Time and time again, inspectors found that miners at the Big Branch coal mine in West Virginia were trudging through inches-deep drifts of combustible coal dust. The mining company, Massey Energy, paid the fine, stalled through endless procedural challenges or just ignored the citation all together. The bottom line was that the dust kept piling …
Feds Crack Down on America’s Worst Bosses-But Fines Still Trivial Read More »
I’d like to raise a few topics that I don’t think got discussed nearly enough. First, the economy has changed quite a bit over the decades. Here is a question: What was the year that for the first time service workers and white collar workers outnumbered blue collar workers? 2001? 1990? OK, we’ll go out …
For the past 80 years, radio stations have used the publicly owned airwaves to make billions of dollars playing music without paying anything to the artists who created it. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) President Roberta Reardon and American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada …
Workers Mobilizing to Get Fair Pay for Music Artists Read More »
Court Elaborates On Types Of Evidence For Proof Of Discrimination The recent case of Merritt v. Old Dominion Freight is hands down one of the best decisions I have come across in a long time. It addresses gender discrimination, sex stereotyping, and a corporate culture of discrimination in a way few cases have. It’s simply …
Truck Driver Wins Gender Discrimination Case In Fourth Circuit Read More »
Positive thinking is so firmly enshrined in our culture that knocking it is a little like attacking motherhood or apple pie. Many persons swear by positive thinking and quite a few have been helped by it. Nevertheless, it is not a very effective tool and can be downright harmful in some cases. There are much …
This week’s blog should get me in a lot of trouble. But I think it’s time that someone points out that many of the biggest business consultants, authors and speakers run really crappy businesses of their own. Okay, I’ve heard all the jokes about consultants. All go basically down the same path—a consultant is someone …
Eleven oil workers are still missing after a massive explosion and fire late Tuesday night on an oil rig off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig was under contract to BP Exploration and Production (BPEP). Working In These Times has determined that BPEP has a history of safety violations, according to …
Exploding Rig’s Operator Has History of Safety Violations Read More »
When the world’s banks were going under, governments jumped to their aid. Now with record numbers of people out of work, it’s past time for governments to put working people first, or the fledgling economic recovery could fall apart. Leaders from the G-20 nations issued this warning while in Washington, D.C., this week for the …
G-20 Labor Leaders Meet at AFL-CIO for Labor Summit Read More »
Wage Discrimination Needs Attention And A Legislative Fix April 20, 2010 is Equal Pay Day. It was established in 1996 to illuminate the gap between men’s and women’s wages. The date symbolizes how far into 2010 women must work to earn what men earned in 2009. This year, with the support of President Obama, Equal …
It’s Equal Pay Day And Time To Pass The Paycheck Fairness Act Read More »
The Census has been purchasing promotional materials for Census 2010 that were manufactured overseas, and Congressman Dan Lipinski (D-IL) is not happy about it. In a statement issued today, Lipinski said: “The Census has some explaining to do, and so far it’s not providing much clarity. Our government should be complying not just with the …
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.
