The Worker Thread

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Vrede too
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Re: The Worker Thread

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Vrede too wrote:
Thu Oct 18, 2018 12:55 am
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Nearly 8,000 Marriott workers are on strike right now, taking a stand against one of the most powerful and profitable companies on the planet.

Despite high profits, the hotel chain pays some of its workers so poorly that they have to take second jobs to make ends meet. Their rallying cry will resonate with many of our members: Just like we have championed fair pay for educators, one job should be enough to live on.

I joined the workers’ picket line in Boston, one of the strike locations, on Monday to demonstrate the AFT’s support and solidarity. The workers are grateful for our support, but we need to do more. You can help right now by taking a pledge to not stay at a Marriott hotel during the strike. ...

In unity,
Randi Weingarten
American Federation of Teachers President
Image

We did it! On Monday, my coworkers and I ratified our new contract with Marriott and ended our strike.

This moment has meant so much to me, but the truth is that we won it all together....

I learned during our strike that one of the most powerful things we can do is believe in ourselves and each other. For us, the 7,700 workers who boldly decided to strike this fall, sometimes it took a lot to keep believing. But support from people like you, Lawrence, helped make it possible to take on the biggest hotel company in the world—and win.

Together, we won what we set out to achieve: life-changing raises and improvements to our working conditions in the best contracts we’ve ever seen. After 61 days on strike, I now go back to work without worrying how I’ll pay for my kids’ health care. I’ll be able to stop working a second job. I can spend time with my kids and take care of myself.

That’s what all of us who went on strike in cities across the United States were fighting for: one job should be enough.

Your support has been so important to our victory, and I hope we can continue to count on you. We strikers are committed now to helping more people win jobs they can count on to be safe and provide security for their families....

In victory,
Larrilou Carumba
www.unitehere.org
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Vrede too
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Latina workers have to work 10 months into 2018 to be paid the same as white non-Hispanic men in 2017

November 1 is Latina Equal Pay Day, the day that marks how long into 2018 a Latina would have to work in order to be paid the same wages her white male counterpart was paid last year. That’s just over 10 months longer, meaning that Latina workers had to work all of 2017 and then this far—to November 1!—into 2018 to get paid the same as white non-Hispanic men did in 2017. Put another way, a Latina would have to be in the workforce for 55 years to earn what a non-Hispanic white man would earn after 30 years in the workforce. Unfortunately, Hispanic women are subject to a double pay gap—an ethnic pay gap and a gender pay gap.

The date November 1 is based on the finding that Hispanic women workers are paid 54 cents on the white non-Hispanic male dollar, using the 2016 March Current Population Survey for median annual earnings for full-time, year-round workers. We get similar results when we look at hourly wages for all workers (not just full-time workers) using the monthly Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group for 2017—which show Hispanic women workers being paid 58 cents on the white male dollar.

This gap narrows—but not dramatically—when we control for education, years of experience, and location by regression-adjusting the differences between workers. Using this method, we find that, on average, Latina workers are paid only 66 cents on the dollar relative to white non-Hispanic men.

The wage gap between Latina workers and white non-Hispanic male workers persists across the wage distribution, within occupations, and among those with the same amount of education....

No matter how you slice the data, it is clear that there is a lot of work to be done to improve the standard of living for the families of Latinas. More educational attainment and access to better quality education would certainly help to improve the Latinas’ chances to move up the job ladder and get better paid jobs. However, this is not the whole story, since even after controlling for education the wage gap remains very large. Offering and facilitating access to occupations that are higher paid will also move Latinas up the occupational ladder. Here too, however, we find that even within the same occupations, Latinas fare worse. Lastly, it is important to improve equal pay for equal work provisions so that those women who do have the same education, the same occupation and are equally qualified in the workplace are not paid less or driven away from moving up to these more challenging positions.
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Michigan Is the Latest Example of the Restaurant Lobby Subverting Democracy

It’s been a bad week for democracy. While all eyes have been on a Republican power grab in Wisconsin, the Republican-controlled Michigan legislature quietly gutted its brand-new laws to increase the state’s minimum wage and provide residents with paid sick leave.

Lawmakers initially passed the popular policies in September, after it became clear that ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2022, phase out the tipped minimum wage, and guarantee 72 hours of paid sick leave were likely to be approved if they were put to the state’s voters in November. Concerned that they’d be unable to overturn a ballot initiative, which would require a three-fourths supermajority, Republican legislators took the extraordinary step of passing the law themselves — so they could come back and dismantle it with a simple majority in the current lame duck session.

The new Republican bill delays the minimum wage increase by eight years, until the year 2030. Paid sick time is slashed in half, to just 36 hours per year. In addition, it maintains the tipped minimum wage, increasing it to just $4.58 by 2030, which earlier legislation would have phased out. The bill now heads to the desk of the outgoing Republican governor, Rick Snyder, who is expected to sign it into law.

Outright subversion of democracy to defeat minimum wage hikes isn’t new. A similar series of events played out in Washington, D.C., just this year, when the supposedly progressive D.C. council repealed a ballot initiative to eliminate the tipped minimum wage just four months after the voters passed it. In Maine, lawmakers reinstated the tipped minimum wage in 2017 after voters eliminated it the year before.

It seems that the same lobbying group may have been behind the repeal of all three bills.

The National Restaurant Association, or NRA, represents more than 500,000 restaurant businesses, making it the world’s largest food service trade association. Over the last 28 years, the NRA and its largest corporate members have spent more than $78 million on campaign contributions, spending $12 million just in the 2016 election cycle. And they have a powerful and dangerous playbook: prevent minimum wage increases at any cost.

All three of the most recent minimum wage hike reversals received significant backing from the National Restaurant Association. In Michigan, dozens of legislators received campaign contributions from the National Restaurant Association during this past election cycle, including the House majority leader.

The Michigan Restaurant and Lodging Association, the state-level partner of the NRA, openly bragged about the amount of control that this bought it over the state’s minimum wage fight, saying that it “worked tirelessly with the Michigan Legislature to prevent this onerous proposal from going to the ballot.”

Similarly, in Washington, D.C., the NRA contributed more than $236,000 in campaign funds to 13 of the city council’s 14 members. It helped fund an astroturf campaign designed to appear as if it was led by restaurant workers, which flooded public hearings with testimonies. In Maine, the Maine Restaurant Association vehemently lobbied the state legislature until the tipped minimum wage increase was overturned....

Raising the minimum wage is among the most popular polices out there, across party lines. In fact, a study released earlier this week finds that in literally every single state in the U.S., the minimum wage is lower than residents want it to be. That’s why when minimum wage increases are on the ballot, they pass. So the National Restaurant Association is doing everything it can to keep voters from having a say, with dangerous consequences for low-wage workers — and for democracy writ large.
:roll: :x
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billy.pilgrim
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Bring back the guillotines
Bring back the guillotines


https://www.independent.co.uk/news/busi ... 98621.html


"California-based Kaiam was given a £850,000"

"Scottish Labour MSP Neil Findlay said it was “fundamentally wrong” that a company awarded public money to locate to the area could “leave families high and dry at Christmas”.


"People being told they are losing their jobs on Christmas Eve is simply disgraceful."

“What matters now is that every effort is made to support the workers and their families, who have been failed so badly.”


Meanwhile, across the way in America, real Americans are celebrating how the wonders of the Free Market gave these lesser people what they must most surely deserve.
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”

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Re: The Worker Thread

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Publix: The worst paid family leave policy

Petition To: Publix CEO Todd Jones

Publix provide paid family leave to all your employees.

Why is this important?

... Publix offers NO paid family leave to its 190,000 employees. Zero days off after childbirth, zero days to care for a dying parent, zero days for chemo treatments....
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Re: The Worker Thread

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... Publix offers NO paid family leave to its 190,000 employees. Zero days off after childbirth, zero days to care for a dying parent, zero days for chemo treatments....

Oh, poor mistreated Publix employees, but still ... http://corporate.publix.com/careers/why-publix/benefits

All of those instances are covered for protected leave under the FMLA, and childbirth and chemo are no different from any other medical conditions a person might have. As a matter for comparion, only about 15% or so of employers do have a paid maternity/paternity leave plan separate from other available time off.

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Re: The Worker Thread

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O Really wrote:
Sat Jan 05, 2019 9:23 am
... Publix offers NO paid family leave to its 190,000 employees. Zero days off after childbirth, zero days to care for a dying parent, zero days for chemo treatments....

Oh, poor mistreated Publix employees, but still ... http://corporate.publix.com/careers/why-publix/benefits

All of those instances are covered for protected leave under the FMLA, and childbirth and chemo are no different from any other medical conditions a person might have. As a matter for comparion, only about 15% or so of employers do have a paid maternity/paternity leave plan separate from other available time off.
FMLA is UNPAID leave and it's reasonable for this group to be comparing Publix to other large employers.
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Yes, FMLA is unpaid. And yes, Publix can be compared to other large employers. But to focus on one category of benefit that a majority of even large employers don't have and say they're a crappy place to work is just wrong.

Besides, not entirely just defending the Devil, why should one category of personal circumstances/medical condition be provided with its own level of benefit? In fact, treating pregnancy/childbirth differently from other medical conditions used to be discriminatory when it got less benefit. Why isn't it discriminatory if it gets more benefit?

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Re: The Worker Thread

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So if you're the company benefits director and you've got a limit on total expenses (even if it's a high limit), what do you choose:
1. Paid maternity/paternity leave for 25-35% of the employees or better health insurance for everybody?
2. Paid specific leaves for some, or more total paid time off for everyone?
3. Twelve weeks paid maternity for some, or 4 weeks paid medical for all?
4. If you provide 12 weeks paid maternity, how much for a heart attack or recovery from back surgery?

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Re: The Worker Thread

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Idk.

They don't say, "crappy place to work". They say, "The worst paid family leave policy".
PL+US does seem to have tunnel vision about a single issue, paid family leave.
It looks like it has a pretty credible board.
http://paidleave.us/about
It doesn't seem to be a subsidiary of another worker-focused group like a union.
A guess, but I doubt that Publix would be targeted if it was significantly superior for workers in other ways.
As for your specific questions, idk. Europe seems far more civilized to me, I'd wonder what's mandated there on average.

I don't shop there, anyhow. So, I'm fine just signing a petition urging it to be better. If it already knows that it is better, it won't do anything.
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Well, the organization is single-issue, as you noted, and to that extent they don't have to care about any other parts of the benefits plan. I just don't put a lot of credence to anybody who doesn't bother to understand the bigger picture. There are already several alternatives to simple employer-paid leaves, including state-required disability plans in NY and CA (that include pregnancy/childbirth), garden-variety short-term disability plans, offered by almost all large employers, including Publix, plain old "sick leave" that accumulates to a substantial amount over time, etc. What those plans don't cover is a totally healthy person being off for bonding, adoption, etc.

I do support paid time off, and think companies that provide nothing are missing some value for themselves as well as their employees. But nothing is done in a vacuum.

Publix pays well above minimum wage https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Publix ... -E2945.htm

Gets consistently good employee reviews on Glassdoor, and has been on numerous "Best Places to Work" lists for years.

Disclaimer: yes, they're one of our clients, and I've been shopping "where shopping is a pleasure" for decades.

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Re: The Worker Thread

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Sometimes, some unions act in the interest of the union, NOT in in the interest of workers.
Why Are These Labor Unions Opposing Medicare for All?

For seven years, healthcare activists in New York have been pushing the New York Health Act, a single-payer bill that would provide statewide universal health coverage. Hopes for the bill’s chances were buoyed this year, as a new class of Democrats won election to the state legislature. But now the plan’s path forward could be called into question, thanks to opposition from labor unions in the state.

A recent Politico story reports that several New York City municipal unions, part of an umbrella group called the New York City Municipal Labor Committee, have serious qualms about the bill. Together, city unions represent some 380,000 public employees. Meanwhile, a number of more conservative unions—including the The New York State Building & Construction Trades Council and the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York—are outright opposing the proposal. These unions have joined a new initiative called “Realities of Single Payer”—backed by a coalition of healthcare industry and business groups—that seeks to kill the legislation.

Such moves reflect a complicated relationship between the labor movement and the fight for Medicare for All, which is playing out in various ways at both the state and national levels.

While unions comprised of nurses and healthcare workers have numbered among single payer’s most dedicated backers, many others maintain relative neutrality. The AFL-CIO officially endorsed the policy in 2009, but many activists characterize labor support as existing largely on-paper....

At first glance, organized labor’s lukewarm enthusiasm for Medicare for All may appear counter-intuitive. After all, healthcare benefits are often the primary sticking point between management and employees during contract negotiations. Ever-rising healthcare costs have put immense pressure on the bargaining process, and many unionized workers have seen their plans deteriorate as a result. Recent high-profile labor disputes have frequently boiled down to health insurance, including the wave of teachers’ strikes that has rippled from state-to-state.

In short, unions have been forced to fight tooth-and-nail just to keep whatever healthcare policy they can—and it's easy to see why, under political siege from the Right, they’re in survival mode defending rudimentary workers' rights. But with access to universal public healthcare, it’s easy to imagine labor free to spend its energy fighting for higher wages and better workplace conditions instead.

And yet, such battles may be precisely why unions hesitate to go all-in for single-payer in the first place: the health insurance they are able to win tends to be better than that of their non-union peers. In a post-Janus world, unions’ financial support relies on persuading members to voluntarily pay dues—and what better proof of their indispensability than ensuring members’ access to high-quality healthcare? As arduous as contract fights over fringe benefits have become in recent years, they nevertheless remain a key advantage of union jobs.

Moreover, many players in the labor movement have attempted to weather their decades-long decline by strongly allying with the Democratic establishment, which has at times softened the worst blows on unions lobbed by Republicans.

As long as credible action toward Medicare for All remains scarce among elected Democrats, advancing the policy demands a confrontation with the party establishment—something most labor leaders so far seem unwilling to do. Nowhere is this dynamic starker than in New York, where union density is strongest. The combination of relatively generous health benefits among union workers in the state and entrenched Democratic Party ties helps explain the spotty labor support for state-level single payer legislation....
:( :x
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Re: The Worker Thread

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Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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Re: The Worker Thread

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Petition to Congress:

"Raise wages and fight inequality by passing the Workplace Democracy Act, which would ban 'Right to Work for Less' laws, make it harder for corporations to interfere in the decision to create a union, and protect workers from loopholes that allow companies to pay less and offer fewer benefits."
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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Vrede too
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Re: The Worker Thread

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A Democratic senator wants to protect federal contractors — the people most screwed over by the shutdown
A new bill from Sen. Tina Smith (MN) would guarantee them back pay.
Petition to Congress:

"Pass the bills that would provide back pay to low-wage federal contractors who went without pay during Trump's government shutdown."
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Re: The Worker Thread

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I've got mixed feelings about that. Sure, it seems fair that the contractors should be made whole since their loss was totally caused by Ann Coulter goading Trump into further stupidity. But from a practical standpoint, they actually work for somebody other than the federal government. And loss of work because of contract issues or whatever is a common risk of that type of employment. I've got a client who pays for 8 holidays per year, but they contract with a company that closes for 12 holidays. The contractor's employees aren't paid for those extra holidays unless they use their own PTO. Some employers use temporary/contract workers specifically to absorb the ups and downs of production and thus avoid laying off their "real" employees. If a company closes for a week for inventory or moving the office, the contract employees are out of work for a week unless their real employer has other assignments they can send them on.

Nevertheless, if I got a vote, I'd vote to give them the back pay.

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Re: The Worker Thread

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O Really wrote:
Sat Jan 26, 2019 8:28 pm
Add another to the litigation list.
Another one:

Trump Administration Seeks To Ban Inflated Rats From (Union) Protests
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
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Re: The Worker Thread

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The fastest-growing job in each U.S. state

NC & FL - solar panel installer, cool.
TN - dietetic technician, figures. :D
SC - dredge operator. Yeah, there's A LOT to shovel there. :P
GA - costume attendant. :confusion-scratchheadblue:
Always be yourself! Unless you can be a goat, then always be a goat.
-- the interweb, paraphrased
1312. ETTD.

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