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06/01/2006 - Minimum Wage Increase Squeaks by Senate
"Louisiana would set its minimum wage at $6.15 per hour, or $1 higher than the federal rate, under a bill that won narrow Senate approval Wednesday after backers agreed to several concessions." Read on in The Advocate.
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05/27/2006 - Jobless Benefits Extension Is On Hold
"Congress recessed for a weeklong Memorial Day holiday Friday without acting on legislation to extend unemployment insurance benefits for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/27/2006 - Time for a Payment Plan
"Every year, a small number of public-spirited lawmakers try to force the Legislature to deal honestly with public pensions – which is to say, with the consequences of its past shortsightedness." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/26/2006 - Job-Discrimination Bill Gets Past Panel
"A Senate committee voted 3-2 Thursday for a wide-ranging bill to ban job discrimination based on sexual orientation in the public and private sectors, but it faces an uncertain future as similar bills have already been killed by the full Senate and House this session." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/24/2006 - Senate Rejects Job Protection Bill for Gay State Government Workers
"The Senate killed a proposed law Tuesday to give job protection to homosexual and bisexual workers in state government." Read on in The Advocate.
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05/22/2006 - The End of 'More'
"I have never wavered in my support for policies that relieve poverty and improve the standard of living of American workers. As a lifelong liberal, I supported Medicare and Medicaid, civil rights, Social Security and workplace safety requirements. Today, I strongly support universal healthcare." Read on in the Los Angeles Times.
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05/19/2006 - Panel Advances La. Minimum Wage Bill
"A plan to set a state minimum wage that is $1 higher than the federal rate cleared a House committee on Thursday with one catch – it would apply to only about 800 state-government workers." Read on in The Advocate.
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05/18/2006 - House Rejects Bill to Ban Job Bias on State Level
"The House defeated a bill Wednesday that would have banned all job discrimination in state agencies, including actions based on sexual orientation." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/16/2006 - Minimum-Wage Bill Changes Course
"A bill to require public and private sector employers to pay workers at least $6.15 a hour, $1 more than the current federal minimum wage, was punted back to the full Senate after the Finance Committee decided Monday that it did not have jurisdiction on the measure." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/14/2006 - We Can Afford to Give Parents a Break
"In an era when the mythology of motherhood is slowly yielding to the realities, it seems only appropriate to disabuse ourselves of some of the myths surround our government’s treatment of mothers." Read on in the Washington Post.
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05/12/2006 - Efforts to Raise Minimum Wage Stalls on Tie Vote in House Panel
"With one member absent, the House Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations split 5-5 bottling up a bill that would raise the minimum wage in the state by $1 starting Oct. 1, 2007." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/06/2006 - Kerry Pledges to Rebuke the SBA
"Small-business owners struggling to recover from Hurricane Katrina told Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry on Friday that their companies are about to go under for want of help from the Small Business Administration, prompting the senator to vow “to raise the roof” when he returns to the U.S. Capitol, where he is the ranking Democrat on a Senate committee devoted to helping small businesses." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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05/04/2006 - Gay Bias Legislation Goes to House
"Legislation to give job protection to homosexual and bisexual state workers is headed to the House floor for debate." Read on in The Advocate.
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04/28/2006 - Panel OKs Higher Minimum Wage
"Over the objections of business interests, the Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations voted 3-2 Thursday to require employers in the state to pay a minimum wage of $6.15 an hour, $1 more than the federal minimum." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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04/23/2006 - Now It's Time for Women To Get Even
"Tuesday marks a very special day: It’s Equal Pay Day. Why Tuesday, you ask? Because that’s how far into the year the average woman must work to earn as much as a man earned by the end of the previous year." Read on in the Washington Post.
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04/21/2006 - For Hurricane Victims, a Flawed System
"The federal government’s main program for helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina rebuild their homes and businesses, operated by the Small Business Administration, has been plagued by inadequate leadership and poor planning, federal investigators have told Congress." Read on in the New York Times.
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04/18/2006 - High Court Weighs Retaliation at Work
"Sexual harassment in the workplace is against federal law. An employer is also liable if he or she discriminates against an employee who files a sexual harassment complaint. But the law is vague on a key question: How harsh does the employer’s retaliation have to be before it violates the law?" Read on in the Washington Post.
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04/11/2006 - Huckabee Signs Law Boosting Minimum Wage
"Gov. Mike Huckabee signed into law Monday a bill that will raise the state’s minimum wage to $6.25 an hour, giving Arkansas’ workers a higher minimum wage than is paid in any surrounding state." Read on in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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04/04/2006 - Job Fears Tied to Health Woes
"Getting laid off or fired, as too many folks in the Washington area know, can rank with divorce, death of a loved on and serious illness as one of life’s biggest blows. But the mere prospect of losing your job, finds a new study, may damage your mental and physical health still more." Read on in the Washington Post.
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03/31/2006 - Senate Bill Would Aid Laid-Off City Workers
"City workers who have been laid off by municipalities hit hard by hurricanes Katrina and Rita must be given first preference when the cities start hiring again, a Senate committee said Thursday." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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03/27/2006 - Job Police or Not, the EEOC Is Busy With Discrimination
"So they say – some of them, anyway – that discrimination is not a problem in America anymore? Don’t tell that to the tens of thousands of people who filed complaints last year with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission." Read on in the Washington Post.
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03/20/2006 - Multiple Layers Of Contractors Drive Up Cost of Katrina Cleanup
"How many contractors does it take to haul a pile of tree branches? If it’s government work, at least four: a contractor, his subcontractor, the subcontractor’s subcontractor, and finally, the local man with a truck and chainsaw." Read on in the Washington Post.
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02/08/2006 - Bush Proposes Raising SBA Rates
"The Bush administration is proposing increasing interest rates for Small Business Administration disaster loans if they are unpaid after five years." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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02/02/2006 - Migrants on Cleanup Crews Allege Unfair Work Practices
"Three disaster clean-up companies exploited migrant workers in New Orleans by failing to pay them overtime or, in many cases, failing to pay them at all, according to two lawsuits filed Wednesday in federal court." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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01/30/2006 - High Wages, Low Wages, and Morality
"It’s unusual for a controversial economic issue to be fought on moral grounds, but ACORN, a public advocacy group, has been winning a higher “living wage” for workers in state after state, city after city, by appealing to voters’ sense of justice." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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01/18/2006 - Taking on the Hotels
"Company by company, in quickening succession, the social contract in American implodes. Verizon and IBM scrap their pensions; Delphi floats a tidy two-thirds cut in pay; profits surge while wages sag and benefits vanish in broad daylight." Read on in the Washington Post.
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01/18/2006 - No More Hiding the Corporate Jet
"America’s corporate chief executive officers pull down big bucks in salaries, bonuses, and a whole lot else: stock options, special pensions and severance packages, payments to cover taxes, even jets and apartments. These extra are no easy for shareholders to ferret out, but that should soon change." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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01/14/2006 - Fisherman Buckle Under Rita
"The fish are there to be caught, but Hurricane Rita’s widespread destruction in Cameron Parish has severely damaged the infrastructure and facilities that play a role in getting that fish from the water onto the consumer’s plate." Read on in The Advocate.
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01/03/2006 - A Fair Day's Pay
"The federal minimum wage has been a paltry $5.15 an hour for more than eight years. Polls show that there is strong popular support for raising it, but Congress has resisted." Read on in the New York Times.
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01/03/2006 - Our Worrisome MDP
"Listen to most economic commentators and you’d think the biggest news of 2005 was that the American economy continued to grow at a health clip – notwithstanding hurricanes, oil shocks, trade imbalances, and a bloated federal budget deficit." Read on in the The American Prospect.
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01/02/2006 - States Take Lead in Push to Raise Minimum Wages
"Despite Congressional refusal for almost a decade to raise the federal minimum wage, nearly half of the civilian labor force lives in states where the pay is higher than the rate set by the federal government." Read on in the New York Times.
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12/31/2005 - More Women Fight Back Against Anti-Pregnancy Bias at Work
"Margaret Lynch, an emergency room doctor, said she was told when she was hired that she would eventually be offered an ownership interest in the practice that supplied the facility’s doctors." Read on in the Washington Post.
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12/19/2005 - Worker Shortage Besets a Buzzling New Orleans
"Jerry La Fleur and her husband moved away from New Orleans a year and a half ago, but quickly felt the pull to return home. Then hurricane Katrina hit, and they knew they had to go back. So they began searching online for jobs." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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12/18/2005 - Fisherman Struggle to Rebound From Back-to-Back Storms
"While hurricanes Katrina and Rita dealt a blow to some shrimpers, the storms were a mixed blessing to others." Read on in the Houma Courier.
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12/13/2005 - Low-Bid Policies Hurt Local Firms
"Raymond Pizzitolo was banking on a nearly $1 million contact with the New Orleans Police Department to jump-start his uniform business after Hurricane Katrina." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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12/09/2005 - Workers, Stiffed
"Progressive critics of the budget reconciliation bills now being melded together by a joint House-Senate conference committee usually attack the measures as tax breaks for the wealthy, paid for with budget cuts for the poor." Read on in The American Prospect.
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12/07/2005 - Unions Fight for Comeback After Split
"America’s labor movement may be at its weakest point in decades, with just 8 percent of private-sector workers in unions and a huge split in its ranks. But it’s also fighting back, trying to resonate with Americans worried about job losses and healthcare." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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11/15/2005 - Gulf Coast Slaves
"Arnulfo Martinez recalls seeing lots of hombres del ejercito standing at attention. Though he was living on the Belle Chasse Naval Base near New Orleans when President Bush spoke there on Oct. 11, he didn’t understand anything the ruddy man in the rolled-up sleeves was saying to the troops." Read on in Salon.
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11/07/2005 - Workers Face Paycheck Pinch
"Wages have been rising nominally: Average pay rose 8 cents last month to $16.27 an hour, according to a government report Friday. That’s not fast enough to counter inflation." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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10/25/2005 - Study Ranks Delaware N. 1 for Work Environment, Louisiana Last
"Delaware ranked first and Louisiana last in a University of Massachusetts study that tried to measure where workers are treated best, based on factors including job opportunities, job quality and workplace fairness." Read on in the Boston Globe.
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10/20/2005 - Business Group Pushes Tax Incentives
"The state’s leading business lobby is urging Gov. Kathleen Blanco to press immediately for tax incentives to help rebuild businesses and to reduce state government spending in reaction to Hurricane Katrina." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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10/18/2005 - U.S. Labor Is in Retreat as Global Forces Squeeze Pay and Benefits
"Workers at auto parts maker Delphi Corp. will be asked this week to take a two-thirds pay cut. It’s one of the most drastic wage concessions ever sought from unionized employees." Read on in the Los Angeles Times.
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10/12/2005 - The Vanishing Middle
"With the bankruptcy filing Saturday of Delphi Corp., the largest American auto parts manufacturer, the downward ratcheting of living standards that has afflicted the steel and airline industries hit the auto industry big-time." Read on in the Washington Post.
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10/11/2005 - FEMA to Reserve Contracts For Disadvantaged Companies
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency said yesterday it will set aside several major Gulf Coast reconstruction contracts for small, disadvantaged businesses that will be selected to do the work through competitive bidding." Read on in the Washington Post.
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09/28/2005 - Should Union Dues Back Political Causes?
"Fred Glass is worried that if a November ballot initiative passes here, teachers, firefighters, police, nurses, and other public employees will lose their collective political clout." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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09/27/2005 - Anna Burger to Head Breakaway Labor Group
"In 1972, the year Anna Burger started a wildcat strike of Philadelphia social workers, organized labor did not look like a promising career for a liberal, antiwar feminist." Read on in the Washington Post.
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09/20/2005 - Trial Over Wal-Mart Lunch Breaks Begins
"Lawyers representing about 116,000 former and current Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employees in California told a jury Monday that the world's largest retailer systematically and illegally denied workers lunch breaks." Read on in the Washington Post.
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09/20/2005 - Unions Forge a 'No-Raid' Agreement
"The Service Employees International Union and AFSCME, whose bitter fights over representation of home and child care workers threatened to debilitate an already-split labor movement, yesterday announced a peace agreement." Read on in the Washington Post.
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09/20/2005 - In Rural Towns, a Way of Life Washed Away
"As he drives his pickup truck through town - now reachable only via a makeshift road along the levee - Tony Slavich offers an impromptu tour." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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09/09/2005 - Bush Suspends Pay Act In Areas Hit by Storm
"President Bush yesterday suspended application of the federal law governing workers’ pay on federal contracts in the Hurricane Katrina- damaged areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Mississippi. The action infuriated labor leaders and their Democratic supporters in Congress, who said it will lower wages and make it harder for union contractors to win bids." Read on in the Washington Post.
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09/05/2005 - The Value of Labor also is a Moral Issues
"Labor Day was a gift delivered in the late 19th century by the same workers who fought for the eight-hour workday, sick leave, paid vacation, medical benefits, the end of child labor in this country, a workplace that is relatively safe and much more." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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09/02/2005 - A Chasm Grows in 'Flat' World
"At a meeting 11 days ago in Chicago, representatives from 900 unions worldwide coalesced around a common idea: Turn up the pressure on Wal-Mart globally to boost pay and benefits." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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08/31/2005 - Jobs Lost, Businesses in Shambles
"The list of what needs to be rebuilt in the wake of Hurricane Katrina continues to grow day by day. Thousands upon thousands of lives were changed Sunday. As Louisiana residents pick up the pieces of lost homes and jobs, the state faces the challenge to rebuild the economy of those regions- the largest New Orleans." Read on in the Lafayette Daily Advertiser.
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08/31/2005 - Getting the Federal Workers We Need
"The federal government is losing the battle for its fair share of out nation’s most talented workers. Yet it must hire about 100,000 people per year, and soon many more, given the huge numbers of federal workers expected to retire in the next five to 10 years." Read on in the Washington Post.
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08/26/2005 - Can Labor Survive Another Rapture?
"Mine was what you might call a union family. My windowed mother was sustained by David Dubinsky’s Garment Workers Union." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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08/18/2005 - Shrimpers Still Trawling Troubled Waters
"Lucy Pinell’s hands shook slightly as she tried to hold the invoice steady—the piece of paper displayed one of the reasons life has become rough for commercial fisherman." Read on in the Houma Courier.
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08/15/2005 - As Crawfish Crops Face Changes, So Does Culture
"Conery Durand fidgeted slightly in his seat when the question was asked. Dried mud from his boots fell on the floor as he ran a hand over his reddened face and golden beard. Conery, 33, had stayed relatively quiet until then, shifting from one foot to another while his older brother fielded queries." Read on in the Houma Courier.
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08/10/2005 - Labor Department Discovers Shortfall
"The state agency that helps Louisiana citizens find jobs will have to cut programs and staff after discovering a shortfall of nearly $10 million because it underestimated its federal sources of money this year." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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08/10/2005 - It's Not a Science Gap (Yet)
"A nation’s economic power could once be judged by tons of steel or megawatts of electricity. But we have moved beyond these simple indicators or even updated versions, such as computer chips. All advanced societies now depends so completely on technology that their economic might is often measured by their number of scientists and engineers." Read on in the Washington Post.
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08/08/2005 - Strong Hiring Shows Depth of Expansion
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08/04/2005 - Americans Favor Job Protection Based on Sexual Orientation
"Mike Johnson of the Alliance Defense Fund, the legal arm of religious fundamentalists, is once again attacking gays and lesbians with his usual unsubstantiated smears. In his July 20 guest column, Johnson wants to deny gays and lesbians who work for the city of Shreveport the same workplace protections other workers receive regardless of their race, sex, national original or political or religious affiliation." Read on in the Shreveport Times.
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08/01/2005 - Big Labor's Split Matters- Event to Nonunion American
"Sometimes, organizations take a step backward to make two steps forward. Other times, they’re simply headed in the wrong direction." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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07/25/2005 - Four Big Unions Boycott AFL-CIO Convention and May Split Away
"Four major unions announced Sunday that they will boycott this week’s AFL-CIO convention, and union officials said all four are likely to leave the AFL-CIO altogether, fracturing the federation that for 50 years has represented the U.S. labor movement." Read on in the Washington Post.
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07/20/2005 - New Law Requires Workers To Learn About Constitution
"Civics lessons do not get much swankier than this. The 160 or so federal employees who filed into the National Archives’ McGowan Theater yesterday for a program on the Constitution sat in plush red chairs and heard a five-piece brass band playing patriot songs." Read on in the Washington Post.
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07/18/2005 - House Bill Would Offer Domestic Partner Benefits to Unmarried Workers
"Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), joined by 52 other House members, has introduced legislation that would allow unmarried employees of the federal government to apply for health insurance, retirement and other benefits for their domestic partners." Read on in the Washington Post.
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07/07/2005 - Farmers-to-be Can't Afford the Fields
"Todd Weitekamp longs to work with tractors and machinery, to get dirty, to watch plants grow. Strong, clean-cut and amiable, he grew up in the Illinois countryside baling hay, tending cattle, and “walking the beans” – trudging down long rows of soybeans, yanking weeds." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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07/06/2005 - Workers of the World ... Disunite!
"The growing rift between insurgents in the AFL-CIO and the leadership of the labor federation looks increasingly like civil war. Those who care about the future of organized labor will now weigh the relative merits of the two factions." Read on in The Christian Science Monitor.
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07/01/2005 - Blanco's Bills are Boon to Business
"Joined by several Louisiana business figures in Chalmette today, Gov. Kathleen Blanco will sign into law a stack of bills she designed to encourage economic development and job growth in the state." Read on in the Times-Picayune.
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