labor

Hamilton Nolan · 01/15/14 05:38PM

The National Labor Relations Board today charged that Walmart "illegally fired, disciplined or threatened more than 60 employees in 14 states" who were participating in strikes, protests, and other legal activities. I dunno, that seems out of character.

Lacey Donohue · 12/28/13 12:22PM

Approximately 1.3 million unemployed Americans lost their jobless benefits Saturday as the Emergency Unemployment Compensation program expired. "I don't know what we're going to do," said unemployed case manager Richard Mattos, 59, of Salem, Ore. "We could end up homeless because of this."

Amazon Could Get a Union

Hamilton Nolan · 12/17/13 03:04PM

Amazon is the future of retail in America. Like its biggest competitors, it is not unionized. But that could change soon.

Hamilton Nolan · 11/08/13 09:06AM

In downtown Los Angeles last night, 54 people were arrested while protesting Wal-Mart's business practices. They're asking for salaries of $25K per year for each full time Wal-Mart employee.

What Is the Whitest Job in America?

Lacey Donohue · 11/06/13 10:27PM

In a fantastic piece at The Atlantic, Derek Thompson uses U.S. Bureau of Labor data to highlight how the labor market is more stratified by race than you might imagine. According to the BLS, whites, on average, earn higher wages and face lower unemployment, while blacks and Latinos cluster in lower-paying jobs.

Hamilton Nolan · 11/06/13 12:52PM

Some Wal-Mart workers in Southern California walked off the job this morning to protest working conditions and wages. Nationwide Black Friday protests are already being planned.

Cord Jefferson · 11/04/13 09:17PM

Half of the workers in the United States made less than $27,519 last year. That median wage is the lowest it's been since 1998. The story is different for earners at the top, notes Al Jazeera America: "Since 2000, corporate pretax profits, adjusted for inflation, have more than doubled, reaching record levels."

Hamilton Nolan · 10/08/13 10:49AM

A study found that universities with unionized graduate students not only paid their graduate students more, but "on various measures of student-faculty relations, the survey found either no difference or (in some cases) better relations at unionized campuses."

Professor Gives 25 Years to Teaching, Dies Broke

Hamilton Nolan · 09/19/13 09:14AM

Margaret Mary Vojtko was a longtime adjunct professor at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Earlier this month, she died penniless. She may have an even greater effect in death than in life.

What's an Acceptable Ratio of CEO Pay to Worker Pay?

Hamilton Nolan · 09/18/13 01:48PM

As of 2011, the average CEO was paid 230 times the salary of an average worker at his company. Today, the SEC proposed a rule to require companies to report that ratio every year. What should it be? A modest proposal: 100-1.

Lacey Donohue · 09/17/13 08:07PM

The Obama administration has approved new rules that will extend minimum wage and overtime pay to home health care workers in 2015. Home care workers have been exempt from federal wage laws since 1974 when “they were placed in the same category as neighborhood baby sitters.”