Australian
The flood of more than 58,000 workers holding temporary skilled work visas in the year to April comes despite union opposition to skilled migration as a solution to the nation's skills crisis.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:09 AM
Sydney workers obsessed with their inbox: Devoting equivalent of 1 day of own time each fortnight to answering work emails
Sydney workers obsessed with their inbox: Devoting equivalent of 1 day of own time each fortnight to answering work emails
Australia
Source: SMH
One in five businesses say they have staff who spend four hours a week, or more, sending and replying to job-related messages out of normal office hours, a survey by the Sydney Chamber of Commerce has revealed. More than half the businesses polled said employees spent at least some time outside normal hours on work emails.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:07 AM
Cameroon: Retrenched Workers At Prime Minister's Gate
Cameroon: Retrenched Workers At Prime Minister's Gate
AllAfrica.com
Some retrenched workers of 35 state liquidated companies are staging a sit-in at the entrance of the Star Building where the Prime Minister's office is located. They are demanding payment of their entire social benefits.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:01 AM
Namibia: Gender Equality Not So Equal, Says Study
Namibia: Gender Equality Not So Equal, Says Study
AllAfrica.com
While Namibia is one of the few countries in the SADC region that have reached the 30 percent women representation target for 2005, a survey has revealed that the "empowered" women of Namibia are mostly in non-managerial positions.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:00 AM
Nigeria: Federal Government to Lay Off 33,000 Workers, Earmarks N50 Billion for Severance Package
Nigeria: FG to Lay Off 33,000 Workers, Earmarks N50 Billion for Severance Package
AllAfrica.com
In line with the on-going reforms by the President Olusegun Obasanjo-led administration, at least 33,000 of the 160,000 civil servants are to be laid off before the end of the year, an exercise which the Federal Government has earmarked N50 billion as severance allowances to the affected workers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 9:58 AM
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Column: Companies Ramp Up Commuter Perks
Column: Companies Ramp Up Commuter Perks
By AP
NEW YORK -- For 20 years, Martha Fitts drove 16 miles to and from work every day, guzzling, in total, about 6,000 gallons of gasoline. At today's prices, that's worth nearly $18,000.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:56 PM
Lawmakers in China to pursue Wal-Mart and other foreign firms over staff unions - report
Lawmakers in China to pursue Wal-Mart and other foreign firms over staff unions - report
Source: Forbes
Lawmakers in China are planning to take action against US retailing giant Wal-Mart and other foreign firms to force them to allow their staff to join a union, state press said.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:46 PM
New Jersey Budget Deal Reached
New Jersey Budget Deal Reached
By By TOM HESTER JR., Associated Press Writer
New Jersey's governor and lawmakers reached a deal Thursday on a new state budget, six days into a state government shutdown that shuttered casinos and threw more than 80,000 people out of work. Gov. Jon S. Corzine said a government shutdown that...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:44 PM
NWA Flight Attendants to Switch Unions
NWA Flight Attendants to Switch Unions
By By JOSHUA FREED, AP Business Writer
Northwest Airlines flight attendants voted on Thursday to throw out their independent union and join the larger, stronger Association of Flight Attendants. But with Northwest free to impose new pay cuts and work rule changes on July 17, it may be too late for...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 4:43 PM
Levi's was ahead of its time on domestic partner benefits for employees
Levi's was ahead of its time on domestic partner benefits for employees
By C.W. Nevius
If you'd like to get a rip-roaring argument started, bring up same-sex marriage. It is a hot-button wedge issue, an article of faith for both conservatives and liberals. It seems there is no middle ground. But quietly and behind the scenes, objections...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:29 PM
Little common ground on border / THE HOUSE: Just outside Mexico, GOP tries to rally public to tougher approach
Little common ground on border / THE HOUSE: Just outside Mexico, GOP tries to rally public to tougher approach
By Tyche Hendricks
THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE The House and Senate have passed dramatically different immigration bills, and the dueling approaches were on display Wednesday. House lawmakers opened hearings at a Border Patrol station near San Diego that focused on stricter law...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:29 PM
South Africa: No Escape From 'Poverty Trap'
South Africa: No Escape From 'Poverty Trap'
AllAfrica.com
Hope that post-apartheid economic growth will translate into a better life for the poor is dying in the expanding squatter camps that ring Johannesburg, South Africa's bustling business centre.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:17 PM
South Africa: Child Labour 'Rife in Agriculture Sector'
South Africa: Child Labour 'Rife in Agriculture Sector'
AllAfrica.com
AGRICULTURE remained the biggest culprit in using child labour in SA, followed by the retail sector, the labour department said yesterday. Departmental child labour co-ordinator Joy Mehlomakulu said although some forms of child labour existed in urban areas, it was particularly prevalent in rural areas due to poverty.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:15 PM
Nigeria: 7,000 Job Cuts Imminent After Nitel Sale to Transnet, Workers Seek Clarifications
Nigeria: 7,000 Job Cuts Imminent After Nitel Sale to Transnet, Workers Seek Clarifications
AllAfrica.com
Following the successful acquisition of Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) by Transnational Corporation Plc, there were fears yesterday that about 7,000 of the telecom firm's bloated workforce may soon be relieved of their appointments in a major right sizing operation that has been on the drawing board since the commencement of the privatization exercise.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 12:00 PM
Shock, Blood, Gore and Challenging Authority: The Language That Young Workers Understand
Shock, Blood, Gore and Challenging Authority: The Language That Young Workers Understand
Source: Confined Space
Here's one problem that Canadians and Americans share: How to get through to teenagers? Even if they actually listened to you, it wouldn't matter because they already know everything. Another problem that Canada and the United States share is young workers getting hurt on the job, especially during summer vacation.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:55 AM
Uncertainty, fear push New Jersey employees to protest; Confusion spread over who is nonessential and out of work; Statehouse rallies 'send a message'
Uncertainty, fear push employees to protest; Confusion spread over who is nonessential and out of work; Statehouse rallies 'send a message'
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
Roughly 45,000 workers deemed nonessential were told not to go to work, and many worried about how they would pay rent and other other bills because of the partial government shutdown, which began Saturday. An additional 40,000, deemed essential, faced different problems. Some were ordered to cut short their vacations or sick leave or else forfeit pay. Others arrived at work, only to be sent home in the chaos of a daily-changing list of who is essential and who is not, union representatives said.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:54 AM
'Prison yard bully' poses election year puzzle for Schwarzenegger; Most important prison reform decision may have been Schwarzenegger's refusal to acc
'Prison yard bully' poses election year puzzle for Schwarzenegger; Most important prison reform decision may have been Schwarzenegger's refusal to accept contributions from guards' union
Source: SF Chronicle
The most important California prison reform decision in decades may have been Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's refusal to accept campaign contributions from the powerful prison guards' union.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:52 AM
Northwest Airlines flight attendants face key votes
Northwest Airlines flight attendants face key votes
Source: Seattle Times
Northwest Airlines flight attendants might switch unions today, in the middle of their showdown with the bankrupt airline's management.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:51 AM
New York City Labor unions band together to negotiate city contracts
Labor unions band together to negotiate city contracts
Source: Amsterdam News
A coalition of 20 city labor unions wants to change the rules of the engagement for contract negotiations with the city, particularly the practice of pattern bargaining that lets the city’s contract with one union set the pattern for contracts offered to all.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:50 AM
Tentative pact averts strike by New York city school bus drivers
Tentative pact averts strike by city school bus drivers
Source: NY Times
Workers would still not pay health insurance premiums, but would get a lower wage increase, according to one official.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:48 AM
Northwest allowed to impose new contract
Northwest allowed to impose new contract
Source: NY Times
A bankruptcy judge ruled Wednesday that the Northwest Airlines Corporation can impose a new contract on its flight attendants on July 17. The flight attendants' union has said it reserves the right to strike if that happens, although it has played down that talk in recent weeks. The airline, based in Eagan, Minn., has said that a strike would be illegal and that it would seek to block one in court.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:46 AM
Group sues to halt same-sex benefits at Michigan State Univ.
Group sues to halt same-sex benefits at Michigan State Univ.
Source: New York Times
A conservative group on Wednesday sued to stop Michigan State University from offering health insurance to the partners of gay and lesbian workers and said the school is violating the state constitution.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:46 AM
Pregnant women and moms find workplace bias still a fact of life
Pregnant women and moms find workplace bias still a fact of life
Source: Newark Star-Ledger
While much has changed for working mothers, pregnancy discrimination still exists, according to women's advocacy experts, labor lawyers and attorneys for the employment commission. "We've seen a notable increase (in discrimination claims) over the past 14 years. It's still a major problem in the workplace," said David Grinberg, an EEOC spokesman in the commission's Washington headquarters.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:44 AM
45,000 New Jersey state workers spend first day on furlough Monday
45,000 state workers spend first day on furlough Monday
Source: Jersey Journal
New Jersey's capital city will literally be half full today, as 45,000 furloughed state workers stay home on the first weekday of a statewide government shutdown that began after lawmakers missed a July 1 deadline to adopt a new state budget.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:43 AM
Cuts forced on Detroit union staff
Cuts forced on Detroit union staff
Source: Detroit News
The city announced Wednesday it is forcing concessions on its largest union, after a state-appointed reviewer last week backed Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's contention that the cost-saving measures are crucial to keeping Detroit financially afloat.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:42 AM
Other unions join nurses on line in New Jersey at Englewood
Other unions join nurses on line at Englewood
Source: Bergen Record
Members of the Health Professional and Allied Employees union continued to picket at the hospital on Wednesday, where they were joined by Charles Wowkanech, president of the state AFL-CIO, as well as representatives of the sheet-metal workers and machinists unions.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:40 AM
More than 400 workers in Chad at a U.S. oil company subsidiary Esso have gone on 3-day strike over pay dispute
More than 400 workers at U.S. oil company subsidiary Esso have gone on 3-day strike over pay dispute
Source: AP
N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) - More than 400 Chadians working for a U.S. oil company subsidiary have gone on a three-day strike over a pay dispute, a workers' spokesman said Wednesday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:39 AM
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Ralphs to pay $70 million for hiring workers during strike
Ralphs to pay $70 million for hiring workers during strike
Source: SF Chronicle
Ralphs Grocery Co. agreed to pay $70 million in restitution and fines as part of a plea agreement involving charges of illegally hiring hundreds of workers under fake names during a 2003 strike and lockout, the company said Friday.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:16 PM
Mood of Michigan: As auto industry changes, so does the state
Mood of Michigan: As auto industry changes, so does the state
Source: Detroit News
Michiganians are losing confidence in the U.S. auto industry, the engine that has driven the state's economy for the better part of a century. More than half believe U.S. automakers are doing only a fair or poor job of building the vehicles people want to buy. "There was a time when we never would have bought a foreign car," said Caroline Burns, 68, a retired nurse from Portage, near Kalamazoo. Now, she drives a Honda.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:08 PM
United Steelworkers announce one-time $240 payment to 75,000 retirees who lost health care coverage
United Steelworkers announce one-time $240 payment to 75,000 retirees who lost health care coverage
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The United Steelworkers union said minimum one-time payments of $240 will be made to up to 75,000 retirees who lost health care coverage as the result of the bankruptcies of Bethlehem Steel, LTV and two other steel producers. The payments will reimburse retirees for Medicare Part B premiums and will be made from a retiree health-care trust fund negotiated by the union when International Steel Group brought the mills out of bankruptcy.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 3:06 PM
Move to boost young union members in Britain
Move to boost young union members
Source: BBC
Young people are meeting in Perth this weekend in a bid to boost involvement with trade unions.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 2:43 PM
UC files unfair labor charges against nurses' union
UC files unfair labor charges against nurses' union
Source: Sacramento Business Journal
The University of California filed an unfair labor practice charge Thursday against the California Nurses Association, claiming the union is not bargaining in good faith in contract reopener talks that started in mid-April.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:53 AM
U.A.W. President Is Nominated for Seat on DaimlerChrysler Board
U.A.W. President Is Nominated for Seat on DaimlerChrysler Board
By JEREMY W. PETERS
The nomination comes a year before the U.A.W. begins important negotiations on labor contracts with the U.S. automakers.
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 11:25 AM
States wage debate over $5.15 an hour / Many want to increase minimum pay, but legislators often balk
States wage debate over $5.15 an hour / Many want to increase minimum pay, but legislators often balk
By George Raine
Jerry Dal Bozzo says that if he had his druthers, he would pay his minimum wage employees $100 an hour, as well as all the other workers at the Stinking Rose in North Beach and the six other restaurants he owns. Of course, to do so he would either have to cut...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:25 AM
No Rolling of the Dice Today in New Jersey
No Rolling of the Dice Today in New Jersey
By By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer
If there's one sure thing in this city of uncertainties, it's always been this: Casinos find a way to keep the dice rolling. Until now. Atlantic City's 12 casinos _ from the three Trumps to the Tropicana _ were under orders to shut down their gambling floors...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:21 AM
Explore many sources to find most-qualified job applicants
Explore many sources to find most-qualified job applicants
Finding good employees is crucial to most businesses. The better the employees, the more likely the company will be successful. What are the best resources for finding great candidates? Here are some ideas: - Temporary personnel agencies can...
# posted by Janice's Labor, Work, Economics News Blog @ 10:20 AM
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