Donald Trump’s claim that, because of him, SoftBank would be investing $50 billion in the U.S. and creating 50,000 jobs was greeted somewhat less credulously than his Carrier claims. But it’s still worth an extra look at the details. It’s not just that SoftBank had already planned a major investment fund before the election: …
“Outsourcing is the smoking gun of the rigged economy.” — Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. Companies extort tax breaks and subsidies by threatening to withhold jobs. After their demands are met, they instead outsource the promised jobs. For the workers who remain, the threat of outsourcing causes their wages to fall. …
China is gorging itself on steelmaking. It is forging so much steel that the entire world doesn’t need that much steel. Companies in the United States and Europe, and unions like mine, the United Steelworkers, have spent untold millions of dollars to secure tariffs on imports of this improperly government-subsidized steel. Still China won’t stop. …
Chicago schools and teachers are once again under serious attack from Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, and once again, the Chicago Teachers Union is showing that it is a powerful force. Thousands of teachers and supporters rallied Thursday, with 16 people arrested, protesting massive proposed cuts and layoffs: Officials with Chicago Public Schools said Tuesday they’re …
This week in the war on workers: Chicago teachers protest planned cuts and layoffs Read More »
It’s college application time for high school seniors around the country, and Philadelphia public school students are facing more than the usual “will I get in?” stresses. That’s because last summer’s massive layoffs in the Philadelphia schools left them understaffed and without enough counselors to guide students through the application process—in some cases without enough counselors to …
Philadelphia School Layoffs are Endangering Students’ College Prospects Read More »
Despite educators’ best efforts, urban school systems are bleak places to work at and learn in these days, no matter the city or one’s position in the school. But Philadelphia offers a particularly grim view of the dismantling of public education in the austerity era. Few American city school systems have faced measures as devastating …
Dark Days for Philly Schools As Cuts Threaten to Decimate District Read More »
Union workers at West Hartford’s Colt Firearms plant are scared for their jobs after the company announced they will open a new manufacturing plant in Central Florida. The move can’t help but remind one of this year’s NLRB complaint against Boeing for moving a plant of theirs to South Carolina from Washington as retaliation against …
Gunmaker Holding Gun to the Head of UAW Members in Connecticut Read More »
One phrase comes to mind as I started calling my friends to tell them that I had been fired, “a little bit pregnant.” I’m a guy, so please remember, this is a metaphor. I’ll explain. The American Dream isn’t just big cars and summer houses. No, at it’s heart is the belief that everyone has …
In June the ESPN Zone restaurant in Baltimore’s trendy Inner Harbor shopping and entertainment district closed after workers were given just a week’s notice and state regulators were given only one day notice. In a class-action lawsuit filed Monday naming ESPN Zone’s owner Disney, five workers allege this was a violation of the WARN Act, …
Baltimore Workers File Class-Action Suit Over ESPN Zone Closure Read More »
The WARN Act, passed in 1988, was supposed to require employers to give workers and the surrounding community a 60-day advance notice of mass layoffs, providing workers a head start in preparing to find another job and communities a chance to brace for the economic impact. But loopholes, exceptions and weak enforcement have undermined the …
New Plant Closing Bill: FOREWARNED is Better Armed Read More »
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.
