Wal-Mart and all its $13 billion in 2007 profits are quaking. The retail monolith is scared that Democrats will be elected to office this fall—and might pass legislation that would level the playing field for workers seeking to join unions.
The Wall Street Journal reports on Wal-Mart’s corporate tremors today, noting that
in recent weeks, thousands of Wal-Mart store managers and department heads have been summoned to mandatory meetings at which the retailer stresses the downside for workers if stores were to be unionized.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) decided state workers should bear the brunt of the pain caused by his inability to work with the state legislature to adopt a budget.
He signed an executive order yesterday that cuts the pay of 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum wage of $6.65 an hour. On top of that, the order lays off 22,000 part-time and temporary workers.
WIN Week In Review August 1-3, 2008
By Doug Cunningham
On Thursday California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger cut 22,000 jobs and slashed the pay for 200,000 state workers down to the federal minimum wage, effective in September. The California Labor Federation’s Jeremy Smith says the governor is wrong to lash out at workers and their livelihoods to try to resolve the state’s budget problem.
[Smith]: ” We can’t figure out why the governor thinks he should penalize them for the inability to get a budget passed.”
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IBEW members rallied Thursday at Verizon’s Boston headquarters as a midnight Saturday strike deadline approaches. The highly profitable telecom giant could face a walkout by 70,000 workers. IBEW’s Paul Feeney says the Communications Workers of America and the IBEW are working together to try to reach a a new contract at Verizon. And Feeney says should a strike be necessary Saturday night, the IBEW will have plenty of support.
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More than 2,000 supporters sent photos of themselves to make up this mosaic of Lovemore Motombo and Wellington Chibebe. |
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At the WeAreZCTU website, the photos of more than 2,000 union members are crying out for freedom for Zimbabwe and the people of that suffering nation.
Workers around the world sent the photos to create a mosaic of Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) leaders Lovemore Motombo and Wellington Chibebe. In May, the Zimbabwean government arrested and released on bail Chibebe and Motombo, the secretary general and president, respectively, of the ZCTU. They are charged with “inciting the public to rise against the government and communicating falsehoods” in the midst of that country’s runoff presidential election.
Around the country, seniors are getting the message out about Sen. John McCain and his policies on retirement programs like Social Security and Medicare. Over the past week, as the nation marked Medicare’s 43rd anniversary, retirees have sent a strong message to McCain: Don’t destroy these vital programs.
Led by the Alliance for Retired Americans, activists have rallied in key states around the country to make sure that protecting Social Security and Medicare is on the agenda for this fall’s election.
The Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 1338) won House approval (247–178) last night. The bill to help close the wage gap between women’s and men’s pay was first introduced 11 years ago but was bottled up by the Republican majority for a decade.
If the Paycheck Fairness Act makes it to President Bush’s desk, he will continue Republican opposition to strong fair pay laws by vetoing the bill, according to a White House statement.
The unemployment rate is the worst in four years, according to today’s jobs figures from the U.S. Department of Labor, which showed payrolls fell by 51,000 in July, the seventh straight month the nation’s jobs have declined. The new figures mean the unemployment rate worsened from 5.5 percent to 5.7 percent.
Bloomberg puts it this way:
The last time the unemployment rate climbed so much in four months was in 2001, when the U.S. was last in a recession. Job losses have combined with decreasing property values, stricter lending rules and near-record energy prices to send consumer confidence levels close to the weakest in 16 years in July.
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The deadly I-35W bridge collapse in Minnesota focused the nation’s attention on crumbling infrastructure. |
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One year ago today, the I-35W bridge spanning the Mississippi River at Minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 people. The bridge’s deadly failure brought calls for immediate inspection and repairs of bridges around the country and focused the public’s attention on the nation’s crumbling infrastructure.
But a year later, hardly any of the talk has become action. In fact, President Bush says he will veto legislation (H.R. 3999) passed by the U.S. House in July that provides $1 billion to inspect and repair bridges.
With fewer than a hundred days to go before the election, union members are taking action around the country, including Ohio and New Hampshire, to demand those running for public office provide real solutions to address the economy, health care and more.
Around Ohio, union members and members of Working America, the AFL-CIO community affiliate, focused on health care and taxes as they confronted Sen. John McCain and President Bush, who were both visiting the critical swing state in recent days.
Working America and unions led protests around the crucial issue of health care across the state. McCain’s health care proposal could be catastrophic for our already-shaky health care system. His plan would raise taxes on workers and could lead millions to get pushed out of their existing plans. Union and Working America members let McCain and members of Congress know that they want a health care policy that provides affordable, high-quality health care to everyone.
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