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Mexico's Supreme Court slams Walmart's labor practices
" Mexico's Supreme Court compared the practices of US retail giant Walmart in Mexico to employer-worker relations during the dictatorship of former president Porfirio Diaz." " Mexico's Supreme Court compared the practices of US retail giant Walmart in Mexico to employer-worker relations during the... more
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Unemployment in Britain hits 16-year high
Britain's jobs market is suffering from the slowdown in the economy. After falling steadily for 15 years, unemployment has risen by about 70,000 this year. That puts the number of permanent jobs available to its lowest level since 2001. And economists predict that this trend will continue, pushing unemployment sharply up in the year to come.
"The slide in the UK economy continues to hit the jobs market hard - with yet another sharp drop in recruitment," said Alan Nolan, director at KPMG, which sponsors the report. "UK employers are continuing to control payroll costs through redundancies - and by refusing to take advantage of a growing (but increasingly unused) pool of skilled labour."
Economists warn that skilled workers are moving abroad, which could pose a workers-shortage when the economy picks up again. Britain's jobs market is suffering from the slowdown in the economy. After falling steadily for 15 years, unemployment has risen ... more -
Labor Day Facts from the Census Bureau
With the long-honored holiday just around the corner I thought it might be interesting to see some facts about Labor Day. Enjoy.
The first unofficial Labor Day was September 5, 1882. President Grover Cleveland signed it into law in 1894, designating the first Monday in September as Labor Day.
As of May this year, 154.5 million Americans worked --> 82.6 million men and 71.9 million women.
Among Americans working full time, 82 percent were covered by health insurance; 77 percent of workers in private industry received paid vacations; 77 percent of workers receive paid holidays.
What percentage of workers have access to the following?
- child care assistance: 15 percent
- long term care insurance: 12 percent
- medical care: 71 percent
- dental care: 46 percent
- vision care: 29 percent
- outpatient prescription drug coverage: 64 percent
America has:
- 7.1 million teachers
- 778,000 cosmetologists and hair stylists
- 288,000 firefighters
- 247,000 pharmacists
- 170,000 musicians, singers and related workers
- 104,000 tax preparers
- 90,000 service station workers
10.4 million Americans work for themselves (self-employed).
The median time for workers to have been with their employer is 4 years. Nine percent of workers have been at the same job for 20 years or more.
The median earnings in 2006:
$42,261 for men
$32,515 for women With the long-honored holiday just around the corner I thought it might be interesting to see some facts about Labor Day. Enjoy. ... more -
Drug tests for construction workers
Workers on unionized construction sites in B.C. will be subject to mandatory drug testing under an agreement negotiated by construction companies and unions. Workers on unionized construction sites in B.C. will be subject to mandatory drug testing under an agreement negotiated by constructio... more
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Arbitrator imposes contract at Canadian Wal-Mart
Employees at a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. outlet in Canada won an arbitrator-imposed contract on Friday, becoming the giant retailer's only location in North America with a collective agreement in place. Employees at a Wal-Mart Stores Inc. outlet in Canada won an arbitrator-imposed contract on Friday, becoming the giant retailer's ... more
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The dark side of the Toyota Prius
The National Labor Committee (NLC), a New York-based human rights group, has been investigating working conditions at Toyota Motor Corp., and the labor used to produce its best-selling Prius hybrid cars.
In its 65-page report released in June, NLC includes first-hand testimony of factory conditions in “Toyota City,” outside of Nagoya, Japan — less than 200 miles southwest of Tokyo — where the largest auto company in the world employs some 70,000 people.
The report alleges that Toyota exploits guest workers, mostly shipped in from China and Vietnam. According to the NLC, these workers are “stripped of their passports and often forced to work — including at subcontract plants supplying Toyota — 16 hours a day, seven days a week, while being paid less than half the legal minimum wage.” Workers are forced to live in company dormitories and deported for complaining about poor treatment, the report finds.
Low-wage temporary workers make up one-third of Toyota’s Prius assembly-line workers, mostly in the auto-parts supply chain. They are signed to contracts for periods as short as four months, and are paid only 60 percent of a full-time employee’s wage.
Parts plants run by subcontractors advertise standard, nine-hour, five-day-a-week jobs. But according to the NLC, “the typical shift was 15 to 16.5 hours a day, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. or 1:00 a.m.”
In 2002, Kenichi Uchino, 30, died while working at the “green” Tsutsumi plant that assembles the Prius. During the 13th hour of a routine 14-hour day, Uchino collapsed on the shop floor of the internationally lauded “sustainable” factory, which uses sulfur-oxide-eating paint and boasts 5 percent emissions reductions. A Japanese court ruled that Uchino’s death was caused by exhaustion from overwork.
His wife, Hiroko Uchino, described a grueling lifestyle that included an 85-hour workweek prior to his death. The NLC published his time cards, which reveal that he was “putting in 106.5 to 155 hours of overtime … in the 30 days leading up to his death.” The National Labor Committee (NLC), a New York-based human rights group, has been investigating working conditions at Toyota Motor Cor... more -
Author Larry Nocella comment: Big Air vs. Big Oil
Big Air vs. Big Oil
I once read a theory on why animal attacked by a predator screams. I can't remember the source or I would quote it, but the question posed was, what basis is there for expending energy to scream when all your strength should be concentrated on struggling to get away? The answer speculated upon was that the screaming could be a way of attracting other predators. This will cause the two predators to fight over the potential food, giving the screaming animal time to escape.
In short, there's no way a prey animal can win in a one on one fight versus a predator. The prey has to get the predators to fight each other in order to survive. Stretching that analogy further explains in my mind why the Enron scandal blew up into such a big deal.
Rich corporations (predators) have been attacking their workers (prey) for years and it's never been worth commenting on to the wealthy media and political species. However, the criminals at Enron were so greedy, they didn't just steal from the workers, they even ended up stealing from the rich people who invested in them. That's what led to the outrage from the media, the government, etc. Poor people can be (and are) trampled in bulk every day in human history and it doesn't merit a news story, but when the rich get screwed by one of their own, now that's an injustice.
So I was very excited when I opened my email this morning and found a letter from twelve Airline CEOs demanding more regulation of oil speculation. Summarized: oil speculation is the trading that occurs prior to the oil being sold to someone who is actually going to use it. Each time the oil is traded, it becomes more expensive. Without much regulation, that trading prior to someone using the oil can occur enough to drive the oil prices sky high, before anyone who is actually going to use the oil buys it. Imagine that! One industry calling for regulation of another! Awesome.
So years and years of the average consumer screaming about petrol prices has resulted in... nothing. But now that a fellow predator (Big Air is slimy) is attacking another predator (Big Oil is the slimiest) we can expect to see some change. So it is in the USA, where corporations rule too much.
Visit the site and stick it to Big Oil. Big Air is a bunch of jerks, too, but NO ONE is worse than Big Oil.
Go to http://www.stopoilspeculationnow.com/
Larry Nocella is the author of the novel, Where Did This Come From? available on Amazon.com.
http://www.larrynocella.com/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1425713815?tag=larrnoce-20&... Big Air vs. Big Oil ... more -
Time for a nap? It's National Siesta Day
Workers are being urged to sleep on the job as part of a campaign to import Spanish siestas to offices in the UK.
Company bosses are being encouraged to let their staff have a nap in their lunch break as part of National Siesta Day. A spokesperson for Siesta Awareness UK said: "The main purpose of the event is to help make a short post-lunch nap acceptable in UK culture.
"The short nap is an effective tool in helping us to be more healthy, alert and productive in the afternoon." Workers are being urged to sleep on the job as part of a campaign to import Spanish siestas to offices in the UK. ... more -
BC fails its farm workers
Unsurprisingly, few Canadians want farm work. It pays little (often below the minimum wage of $8 an hour). Many workers are in the fields 10 to 12 hours per day, seven days a week. Working conditions are hard, and often unsafe and unsanitary. Three of the most common complaints by workers is the lack of washrooms, drinking water and a place to eat lunch. All these amenities are required by WorkSafeBC -- yet workers report they have never seen any inspectors from the agency that is supposed to protect them in their workplaces. Unsurprisingly, few Canadians want farm work. It pays little (often below the minimum wage of $8 an hour). Many workers are in the fie... more
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IRS was defeated by the use of the true money
On September 17, the jury returned its verdict refusing to convict all nine defendants of any of the 161 federal tax crimes they had been charged with. One would think, “we the tax payers would want to hear that the IRS was defeated by the use of the true money.” To my knowledge, the results of this trial were never printed or broadcast by any of the major news media. Three days after the trial’s conclusion, the Las Vegas Review Journal ran its first and last story about the outcome and then only because of public pressure from interested parties who attended the trial.
Robert Kahre owns a family business and instead of using paper money he paid his workers with gold and silver coins minted by the United States government. He paid them based on the “face value” of the coins. If he paid a worker a dollar an hour he paid with a silver dollar, which states on the coin that it is “one dollar” regardless of today’s value. His wages were so low that he didn’t have to file W-2 income tax forms or withhold taxes or pay workman’s comp. This upset the IRS, which charged him and his family with 161 federal tax crimes.
Thank God we still have justice in this country. Let's hold onto it. It's worth more than money. Justice! On September 17, the jury returned its verdict refusing to convict all nine defendants of any of the 161 federal tax crimes they had b... more -
Absolutely berserk: frustrated office-worker totally flips out!!
"Absolutely Berserk: Frustrated Office-Worker Totally Flips Out!!" A worker in an office filled with those monotonous little cubicles finally got so frustrated that he went absolutely insane, destroying the whole office. Very scary stuff!
A photograph and the frighteningly bizarre video are included. "Absolutely Berserk: Frustrated Office-Worker Totally Flips Out!!" A worker in an office filled with those monotonous little... more -
Open-Ended French Rail Srike Begins.
If you're making a winter trip over to France, you might want to reconsider a EuroRail pass.
If you're living in the 16eme you might have trouble getting to work tomorrow, as the strike began at 8PM Tuesday.
Workers are protesting Sarkozy's pension reforms.
The strike is open-ended. The workers may be joined by Teachers, Civil Servants, and Utility Workers. If you're making a winter trip over to France, you might want to reconsider a EuroRail pass. ... more
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