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Retail Jobs Don’t Need to Be Bad. Here’s Proof.

Eduardo Porter New York Times
Retail work does not have to pay poverty wages. New study compares work in Europe and the U.S. For all the power of market forces, from automation taking over routine tasks to globalization squeezing retailers’ margins, there is nothing inevitable about low-quality retail jobs. Social norms and political institutions can make them better, or worse.

labor

Fran Works Six Days a Week in Fast Food, and yet She's Homeless: 'It's Economic Slavery'

Dominic Rushe Financial Times
It’s been almost a decade since the Great Recession, and America has witnessed a record 82 months of month-on-month jobs growth. The national unemployment rate now stands at a 4.3%, a 16-year low. But month after month, it is the low-wage sectors – fast food, retail, healthcare – that have added new jobs. Wage growth has barely kept pace with inflation. The national minimum wage ($7.25) was last raised in 2009.

Fight for $15 Organizers Tell SEIU: We Need $15 and a Union

David Moberg In These Times
Fight for $15 organizers have a long list of grievances against SEIU. They say they themselves do not get $15/hour. They are worried about the instability of their jobs and a tendency of the union to ramp up staff for one campaign, then shift only some of the staff to the next project. Ultimately, some workers say, SEIU's position may undermine public support and open up lines for employer attacks. See SEIU's response below.

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McDonald's Just Admitted That Worker Benefits Are Actually Good for Business

Alex Mierjeski ATTN:
Higher pay scales for longer-term employees would likely further reduce turnover and increase loyalty, says Erin Johansson, research director at Jobs With Justice. It would also reduce the burden on tax-paying Americans, who shell out more than $1.2 billion each year to cover public assistance programs for McDonald's employees, according to a recent study by the National Employment Law Project.

labor

This Is What $15 an Hour Looks Like

Gabriel Thompson The Nation - Jan. 25/Feb. 1, 2016 issue
In July, Emeryville, California, passed the highest city-wide minimum wage in the country. Here's how workers' lives changed - and didn't. As the gears of federal government have ground to a halt, a new energy has been rocking the foundations of our urban centers. From Atlanta to Seattle and points in between, cities have begun seizing the initiative, transforming themselves into laboratories for progressive innovation.

The Maquiladora Workers of Juárez Find Their Voice

David Bacon The Nation
Low pay, abusive conditions, no union representation - employees are fed up and fighting back. About 255,000 people work directly in Juárez's 330 maquiladoras, about 13 percent of the total nationally, making Juárez one of the largest concentrations of manufacturing on the US/Mexico border. Almost all the plants are foreign-owned. Eight of Juárez's 17 largest factories belong to US corporations,

Tidbits - November 12, 2015 - Asian Voters; Bernie Sanders (and Labor); Portside Satire; Cops and Students; $15 Wage; Football; BDS; Announcements and more...

Portside
Reader Comments: 2016 Elections - Asian American Voters, Bernie Sanders (and Labor); Portside Satire; Fight for $15; BDS, France, Israel, Palestine; Syria; Our Bodies Ourselves Needs Your Help; George Houser tribute; Skateboarders of Havana; These 24 Chains are Refusing to Open on Thanksgiving Day; How Class Works-2016 - conference proposals due

Recycling Workers Fight Firings and Win a Union

David Bacon; Photos by David Bacon The Progressive - On the Line
Workers from Alameda County Industries made the decision to join ILWU Local 6. They convinced the city to provide funding to raise their wages in a new union contract. Their wages are now steadily increasing and will reach $20.94/hour in 2019. Photo essay by David Bacon.

Tidbits - October 22, 2015 - Are You a Capitalist?; Sanders; Clinton; The Grassroots; Afghanistan; Puerto Rico; Palestine; Announcements; and more....

Portside
Reader Comments: Sanders forces question - Are You a Capitalist; Media and Country Debate Socialism like no time in a hundred years; Clinton; GOP Crackup; Afghanistan; Puerto Rico; Palestine; Leonard Peltier; Readers Debate Tipping; Rosalyn Baxandall Announcements: Marxist classes and book talks in New York; Paul Robeson play in Peekskill; Palestine Solidarity and Paid Family Leave events in New York
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