Whatever our political conflicts, we can generally agree that we should treat pregnant women nicely. We don’t hesitate to help them carry their groceries or give them a seat on the bus. Yet when pregnancy comes up as a political issue, lawmakers are far more fixated on what an expecting mom’s womb is doing, rather …
A Bill to Make Employers Less Mean to Pregnant Women Read More »
One official measure of poverty around the world is surviving on $2 per day or less. It’s a condition many Americans could barely imagine living in. And yet the official data suggests that while politicians insist the U.S. is insulated from such deprivation, a large share of the country is feeling a cold draft from …
It’s crazy, but it’s true: I could not afford to go to work today. I have a 45-minute commute to and from work, which costs me about ten dollars in gas each day. I’m down to six whole dollars, after paying what bills I could with my last paycheck. There are still unpaid bills, but …
Mitchell Hirsch catches a whole bunch of discriminatory job listings showing up at CareerBuilder.com: The latest examples appear two months after the National Employment Law Project (NELP) released a report detailing similarly exclusionary job postings this spring. Since then, federal legislation has been introduced that would ban hiring practices, including job ads, that discriminate against unemployed workers by excluding …
As the nation’s unemployment rate remains at record levels, it’s no surprise that employment agencies have become a popular destination for those in search of work. Immigrants, especially new arrivals, have increasingly turned to these places with the hope of building a better life. But recent reports across the country shows a troubled industry, one that …
Immigrant Workers’ Exploitation Highlights Perils of Job Placement Agencies Read More »
Employees will march into Reliable Staffing office to demand billing records, highlight mistreatment When Reginald Burnett started working in a warehouse unloading trucks of goods destined for Wal-Mart, he said he was told he’d make at least $10 an hour. But he soon realized that figure hinged on unloading a truck in three hours. Depending …
Warehouse Workers Allege Wage Theft, Demand Pay Stubs Read More »
Remarks by AFL-CIO President Richard L. Trumka at the Institute of Politics, Harvard Kennedy School View a video of the speech here. Good evening. Thank you, John. I will never be able to express how much I owe you and how much the American labor movement owes you. The Institute of Politics is fortunate to …
Why Working People Are Angry and Why Politicians Should Listen Read More »
*This article originally appeared in CEPR on March 1, 2010. Reprinted with permission. The housing bubble and subsequent crash were the result of extreme incompetence on the part of the country’s top economic policymakers. Somehow these people could not see, or did not care about, the dangers of an $8 trillion housing bubble. Unfortunately, economic …
Economic Policy and Unemployment: The Power of Stupidity Read More »
The index of total hours worked is below the November 1997 level. The unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent in January, driven by a 0.4 percentage-point drop in the unemployment rate for women to 8.4 percent. The unemployment rate for men fell 0.2 percentage points to 10.8 percent. This drop came in spite of a …
Surge in Women’s Employment Brings Unemployment Rate Down to 9.7 Percent Read More »
With heavy defections from Blue Dog Democrats, the House of Representatives still narrowly passed Wednesday evening 217 to 212 a $154 billion jobs package. It included funds for states to retain front-line workers, aid to the unemployed and transportation projects. But a jobs bill has yet to be voted on in the Senate, where it’s …
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.
