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Unions rip Schumer’s deal on H-1B visas - The Hill - covering Congress, Politics, Political Campaigns and Capitol Hill

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

The Hill - By Jennifer Martinez - May. 22 (News Report) - AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka issued a blistering statement on Hatch’s amendments Tuesday afternoon, calling them “unambiguous attacks on American workers,” as the federation vowed to fight them on the Senate floor. “Hatch’s amendments change the bill so that high tech companies could functionally bring in H-1B visa holders without first making the jobs available to American workers,” Trumka said. “Hatch’s amendments would mean that American corporations could fire American workers in order to bring in H-1B visa holders at lower wages.”

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Post Office Lost $1.9 Billion Over The Last 3 Months

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Sam Hananel - May. 10 (News Report) - the Postal Service continues to lose money at a rapid pace due to a decline in mail volume and a congressional requirement that it make advance payments to cover expected health care costs for future retirees – something no other federal agency does.

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Chicago Workers Open New Cooperatively Owned Factory Five Years After Republic Windows Occupation

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - May. 09 (News Report) - Workers at the New Era Windows Cooperative are celebrating the grand opening of their new unionized, worker-owned and operated business. Almost a year to the day after their window factory closed, a group of former workers have launched their own window business without bosses. They successfully raised money to buy the factory collectively and run it democratically. In 2008, some of the workers were involved in a famous six-day sit-in after Republic Windows and Doors gave workers just three days’ notice before closing the factory. The sit-in drew national attention and union workers reached a settlement where they each received $6,000 each. About 65 workers occupied the factory after their jobs came under threat again in 2012. We speak to two worker-owners of the just-opened New Era Windows Cooperative and a labor organizer who helped with their fight.

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Obama Embraces Plutocrats Again With His Billionaire Commerce Secretary Choice

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Steven Rosenfeld - May. 07 (News Analysis) - her record as a businesswoman shares similarities with Mitt Romney’s. Her massive wealth is kept in tax-avoiding offshore accounts. Her family’s best-known business, the Hyatt hotel empire, is known for bitter and ongoing disputes with labor unions. Her resume includes running a bank that pioneered high-interest subprime loans and then failed miserably, leaving uninsured depositors with losses averaging $6,000.

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JOLTS Data Offer Depressing Snapshot Of Job Market

Tue, 07 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Mark Gongloff - May. 07 (News Report) - If it wasn't clear before, it's clear now: Employers just aren't hiring. The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday released its latest Job Openings And Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) , a less-famous read on the job market than Friday's jobs report . The

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The Hollowing Out of Government

Sun, 05 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

nationofchange.org - By Robert Reich - May. 05 (Opinion) - OSHA and its state partners have a total of 2,200 inspectors charged with ensuring the safety of over more than 8 million workplaces employing 130 million workers. That comes to about one inspector for every 59,000 American workers. There’s no way it can do its job with so few resources, but OSHA has been systematically hollowed out for the years under Republican administrations and congresses that have despised the agency since its inception. In effect, much of our nation’s worker safety laws and rules have been quietly repealed because there aren’t enough inspectors to enforce them.

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Do visas for skilled foreigners shut out U.S. tech workers?

Sun, 05 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

seattletimes.com - By Kyung M. Song, Janet I. Tu - May. 05 (Special Report) - Though he was then in his late 50s, Erickson figured the drumbeat of complaints from Microsoft and other tech companies about a dearth of good applicants promised an easy career switch. Nine months past his graduation, however, Erickson has yet to find full-time work. “When I saw my (philosophy) career was going to be over, I retrained myself,” Erickson, now 60, said. “What good is that if I’m not actually going to get a job?”

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We Decide How to Share Gains

Thu, 02 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Stan Sorscher - May. 02 (Opinion) - Multinational employers steadily move work offshore, and lay off thousands of workers. We've cut funding for education; student debt is over a trillion dollars. We've terminated pensions, weakened unions, made work more contingent and more precarious. Wal-Mart cuts hours to avoid paying for health care. Some elected officials demonize teachers, and public employees, and turn public opinion against any regular worker daring to hope for a higher standard of living. Globally, workplace insecurity and inequality are at historic levels.

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As Bangladesh Toll Hits 400, Calls Grow to Grant Workers the Same Protections as Labels They Make

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - May. 01 (News Analysis) - "We need to stand up and just say, 'You can bring anything you want into the United States, but you're not bringing it in if it was made by children or the workers are denied their right to organize.’ The lift that would give to the Bangladeshi labor movement would be enormous."

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When Your Boss Steals Your Wages: The Invisible Epidemic That’s Sweeping America

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Lynn Stuart Parramore - Apr. 29 (Special Report) - Americans like to think that a fair day’s work brings a fair day’s pay. Cheating workers of their wages may seem like a problem of 19th-century sweatshops. But it’s back and taking a terrible toll. We’re talking billions of dollars in wages; millions of workers affected each year. A gigantic heist is being perpetrated against working people: they’re getting screwed on overtime, denied their tips, shortchanged on benefits, defrauded on payroll, and handed paychecks that bounce like rubber balls. A conservative estimate of unpaid overtime alone shows that it costs workers at least $19 billion per year

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Worker-Owned Cooperatives: Direct Democracy in Action

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

nationofchange.org - By David Morgan - Apr. 19 (Special Report) - It’s our philosophy that cooperatives enable direct democracy and local control over the economy. As participants in the co-op movement, we help to turn flashpoints into lasting social change. Fortunately, the path to a community-controlled economy is well worn, and the adaptive responsive networks of the movement are buoying this energy. Over decades, these movement-based networks have quietly built support structures to transition us to a new economy. And with renewed demands for economic justice, they are springing to life.

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No OSHA Inspections at Texas Plant in 5 Years: Are We Doing Enough to Protect Workplace Safety?

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Apr. 18 (News Report) - In the wake of the deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant, reporter Mike Elk of In These Times magazine joins us to discuss the plant's safety record and the troubling regulatory environment for workplaces in Texas and nationwide. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has not inspected West Fertilizer Co. in five years, and the EPA fined the plant in 2006 for failing to have a risk management plan. Elk says OSHA is understaffed and underfunded nationwide, across all industries.

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Not Every Republican Hates Obama's Progressive Labor Secretary Nominee

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Mother Jones - By Adam Serwer - Apr. 18 (Opinion) - Thomas Perez, the head of the Justice Department's civil rights division and President Barack Obama's nominee to head the Department of Labor, is getting some support from unexpected corners: Republicans, particularly in his home state of Maryland. "I think he's going to be a very fine secretary of labor for us," says Michael Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee who first met Perez when he was a member of the Montgomery County Council and Steele was Lt. Governor of Maryland. "He's honest, direct, approachable and willing to work hard to get it right." Steele isn't the only Maryland Republican praising Perez. "He's just a trustworthy guy," says John Kane, a former chair of the Maryland GOP. "If I had to put a trust together to manage my affairs after I was gone, Tom would be one of the top three guys I would pick to do that, even though I disagree with him more than half the time." Monday, John R. Dunne, a Republican who was head of the civil rights division during the ...

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Poverty Expert Peter Edelman Explains How Low Wages and Racial Politics Line the Pockets of the Rich

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Adelle M. Stan - Apr. 16 (Opinion) - in 1996, Edelman resigned his post as an assistant secretary in the Department of Health and Human services to protest President Bill Clinton's signing the Republicans' welfare-reform bill into law. Since then, Edelman has held fast not only to his critique of that law -- which, he says, has left some 6 million people with no income other than food stamps -- but to his assessment of why poverty in the world's richest nation has become so intractable.

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H-1B/L-1/Offshoring

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

heather.cs.ucdavis.edu - By Norm Matloff - Apr. 08 (Opinion) - In the coming days, we'll likely see a spate of articles similar to the one in today's edition of the San Jose Mercury News, titled, "H-1B Visa Lottery Leaves 40,000 Skilled Foreign Workers Out of Luck." Unfortunately, none of them will mention the simple, obvious solution: Hold an auction, not a lottery. This has been proposed by various organizations, including I believe by WashTech and the Programmers Guild. The idea couldn't be simpler--just dole out the visas in the order of offered wage. Market-based solution, easy to implement, no need for legislation.

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Obama's EU Trade Deal Would Include New Political Powers For Corporations

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Zach Carter, Ryan Grim - Apr. 03 (News Report) - The Obama administration is pursuing a free trade agreement with the European Union that would grant corporations new political power to challenge an array of regulations both at home and abroad, according to an administration official involved in the negotiations.

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Overtime Laws Could Be Loosened Under GOP Comp-Time Proposal

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Dave Jamieson - Apr. 03 (News Report) - House Republicans are planning to introduce legislation that could loosen the nation's 75-year-old law governing overtime in the workplace, allowing employers and workers to choose taking compensatory time off rather than the traditional time-and-a-half pay.

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Like NAFTA, TPP would help corporations, but not people

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

thestand.org - By Raul Burbano, Kristin Beifus, Manuel PÉrez Rocha - Mar. 28 (Special Report) - TTPPxBorderhe TPP is a super-sized trade deal-expanding on so called “next generation” trade and investment deals that NAFTA countries have pursued in the wake of the stalemate at the World Trade Organization. This pluri-lateral agreement poses serious new threats to North American communities — threats that a tri-national movement of trade justice activists is preparing to fight in the lead-up to a possible July TPP negotiating round in Canada.

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Washington State says: Save 6-day delivery at Postal Service

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

thestand.org - By Kathy Cummings - Mar. 28 (News Report) - The root cause of the agency’s fiscal problems is the unique congressional requirement—the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) — that USPS prefund retirement benefits for decades into the future. Repeal of that requirement would restore financial stability to the USPS.

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ALEC-inspired wage suppression efforts hit U.S., Washington

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

thestand.org - Mar. 28 (News Report) - A new report from the National Employment Law Project shows that the American Legislative Exchange Council is engaged in a widespread campaign to suppress the wages of already low-wage workers, including here in Washington state. ALEC has created model legislation that is designed to weaken or repeal state minimum wage laws, reduce minimum wages for young workers and tipped workers, weaken overtime compensation rules and stop local governments from passing living wage ordinances.

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Full Show: What Has Capitalism Done for Us Lately?

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

billmoyers.com - By Bill Moyers - Mar. 22 (Special Report) - Sheila Bair, the longtime Republican who served as chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) during the fiscal meltdown five years ago, joins Bill to talk about American banks’ continuing risky and manipulative practices, their seeming immunity from prosecution, and growing anger from Congress and the public. Also on the show, Richard Wolff

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Corporate-Backed Trans-Pacific Partnership Shrouded in Secrecy

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

truth-out.org - By Sam Knight - Mar. 19 (News Analysis) - The TPP will give big business additional leverage through regulatory ceilings and dispute resolution tribunals. The latter, used to enforce the former, could increase international litigation risk for new regulations - a threat that already exists, courtesy of NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO. The panels create additional legal venues in which either foreign investors can demand compensation for losses borne through "regulatory expropriation," or in which states can be awarded the right to impose retaliatory tariffs on counterparts deemed to be pushing biased regulations. They don't create additional opportunities for workers to sue a foreign country or company for allowing the murder of union leaders, nor do they offer an additional medium for a government to sue a company for environmental damage. The result is the creation of new institutions fueling the race to the bottom wrought by an interpretation of global economic integration that affords capital outsized privilege. The chilling effect on regulation is greater in poorer countries that can be cowed by the panels.

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Lawmakers hear from CEO opponents of H-1Bs

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Computerworld - By Patrick Thibodeau - Mar. 19 (News Report) - "If these outsourcing firms were not bringing in the entry level [workers], or they didn't have such a big pool of H-1B visa people available, then I think it opens the doors to making IT an attractive occupation once again, which I think is so important for an innovative economy," Keane said, in an interview.

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CEOs explain how H-1B visa hurts U.S. competitiveness

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

epi.org - By Daniel Costa - Mar. 15 (News Report) - on March 14 a briefing was held on Capitol Hill to inform Senate staffers about the H-1B program’s impacts on the labor market and job opportunities for U.S. workers in STEM fields. The briefing offered facts and perspectives about the H-1B that are usually ignored or overlooked by the media; including from CEOs who use the program.

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I-Squared Equals I'm Screwed

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Stan Sorscher - Mar. 13 (Opinion) - This January, Senators Hatch and Klobuchar introduced The Immigration Innovation Act, known as "I-Squared." It will triple the number of foreign temporary workers from about 800,000 to over 2.3 million. This will distort the labor market for jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), which has only 4 million workers all told. I-Squared will seriously depress the domestic STEM labor market.

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