Government workers witnessed a scene yesterday horrifically reminiscent of the Oklahoma City terrorist attack the last time a Democrat occupied the White House. A suicide attack was launched in Austin, Texas by a man who chose to assault government workers as an expression of his rage against government policies. While it is easy to see …
Marking the first anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the SEIU is releasing a new report today analyzing the social and economic impact of the Recovery Act. This report explains what the aggregate numbers on economic growth and job creation fail to illustrate–how the Recovery Act helped counter the recession by protecting …
REPORT: The Recovery Act, Unsung Hero of the Year Read More »
State workers in West Virginia spent Presidents Day staging a rally at the capitol to ask for a $1,000 cost-of-living raise and better working conditions. Meanwhile, workers in California hope a bill advances that would ease some of their furlough pain. As part of a plan to deal with California’s budget gap, state workers have …
Around the Country, State Employees Rally Against Furloughs, Pay Cuts Read More »
Kmart Employee Fired For Taking Medical Leave Wins Family and Medical Leave Act Appeal You would think most employers know that you’re not supposed to fire someone because they take a medical leave of absence – but it looks like K-Mart may have missed the boat. A sales clerk at one of its Michigan stores …
FMLA Retaliation Victim Wins Appeal In Sixth Circuit Read More »
I read an article about a school in Washington State that allows students to search the Internet during tests. Yes, you read that correctly. Students at Mill Creek Middle School can go online during tests to search for information. But some schools don’t stop there; they even allow students to beam or IM information to …
Organized labor and its allies are rightly alarmed over the high incidence of on-the-job accidents that have killed or maimed many thousands of workers. But they haven’t forgotten – nor should we forget – the on-the-job violence that also afflicts many thousands. Consider this: Every year, almost two million American men and women are the …
The American workplace has changed dramatically over the last two decades, and so have the inherent hazards for workers. New, bigger, more powerful equipment has come online. New chemicals and other toxic substances have come into routine use. New production and construction methods have been introduced. Created in 1971, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, is charged …
Disneyland hotel workers began a water-only fast Tuesday to protest what they describe as life-threatening safety issues on the job. The more than 2,000 bellmen, dishwashers, room attendants, and cooks, members of Unite Here! Local 11, have been working without a contract since February 2008. They say new work requirements at three resort hotels and the villas at the Grand Californian Hotel …
*The following post originally appeared in Winning Workplaces on February 9, 2010 in support of our proposed Workplace Bill of Rights. Thanks to Mark and Winning Workplaces for their support! The U.S. has survived and, most often during its 234-year history, thrived under a forward-thinking Bill of Rights. Much more recently, innovative airline JetBlue has …
If Widely Adopted, Workplace Bill of Rights Would Dramatically Improve Our Economy Read More »
To paraphrase comedian Henny Youngman’s famous one-liner, take my KBR, please. After all the bad press U.S. engineering and construction company KBR has received over the years for its operations in Iraq , both during its time as a Halliburton subsidiary and since, one might think it had learned a thing or two about how …
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.
