Labor Union Blog

With 103 stores CompUSA employs a large number of employees across the United States. Most of those employees will be looking for new jobs after the holiday season. The faltering company has been bought out by Gordon Brothers who plan to sell some stores and close the rest after the holiday shopping season wraps up.

Will the third time be the charm for striking nurses in West Virginia and Kentucky? Thanks to a ruling by a federal appeals court Appalachian Regional Healthcare will have to pay the picketing nurses more than $3 million in back pay. This is the third ruling saying so, as ARH keeps appealing the decisions. The court said that when the healthcare company cut nurses hourly wages they broke an older contract. The nearly 700 nurses are members of the United American Nurses and are spending their 12th week on the picket lines while permanent replacement workers do their jobs in the hospital – living in an empty hospital wings. They are striking nine facilities in Kentucky and West Virginia and are seeking a commitment for better patient care from ARH.

Machinists member and state Rep. J.R. Gray

Last month, union members turned out in force to help elect Steve Beshear governor of Kentucky. After a landslide victory, Beshear is putting together a new administration for Kentucky, and he hasn’t forgotten about working families.

A couple of Beshear’s campaign promises were to name a union member as commissioner of labor and to elevate the state’s Department of Labor to cabinet status once again. (The Labor Department was demoted from the cabinet by former Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who Beshear defeated last month.) Beshear’s choice to lead the Labor Department is state Rep. J.R. Gray, who represents the 6th Congressional District in western Kentucky.

Gray is a longtime member of the Machinists (IAM) and served as directing business representative of Machinists Lodge No. 154 in Calvert City, Ky.