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lia href=http://www.laborradio.org/node/10208A Discussion with Labor Activist Kim Bobo on Union Power/a/li
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pToday we continue our discussion with Kim Bobo, author of the new book Wage Theft In America. In her book, Bobo notes a number of cases where wage theft has been prevalent. One involved a car wash in Tennessee.br /
[Bobo1]: Here’s a car wash company that employs primarily homeless men from various shelters. The men show up at work, but they are not clocked in until the car enters the car wash, and they are clocked out once the car exits the car wash. So they are required to be on site for 12-14 hours a day, but they are only paid for seven hours a day. That is flat out illegal./p
pAccording to Bobo, wage theft doesn’t only occur with small businesses. Not surprisingly, she mentioned Wal-Mart, which is currently facing more than 60 court challenges regarding wage theft./p
Here’s the fifth part in our series taking a look back at 2008. Be sure to check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
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Then-Sen. Barack Obama, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger addressed a Labor Day rally in Detroit.
The presidential campaign dominated the headlines as summer turned to fall.
By [...]
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lia href = http://www.laborradio.org/node/10203Business Group Launches Action Trying To Block Worker’s Free Choice On Unionsa//li
lia href = http://www.laborradio.org/node/10204Washington’s Governor Sued By A Second Uniona//li
lia href = http://www.laborradio.org/node/10205Economic Report: All Wall Street Execs Win Grinch Of The Year Awardsa//li
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pEconomic Report:/p
pJobs with Justice has named the 2008 Grinch of the Year…or maybe we should say “Grinches of the Year. Number one is typically a corporation or a single CEO or politician, but this year it is all of the executives on Wall Street who helped bring on the collapse of our national economy with their unfettered greed and lack of regulation. Also receiving nods in the nomination process were Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, United Airlines, and lobbyist Richard Berman. Berman headed up an anti-worker campaign dedicated to defeating the Employee Free Choice Act. /p
pA second union has filed suit against the Governor of Washington over plans to cap pay raises in the biennial budget. Jesse Russell reports:/p
pA second lawsuit against Washington state Governor Cristine Gregoire (GREG-war, like memoir) has been filed over a decision to use a loophole in the state’s collective bargaining law to cancel contracted pay raises for state workers. The Service Employees International Union has filed the suit on behalf home care workers in the state. The original suit was filed by the Washington Federation of State Employees last week. SEIU is asking the state Supreme Court to withdraw the budget proposal as it violates an agreement to a pay raise in the union contract. The Governor is out of town and could not respond personally, but the Governor’s office said in a statement that while the workers deserve the pay raise, due to the global financial market crisis the state’s income has been reduced by $1.9 billion leaving few options. In a statement SEIU said it sympathizes with the difficult position the Governor is in, “but breaking the law and undermining the collective bargaining statute isn’t the right way to get there.”/p
pBy Doug Cunningham/p
pA business group called Save Our Secret Ballot is launching state constitutional amendment efforts in at least five states to require secret ballot elections in union organizing drives. It’s an attempt to thwart the efforts of workers and their unions to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. That labor law reform gives workers the power to choose a union – either with an election or through a majority of workers signing government-certified union cards. The AFL-CIO’s Fred Azcarate./p
p[Azcarate]: “The difference is today it’s up to the boss, the employer to decide the way the workers form their union, right? We’re saying under the Employee Free Choice Act that choice should really be the workers themselves to decide how they want to form their organization to collectively bargain themselves a better life. /p
Here’s the fourth part in our series taking a look back at 2008. Check out Part 1 here, Part 2 here and Part 3 here.
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In July, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka gave a speech to delegates at the United Steelworkers (USW) convention warning that as the presidential campaign heats up, there will be attempts to divide [...]
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lia href =http://www.laborradio.org/node/10193California Labor Fighting To Defend Workers In State Budget Crisisa//li
lia href =http://www.laborradio.org/node/10194Wal-Mart Will Begin New Year By Paying As Much As $640 Million In Wage Theft Suitsa//li
lia href =http://www.laborradio.org/node/10195State Workers Nationwide Uncertain As Governors Grapple With Budget Deficitsa//li
lia href =http://www.laborradio.org/node/10196Economic Report: First Half Of New Year Could See 73,000 U.S. Stores Closeda//li
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pEconomic Report:/p
pRetailers know holiday sales were bad this year, but what does that mean for the surplus of stores? According to a new report by the International Council of Shopping Centers, 73,000 stores could be shuttered during the first half of 2009 alone. The group says sales at stores open for less than a year dropped by nearly 2 percent during the final two moths of 2008. That drop is the largest in the 40 years the statistic has been tracked./p
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