Don’t Drink the Tea. Think With the WE.
Oct
2016
19
Last Sunday, the Republican Party headquarters in Orange County, North Carolina, was firebombed by an unknown assailant. Shortly after, GOP spokeswoman Emily Weeks claimed “materials inside, possibly including completed absentee ballots, may have been destroyed.” Unfortunately, holding absentee ballots in the GOP headquarters is…
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Oct
2016
19
In August, the debate over funding for the $78.2 million Interlake Tunnel project in Monterey, California began to heat up. A $10 million state grant tied to a worker-supportive Project Labor Agreement (PLA) hung in the balance. But last week, the county water resources agency staff recommended the Board of Supervisors accept the funding:…
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Oct
2016
19
A new report from the Department of Labor describes the current state of workers’ compensation laws as a “race to the bottom.” The report, released earlier this month, suggests workers injured on the job are “at great risk of falling into poverty” because state compensation programs have become grossly inadequate….
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Oct
2016
14
In a break from tradition, the Missouri AFL-CIO has endorsed a handful of Republican state lawmakers in the upcoming November election. Though the organization mostly skews Democratic, this year they have endorsed 13 Republicans in the House and two Republicans in the Senate with the expectation that these candidates will oppose…
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Oct
2016
14
The Philadelphia City Council voted last week to expand its prevailing wage ordinance. The updated rules will set fair wage and benefits standards for service workers in publicly subsidized buildings. Previously, the law only applied to those working in large residential and commercial buildings: The existing law guarantees prevailing wage…
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Oct
2016
14
Earlier this month in Multnomah County, Oregon, construction workers broke ground on a $300 million court house. The project is expected to be completed in 2020 and employ more than 500 building trades workers. Thanks to a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) negotiated by the Columbia-Pacific Building and Construction Trades Council (CPBCTC),…
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Oct
2016
14
Amazon is being sued over their package delivery service, Flex. A relative newcomer to the burgeoning “gig economy,” Flex operates much like a ride-share service, only instead of offering rides, drivers deliver packages to Amazon customers. Essentially, it’s a way for the company to circumvent the traditional costs…
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Oct
2016
12
What’s better than one incredibly lame anti-union infomercial? Why, two incredibly lame anti-union infomercials, of course! Preferably with the exact same actors and script. At least, that appears to be the thinking behind Walmart’s and Home Depot’s oddly similar (and similarly terrible) pieces of video propaganda. Via…
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Oct
2016
12
Voter suppression is alive and well in GOP country. In Wisconsin, a federal district court judge has ordered the state to investigate the DMV and its voter ID process. The court order follows recent revelations regarding minority voters who were denied voter IDs despite providing the necessary documentation to the DMV. Wisconsin law…
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Oct
2016
12
Virginia has had some form of Right-to-Work law on its books since 1947. Now the Republican state legislature would like to see that anti-union language immortalized in the state constitution. The only thing standing in their way? Voters, who will have the opportunity to approve or deny the measure at the ballot box in [&hellip…;
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Oct
2016
11
Construction workers took to the streets of San Jose late last month to voice their displeasure with Cupertino-based developer KT Urban. Their complaints do not begin and end with KT, however. Union members are frustrated with a growing shift in Silicon Valley toward hiring non-union workers on development projects: Workers say it’s part…
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Oct
2016
11
The Illinois labor community is looking to improve diversity within its ranks through a program called HIRE Education. The Lincoln Land Community College program is a 20-week course that prepares women, people of color, and former convicts for union apprenticeships. Those demographics are traditionally underrepresented in organized labor,…
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