I’m thankful for the opportunity to be part of a great organization like Workplace Fairness. We’re using online tools to educate workers about their rights and job-seekers about their search. But I’m no stranger to unemployment. In the not-too-distant past my resources became limited and I hit a wall in my job search. So I …
The U.S. is now 24 months into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Over the course of those two years, we have lost 8.1 million jobs and 17.5 percent of the workforce–27.4 million workers–are unemployed, underemployed, or have given up looking for work. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forsee the unemployment rate remaining at …
Putting People Back to Work and Obama’s Jobs Summit Read More »
In the last couple of weeks, there’s been a rise in the debate over H1N1 and paid sick leave policy. Emergency H1N1 legislation has been introduced by Sen. Chris Dodd that would require employers with more than 15 workers to provide seven days of paid sick leave if they or their children come down with …
Hyatt’s efforts to woo fired housekeepers has been mostly unsuccessful, with only six taking up the hotelier’s offer of employment with the company that replaced them. Hyatt says the new jobs will extend their pay through 2010 and healthcare through May 2010. But workers aren’t buying the company’s efforts to assuage the public relations disaster …
Hyatt Continues Catching Flack over Fired Boston Workers Read More »
This morning, President Obama announced he will invite labor leaders, business executives, small business owners, economists and other financial experts to a special White House summit on jobs next month. Obama says the summit will explore ways to slow the loss of jobs and quicken the pace of job creation at a time when the …
BREAKING: The U.S. House of Representatives passed the unemployment insurance extension bill, by a 403-12 vote. The bill is on its way to President Barack Obama who could sign it as early as tomorrow. After weeks of Republican stalling and obstruction that cost hundreds of thousands of jobless workers their unemployment insurance (UI)—the Senate last …
House Set to Act Fast Now that Senate Finally Passed Jobless Aid Extension Read More »
More than 1 million people hurt by the bad economy are at risk of losing their unemployment insurance by the end of the year. During the toughest economic crisis in more than a generation, 7,000 people every day are seeing their UI expiring—and it’s due to the petty obstructionism of two senators who are blocking the needed …
Unions are popularly known as “the folks who brought you the weekend.” In contrast, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has the distinction of trying to take away the weekend–along with overtime pay, the minimum wage, Buy America rules, workers’ freedom to form unions, child labor standards….The list is long and ugly. So it’s farcical that …
The Chamber of Commerce’s Jobs Deception Campaign Read More »
Although it is encouraging to see that the Dow Jones Industrial Index hit 10,000 this week, unemployment in this country continues to look bleak. The September national unemployment rate shot up to 9.8%, and a record 5 million people have been unemployed for six months or longer. These workers are now competing for a very …
On the Path to Economic Recovery: Extended Unemployment Benefits Read More »
Business-sponsored ‘scholars’ deliver anti-union talking points. Testifying before the Senate labor and health committee hearing in March, economist Anne Layne-Farrar of the corporate consulting firm LECG warned about the horrendous impact of the Employee Free Choice Act. Its potential to increase union membership from between five and 10 percent, she said, “would result in an …
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.
