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Corporate Fearmongering Over Fast Food Wage Hike Aged Like Cold Fries

December 14, 2024 Janine Jackson, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. , , ,
In September 2023, California passed a law requiring fast food restaurants with more than 60 locations nationwide to pay workers a minimum of $20 an hour, affecting more than 700,000 people working in the state’s fast food industry. Readers will be unsurprised to hear that corporate media told us that this would devastate the industry. As Conor Smyth reported for FAIR (1/19/24) before the law went into effect, outlets like USA Today (12/26/23) and CBS (12/27/23) were telling us that, due to efforts to help those darn workers, going to McDonald’s or Chipotle was going to cost you more, and also force joblessness. This past April, Good Morning America (4/29/24) doubled down with a piece about the “stark realities” and “burdens” restaurants would now face due to the law.

SeaTac Hotel Workers With UNITE HERE Local 8 On Strike

October 20, 2024 Clio Jensen, Fight Back! News. , , , , ,
Seattle, Washington – On October 12, over 400 hotel workers at the Doubletree Seattle Airport and the Seattle Airport Hilton & Conference Center walked out and went on strike, joining hotel workers across the U.S. Workers at the two hotels are fighting for good raises, pension plan improvement, fair staffing and respect in their new contract. The picket began at 5 a.m., when dozens of workers joined the picket line outside both striking hotels. As they marched, they chanted, “What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? Now!” and “If we don’t get it, shut it down!” Workers carried signs that read “Respect our work,” “One job should be enough” and “Make them pay.” Cars and buses passing by honked their horns in support as the picket continued throughout the day.

A National Movement To Organize Amazon Takes Off

October 5, 2024 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. , , ,
The Teamsters are spinning off momentum from recent organizing fights to new battle fronts across Amazon’s logistics chain. A group of 100 warehouse workers at DCK6, an Amazon delivery station in San Francisco, marched on company managers October 2 demanding voluntary recognition rather than filing for a National Labor Relations Board-supervised election. In the Teamsters’ strategy to organize the logistics behemoth by a thousand cuts, this is the first time that warehouse workers—rather than delivery drivers nominally employed by a subcontractor—have demanded recognition.

Low-Wage Corporations Fleece Their Workers To Massively Inflate CEO Pay

September 18, 2024 Sarah Anderson, In These Times. , , , ,
Most people believe in fair pay for honest work. So why aren’t low-wage workers better paid? After 30 years of research, I can tell you that it’s not because employers don’t have the cash — it’s because profitable corporations spend that money on their stock prices and CEOs instead. Lowe’s, for example, spent $43 billion buying back its own stock over the past five years. With that sum, the chain could have given each of its 285,000 employees a $30,000 bonus every year. Instead, half of Lowe’s workers make less than $33,000. Meanwhile, CEO Marvin Ellison raked in $18 million in 2023. The company also plowed nearly five times as much cash into buybacks as it invested in long-term capital expenditures like store improvements and technology upgrades over the past five years.

Low Wage Corporations Spent Half A Trillion Inflating CEO Pay

September 6, 2024 Sarah Anderson, Scheer Post. , , , ,
Most of us believe in fair pay for honest work. So why aren’t low-wage workers better paid? After 30 years of research, I can tell you it’s not because employers don’t have the cash. It’s because profitable corporations spend that money on their stock prices and CEOs instead. Lowe’s, for example, spent $43 billion buying back its own stock over the past five years. With that sum, the chain could’ve given each of its 285,000 employees a $30,000 bonus every year. Instead, half of Lowe’s workers make less than $33,000. Meanwhile, CEO Marvin Ellison raked in $18 million in 2023. The company also plowed nearly five times as much cash into buybacks as it invested in long-term capital expenditures like store improvements and technology upgrades over the past five years.

The Condition Of The American Working Class Today

September 2, 2024 Jack Rasmus, LA Progressive. , , , , , , ,
On Labor Day this writer has summed up the condition of the American working class over the past year. This national election year it is perhaps useful to review not only the past year but what has happened since the last election in 2020. How has the American worker fared the past four years—in terms of wages, benefits, inflation and jobs? How have their unions, now a mere 10% of the labor force, also fared during the period of recovery since the deep Covid era recession of 2020, the uneven recovery of 2020-21 that followed, and the past thirty months of what has been a modest economic growth.

‘Huge, Historic’ Strikes At Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, And Omni Hotels

September 1, 2024 UNITE HERE. , , , ,
Thousands of hotel workers in twelve cities across the U.S. have authorized strikes at Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Omni hotel properties that are locked in unresolved contract negotiations. Hotel workers with the UNITE HERE union voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing strikes in Baltimore, Boston, Honolulu, Greenwich, Kauai, New Haven, Oakland, Providence, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle. Strikes may occur any time following the expiration of contracts. Contracts in some cities have already expired, while the rest expire by the end of the month. Workers are calling for higher wages, fair staffing and workloads, and the reversal of COVID-era cuts.

‘Red For Bread’: Starbucks Workers United Demands A First Contract

August 29, 2024 Martha Grevatt, Workers' World. , , ,
Cleveland, Ohio - Workers at hundreds of unionized Starbucks stores took part in the “Red for Bread” campaign from Aug. 23-26. Members of Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) wore red to send a message to the company that they want their first contract — one that includes worker rights, safe working conditions, a $20-an-hour minimum wage, quality health benefits and much more. Numerous solidarity actions took place outside Starbucks stores across the U.S. Since the unionization campaign began in Buffalo, New York, in August 2021, the number of union stores has grown from zero to nearly 500.

The Delta Disparity: Flight Attendants Rally For Equal Pay

August 7, 2024 Fight Back! News. , , ,
Detroit, MI - On Monday, August 5, Endeavor flight attendants represented by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) held an awareness picket at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) to highlight the significant pay disparities between flight attendants working for Endeavor, Delta’s wholly-owned regional subsidiary, and those working for mainline Delta Air Lines. Led by Oscar Ochomogo, president of Endeavor AFA, Council 46 DTW, the flight attendants sought to draw attention to the need to end Delta’s two-tier pay system, referred to by workers as the “Delta disparity difference.” On average, Endeavor flight attendants make 45% less than their counterparts at mainline Delta Air Lines.

Defenders Of Wildlife Union Announces Two-Day Unfair Labor Practice Strike

July 8, 2024 Defenders United. , , ,
Washington, DC – The continuing refusal of senior leaders at Defenders of Wildlife (Defenders) to operate in good faith and bargain fairly with the organization’s staff union (Defenders United) has led to what will be the first worker’s strike in the conservation organization’s 77 year history. The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 2 authorized a 2-day unfair labor practice (ULP) strike after an overwhelming majority of Defenders United’s 76-member bargaining unit voted in favor. The strike will take place on July 9-10 unless the parties are able to reach an agreement on restoring union members’ annual wage increases and equal access to improved benefits, which Defenders’ leadership unilaterally removed last year, contradicting clear past practice on these issues. Non-union staff received both.

Barnes & Noble Workers Plan Union Drive At Largest Bookstore Chain

April 3, 2024 Michael Sainato, Portside. , , ,
Workers at America’s largest chain of bookstores are gearing up for a nationwide union drive after six Barnes & Noble outlets voted to organize over the past year. “Many more” stores will unionize, according to booksellers demanding better pay and conditions. At locations that already have, employees accuse the chain’s management of dragging their heels during contract negotiations. James Daunt, the CEO, is said to have embarked upon a months-long campaign to dissuade employees from voting in favor. “He would come in and essentially try to talk us out of unionizing,” said Jessica Sepple.

Waffle House Workers On Day Three Of ‘Meal Credit’ Strike

March 28, 2024 WSB-TV Channel 2 - Atlanta. , , ,
Conyers, Ga. — Striking Georgia Waffle House workers are rallying as the ‘meal credit’ strike reaches its third day. The strike began on Monday as workers are demanding the company to end mandatory ‘meal credit’ paycheck deduction, improve working conditions, wages, safety measures Waffle House workers in Conyers with the Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW) continued their rally on Wednesday to mark the third day of their strike and demand an end to the company’s policy of deducting a ‘meal credit’ of at least $3 from workers’ pay every shift, regardless of whether they eat a meal.

French Public Sector Employees Protest Cuts In State Spending

March 22, 2024 People's Dispatch. , , ,
Public sector employees in France led massive protests on Tuesday March 19, demanding an increase in wages to compensate for cuts in their real wages indexed with the inflation. They also participated in a general strike on Tuesday called for by the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT), Solidaires, Force Ouvrière (FO), the CFE-CGC, the Autonomous Federation, the SNES-FSU and the UNSA. Major rallies were held in Paris, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, and Toulouse.

Long Beach Hotel Workers To Earn Highest Minimum Wage

March 20, 2024 Mark Kreidler, Portside. , , , , ,
Part of the Los Angeles region’s “hot labor summer” of 2023 was a growing recognition that the runaway cost of living was squeezing workers and families. It was perhaps the primary driver of the rolling strikes by unionized workers at 60 area hotels during contract negotiations, with many of those negotiations ongoing. But bargaining-table pressure and picket lines are not the only mechanisms for addressing this issue. And voters in Long Beach have likely just approved another path. Measure RW, on which Long Beach residents voted during last week’s primary, significantly raises the minimum wage for workers at Long Beach hotels with more than 100 rooms.

Gender Wage Gap Persists In 2023

March 11, 2024 Elise Gould, Economic Policy Institute. , , , ,
March 12 is Equal Pay Day, a reminder that there is still a significant pay gap between men and women in our country. The date represents how far into 2024 women would have to work on top of the hours they worked in 2023 simply to match what men were paid in 2023. Women were paid 21.8% less on average than men in 2023, after controlling for race and ethnicity, education, age, and geographic division. There has been little progress in narrowing this gender wage gap over the past three decades. While the pay gap declined between 1979 and 1994—due to men’s stagnant wages, not a tremendous increase in women’s wages—it has remained mostly flat since then.
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