A friend that I went to high school is an accomplished writer on ethical issues. He’s written a couple of books and columns for the NY Times and Fortune. He once called me the biggest BS artist he’s ever met, because I write about the workplace but don’t work in one. Of course I just …
Jason Anderson, one of 11 workers killed during April’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, had warned his family that BP was pushing speed-up and straying from safety protocols. Without a union to take his concerns to, Jason turned to his wife, Shelly. “Everything seemed to be pressing to Jason, about …
A Second Disaster Coming to the Gulf? Hazards Abound for Cleanup Workers Read More »
To the outside world, hearing that unions are fighting amongst themselves does not seem like anything new. Sadly, that’s what a lot of people expect from the labor movement. But the civil war between SEIU and UNITE HERE was a particularly painful internal dispute. It created a rift between two of the most dynamic organizations …
Eight- or nine-figure settlements of gender discrimination class action lawsuits regularly make news. It seems like discrimination this pervasive – essentially, discrimination as corporate policy – should be a relic of the Mad Men past. To the contrary, in countless companies and even entire industries, discrimination against women is business as usual. The latest example …
Settling Gender Discrimination Class Actions (Part I) Read More »
Motorcycle-maker Harley-Davidson is revving up its engines, nearly tripling last year’s profits in the second quarter by hauling in $71 million. This follows first-quarter profits of $68.7 million. But Harley is still roaring toward a head-on collision with the workers in its hometown of Milwaukee, where the company has been a beloved symbol of the …
Fewer Workers, Bigger Profits—and Endless Recession? Read More »
Bloggers Confession: I am wrapped around the little finger of the Apple marketing department. I’m writing this blog on my MacBook, while I listen to tunes on my iPod, my iPhone is nearby and so is my iPad. Wow, I knew I was a junkie, but just writing that sentence made me feel like Steve …
Left to itself, the U.S. economy may not return to its pre-recession rate of unemployment until 2021, says a new study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Even under the more optimistic growth assumptions of the Congressional Budget Office, we’ve got five more years of high unemployment coming, as CEPR notes. If that’s …
A Decade of High Unemployment & Falling Wages… Or We Could Create Jobs & Help our Cities Read More »
On Wednesday July 14, California legislators were debating whether the state’s five-year-old heat safety regulations are strong enough to protect the 650,000 farm workers who harvest the bulk of the nation’s fruit and vegetables in temperatures that regularly climb over 100 degrees. As the legislators ruminated from the safety of their air-conditioned chambers, 54-year-old Rodolfo …
On the Border and in the Fields, Dying from the Heat Read More »
Yesterday, President Obama released a statement endorsing the Paycheck Fairness Act and calling on the Senate to pass the legislation. In America today, women make up half of the workforce, and two-thirds of American families with children rely on a woman’s wages as a significant portion of their families’ income. Yet, even in 2010, women …
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says that workers who blow the whistle on safety violations and other unlawful practices “play an important role in assuring compliance with federal laws.” But, say workplace safety advocates, too many times workers don’t speak up about safety and health problems on the job because they fear retaliation from …
Madeline Messa is a 3L at Syracuse University College of Law. She graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. With her legal research and writing for Workplace Fairness, she strives to equip people with the information they need to be their own best advocate.
