Tidbits - April 17, 2014

Portside
Cecily McMillan Trial Update; Reader Comments - Palestinian-Israeli Talks; Walmat, Living Wage, Minimum Wage of $15; Syria; Turkey; Pulitzer and Snowden; Paul Robeson; Russia, Ukraine, Crimea; Immune Systems; New book - What Did You Learn at Work Today? Announcements - Howard Zinn Symposium - Apr 24 - New York; 78th Celebration Abraham Lincoln Brigade & ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism - Apr. 27 - New York; 45th Contingent of the Venceremos Brigade

Deportations Hurt Workers

Liz Cattaneo Jobs With Justice
The tide is turning, but we need stronger executive action to end our country’s unjust deportation policy.

labor

Obama Will Seek Broad Expansion of Overtime Pay

Michael D. Shear and Steven Greenhouse New York Times
In a move expected to draw harsh opposition from the business community, President Obama will use his executive authority to push changes in overtime law so that millions of workers who are now exempt will be eligible for premium rates when working more than 40 hours per week.

Cities Passing Higher Minimum Wages Laws - $11.50 in Metro DC Area and $15.37 in LA for Hotel Workers

Katie Ashmore and Monica Kamen; Josh Eidelson
A Los Angeles City Council committee voted unanimously to authorize a study on nearly doubling the minimum wage for employees of large hotels in the nation's second-largest city. The L.A. proposal is one of several municipal moves toward raising wages well above the 5-year-old federal rate of $7.25; at $15.37, it would set a local hotel industry wage floor far beyond the $10.10 proposed by congressional Democrats.

Book Review - Sanitation Workers: You Gotta Love Them

Michael Hirsch The Indypendent, Issue # 194
Injury rates for sanitation workers outstrip harm done even to cops and firefighters. The Bureau of Labor Statistics ranks refuse and recyclable materials collection as the nation's fourth most dangerous job, exceeded only by commercial fishing, logging and plane piloting. Like Rodney Dangerfield's everyman, they get no respect.

labor

Advocates for Workers Raise the Ire of Business

Steven Greenhouse NY Times
As America’s labor unions have lost members and clout, new types of worker advocacy groups have sprouted nationwide, and they have started to get on businesses’ nerves — protesting low wages at Capital Grille restaurants and demonstrating outside Austin City Hall in Texas against giving Apple tax breaks. Now, business groups and powerful lobbyists, heavily backed by the restaurant industry, are mounting an aggressive campaign against them.

labor

South Korea: Rail Workers, Repression and Resistance

Eric Lee openDemocracy
An almost unreported strike in South Korea, which has just come to an end, epitomises how a `free' market can be incompatible with the liberty of workers to defend their own security.

A Walmart Thanksgiving, by Charles Dickens

Richard Eskow Campaign for America's Future
It was the night before Thanksgiving. Walmart's top brass had assembled in the executive boardroom for a last celebration before heading home to their families. ...Meanwhile, "Black Friday" would begin on Thursday evening, leaving many of its workers unable to spend the holiday with family or friends.

Tidbits - November 28, 2013

Portside
Reader Comments - Black Friday protests; Walmart and retail workers; Congress filibuster; Warren, Sanders - the 2016 elections; healthcare; Detroit; Climate Change; "Hunger Games;" Africa; Iran; Announcements - NC Music Love Army benefit album; New Books - What We Can Learn from the New Deal and JFK - The Cuba Files the untold story of the plot;; Performance-talk and jam - Nueva Canción - New York - Dec 6; PM Press - Holiday Sale and Upcoming Releases!

Union Members Provoke Arrests - This Time Inside the Cosmopolitan

Ed Komenda VegasInc
Las Vegas workers, stage sit-in on casino floor of the Cosmopolitan, demanding the Vegas resort recognize their union. For two years the $4 billion casino has refused to negotiate with their workers, and their union - Culinary Workers Union or UNITE HERE local 226.
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