Unemployment Rate Still Above 10% in 27 US Metro Areas Wall Street Journal ...Eleven of these areas were in California, the country’s most-populous state, which continues to grapple with fallout from the housing-market downturn...
Don't Blame Unemployment Insurance for Our Jobs Crisis The Atlantic ...there's no evidence that long-term unemployment benefits have discouraged the long-term unemployed from taking jobs -- because they can't get jobs to begin with...
Dutch pension group halts Wal-Mart investments over low wages and working conditions Reuters ...Wal-Mart “was not prepared” to take concerns about what PGGM called “tense” U.S. labor relations into consideration and its board was not willing to participate in “fruitful dialogues” with shareholders, PGGM said in a statement...
Elderly man who picked dandelions for food gets $75 ticket ABA Journal ... John Taris, a 75-year-old retiree ... lives in the Chicago area with his wife on a $1,500-a-month social security payment. When the couple's food supply was a bit low recently, he volunteered to go pick some to provide a vegetable ...But, caught in the act of picking the weeds by a Cook County Forest Preserve cop, he was issued a $75 ticket...
Big U.S. Companies Pay 12.6 Percent Average Tax Rate Reuters ...As corporate lobbyists seek to preserve business tax breaks and cut the corporate tax rate, the Government Accountability Office said big companies with earnings paid just 12.6 percent of their worldwide income in taxes in 2010...
To Restore the American Dream, Restore the Promise of American Labor Law (opinion) Roll Call ...Republican Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon recognized the important work of the NLRB and worked with union leaders and other representatives of organized labor as did Democratic Presidents Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy...
Banks Are Finding New Ways To Saddle Low-Wage Workers With Fees Think Progress ...Low-wage workers are increasingly getting their wages in prepaid cards that hit them with fees. According to the Times, the largest American companies have done away with direct deposit and paper paychecks in favor of prepaid cards that require employees to withdraw cash from ATM machines...
Playing politics with prison Oklahoma Gazette ...Private prison corporations have deep pockets, and Oklahoma’s governor and Republican leadership are only so willing to take their money...
Missouri governor veto of farmland bills could hamper Smithfield sale to China Reuters ...Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed two bills on Tuesday that would have would have cleared the way for foreign ownership of farmland and potentially eliminated obstacles to Smithfield Foods Inc.'s planned $4.7 billion purchase by a Chinese company...
Christie conditionally vetoes bill to create state program to buy foreclosed properties Burlington County Times ...A controversial housing bill intended to help reduce New Jersey’s glut of foreclosed homes was vetoed by Gov. Chris Christie for a third time...
Protesters: Keep Social Security Unchained New Haven Independent ...Manny Gomez worked for Winchester Repeating Arms for 44 years, paying into social security with each paycheck. Now at 84 he can’t afford to live off his social security check, he said. And he can’t afford a proposed change to calculating the federal retirement benefit...
Ontario workers exposed to Agent Orange OHS Canada ...Ontario workers might have been exposed to Agent Orange, a recent report from an independent fact-finding panel has revealed...
Rhode Island Senate passes minimum-wage increase Providence Journal ...A bill that raises Rhode Island's minimum wage by 25 cents, to $8 an hour, cleared the state Senate on Monday night and is headed for the governor's signature...
Hawaii gov signs domestic workers bill Associated Press ...Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed a domestic workers bill of rights Monday, making Hawaii the second U.S. state to give nannies, housekeepers and others protections on wages and other labor issues...
North Carolina’s Deep Cut to Jobless Benefits Takes Effect Amid Protests New York Times ...North Carolina’s sharp cuts in benefits to the unemployed went into effect this week, amid a swelling public outcry...
Report: Property values dropped, taxes didn't Milwaukee Journal Sentinel ...Total property values in southeastern Wisconsin dropped 5% in 2012, but municipal and school district property tax levies did not follow suit...
Protesters want to strike a deal Lake County Record-Bee ...About 30 people were on strike and will continue in Lower Lake, Lakeport and
Clearlake protesting lack of raises for Paratransit employees, said Mike Yates, Business Representative of Teamsters Local 665. The Teamsters are currently in negotiations … in hopes of signing a contract and preventing further strikes...
Upper Merion School Board extends services from Teamster maintenance workers Mainline Media News ...The Upper Merion Area School Board in Pennsylvania adopted a “status quo” resolution between the district and Teamsters Local 384, which represents the custodial, building, and turf maintenance employees. The contract expired on June 30, and because no new agreement has been reached, the resolution stated that services provided by the employees would continue...
ABF Vote Results By Local Union IBT ...View the ABF vote results by local union here...
Teamster funeral directors strike in Chicago TeamsterNation ...The relentless greed of Houston-based funeral giant SCI has forced Teamster funeral directors and drivers to strike today. The funeral directors, members of Local 727, set up strike lines this morning outside of area funeral homes...
