economy

Working America: 10 Things You Should Know About Paycheck Deception

Leave a Comment / economy, unions, workplace issues / By max cyril

Since 2010, right-wing governors and legislators have attacked workers’ rights across the Midwest. These attacks have come in different forms: from stripping public workers’ collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin to an all-out ban on fair share contracts in Michigan and Indiana. In Missouri, extremist legislators and their corporate backers are taking a different tactic. They …

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Higher Wages are Just the Start

Leave a Comment / economy / By max cyril

Corporations are making record profits, and are either sitting on them or using them to buyout other corporations. These “funds could be used in a way businesses are not even considering: giving their employees a raise. Wages today constitute the lowest share of both corporate revenue and the nation’s economy since World War II, while …

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Opposition to paid sick leave costs Christine Quinn some high-profile support

Leave a Comment / economy, health care, unemployment, Workplace Conditions / By max cyril

New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s refusal to allow a paid sick leave bill to come to a vote—though it has the support of a strong majority of the city council—resurfaced in the news this week when feminist icon Gloria Steinem said she would withdraw her support from Quinn if Quinn continues to block …

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Governor of state that’s 42nd on job creation brags that ‘the national outlook isn’t as bright’

Leave a Comment / economy, unemployment / By max cyril

To hear Gov. Scott Walker talk, everything is coming up roses (and a series of other cliches) in Wisconsin’s economy. In a recent op-ed, he touts his many supposed accomplishments, comparing the picture in Wisconsin with a “national outlook [that] isn’t as bright.” About that. While Walker talks about Wisconsin’s reduced unemployment and balanced budget, …

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Bowles-Simpson ‘B-S’ Zombie Plan Tells Working People to ‘Drop Dead’

Leave a Comment / economy, health care, unemployment, unions, Workplace Conditions, workplace issues / By max cyril

It’s back. No matter how many times working people reject the Bowles-Simpson “B-S” budget plan that cynically claims it would “promote economic growth “—but would actually snuff out the recovery and cut lifelines for working families—it keeps coming back to the table. Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson released another tired plan today that would cut Social Security COLAs …

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New Report: End China Currency Manipulation, Create Jobs

Leave a Comment / economy, unemployment, workplace issues / By max cyril

If the United States implemented trade policies to end currency manipulation—especially by China—not only would that reduce the U.S. trade deficit by $190 billion to $400 billion over three years, it would be a major first step in reviving the nation’s manufacturing sector and creating up to 4.7 million jobs, according to a new report …

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Fired Hostess Worker Becomes One-Man ‘Truth Squad’

Leave a Comment / economy, unemployment, unions, Workplace Conditions, workplace issues / By max cyril

Just 12 short weeks ago, Mike Hummell found himself in the middle of one of the highest-profile union fights of 2012: the nationwide strike against Hostess Brands. As a member of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), Hummell hit the picket lines in early November in support of the union’s …

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“Grim”

Leave a Comment / economy, unemployment, unions, workplace issues / By max cyril

It is the strangest contradiction: things have not been so bad for workers probably since the Great Depression, with wages declining, health care costs going up, pensions becoming a thing of the past. People are really angry and frustrated. Yet, at the same time, unions continue to decline in numbers and power. It got worse: …

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Time to Move Beyond the Board

Leave a Comment / economy, unions, workplace issues / By max cyril

The stunning decision today by a federal court to invalidate President Obama’s appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is being treated by the media primarily as a constitutional power struggle between the president, the Senate and the judiciary. But for labor unions—and the millions of workers they represent—the court ruling is just the …

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Why California Is a Pro-Union State (Sort Of)

Leave a Comment / discrimination, economy, health care, unemployment, unions, Workplace Conditions / By max cyril

Ask Los Angeles Times reporter Alana Semuels why union membership in California rose by 100,000 in 2012, and she’ll give you a simple answer: “Latino workers.” To explain the contrast between the trend in California and the United States as a whole—where union membership dropped last year by 400,000—Semuels turned to some credible sources, including Steve Smith of the …

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