Channel: Corporate Greed
Anti-Worker Labor Board in Spotlight as 2007 Comes to a Close (Part 4)
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From a new Congress taking the reins on Capitol Hill in January to the AFL-CIO's first-ever global organizing conference in December, working families have seen significant victories, unfortunate setbacks and a lot of unfinished business this year. We take a look back at 2007 in a series of posts, ending today with a quick glance at top items from October through December. Click here to read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.
October
* After watching the Bush administration's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issue anti-worker, pro-employer decisions time after time, systematically reducing workers' freedom to join unions, the AFL-CIO sought international assistance. We filed a complaint with the U.N. organization, the International Labor Organization, charging the NLRB with denying workers' rights in violation of international labor standards. Said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney: "Under Bush, America’s labor board has so failed our nation’s workers that we must now turn to the world’s international watchdogs to monitor and intervene."
A Working Family Presidential Forum with Olbermann and More 2007 Highlights (Part 3)
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From a new Congress taking the reins on Capitol Hill in January to the AFL-CIO's first-ever global organizing conference in December, working families have seen significant victories, unfortunate setbacks and a lot of unfinished business this year. We take a look back at 2007 in a series of posts, continuing today with a quick glance at the top items from July through September. Click here to read Part 1 and Part 2.
July
* Tens of thousands of public employees in New Hampshire, Oregon and Massachusetts won a voice at work with unions in 2007. The victories came after union members in 2006 elected pro-working family candidates to governors' offices and state legislatures, where lawmakers passed majority sign-up legislation. Under majority sign-up—which is a key part of the Employee Free Choice Act—workers form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.
From Passage of Minimum Wage to Senate Block of Employee Free Choice: AFL-CIO Blog Looks at 2007 (Part 2)
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From a brand new Congress taking the reins on Capitol Hill in January to the AFL-CIO's first-ever global organizing conference in December, working families have seen some significant victories, unfortunate setbacks and a lot of unfinished business this year. We take a look back at 2007 in a series of posts. Today in Part 2, a quick glance at top items from April through June. Click here to read Part 1.
April
* It's good work and pays well if you can get it. In 2006, the average CEO of Standard and Poor's 500 company made $14.78 million. But as the 2007 AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch reported, some of that was what some might call "funny money"—backdated stock options, a scandal that exploded in 2006.
2007: The AFL-CIO Now Blog’s Year in Review (Part 1)
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From a brand new Congress taking the reins on Capitol Hill in January to the AFL-CIO's first-ever global organizing conference in December, working families have seen some significant victories, unfortunate setbacks and a lot of unfinished business this year. We take a look back at 2007 in a series of posts starting today with a quick glance at top items from January through March.
January
* As the battle to win congressional passage of the Employee Free Chance Act heated up, a new study showed one in five union organizers or activists are illegally fired for trying to bring a union into the workplace.
N.Y.C. ‘Underground’ Construction Economy Costs Workers and Taxpayers
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In New York City's booming construction industry, at least 50,000 workers are misclassified by employers as independent contractors or are working off the books—costing workers lost wages and benefits and local, state and federal governments nearly $500 million in 2005. A new report says that without tougher enforcement of employment and wage laws, the cost could jump to as much as $557 million next year.
Building up New York, Tearing Down Job Quality, released this week by the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI), estimates nearly a quarter of the city's 200,000 construction workers are part of the growing "underground economy."
Grinch of the Year: Smithfield Chairman
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The votes are in. And the winner, if you want to call him that, is Joseph Luter III, chairman of Smithfield Foods Inc.
With more than 10,000 votes cast, Luter grabbed 28 percent of the vote. But it was not a runaway. He barely beat out American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey (27 percent) for the (un)coveted title Grinch of the Year.
The seventh annual Grinch of the Year contest, sponsored by Jobs with Justice, gives us all the opportunity to cast a vote for the national figure who does the most harm to working families.
$38 Billion in Bonuses for Wall Streeters, Home Foreclosures for Regular Folks. Really?
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While executives at the top five Wall Street firms are getting a record $38 billion in bonuses this Christmas season, millions of working families are worrying whether they will lose their homes in the New Year—in the wake of the nation’s mortgage crisis.
The AFL-CIO called today for major mortgage lenders to impose a one-year moratorium on subprime mortgage foreclosures. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, in a letter to the largest subprime mortgage lenders and underwriters, writes:
Wall Street seems to be giving unprecedented cash rewards to the very people whose conduct threatens to strip millions of Americans of their homes and drive our country into recession, while at the same time refusing to take the actions necessary to address the crisis.
Jingle Bells, Toxic Toys, Santa’s on the Way
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A chorus of kids on YouTube has a holiday message for the Bush administration, Congress and toy manufacturers.
Set to the tune of the holiday classic "Jingle Bells," the kids plead:
Toxic toys, toxic toys,
Make them go away.
Please don't bring us toxic toys
This year on Christmas day-ay.
Toxic toys, toxic toys,
They will make us sick.
Better check the recall list
And notify St. Nick.
Over the past year, we've seen headlines about lead-tainted toys and other toxic products hitting our store shelves—usually made in China for U.S. manufacturers seeking the cheapest labor possible. Tens of millions of well-known and popular toys have been recalled.
The SEC Takes a Step Backward for Corporate Accountability
Imagine when you went to the polls to vote you were provided an official government-issued ballot that listed only one name for each open position. When you complain there is not much point in voting, a government representative tells you that you are welcome to print up and distribute your own ballots with different names for each position. It is clear that under these circumstances, elections almost always would be a mere rubber stamping of the slate of candidates that a self-perpetuating ruling class has selected. Necessary, healthy change would happen only against the greatest odds.
This is the situation that has prevailed with respect to the election of the boards of directors at our public companies. And just when things were about to change for the better the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—whose mission it is to be the “investor’s advocate”—decided to stand in the way of this change. On Nov. 28, the SEC voted to deny investors the right to field their own board candidates on company ballots to replace incompetent directors nominated by company management. Annette Nazareth, the sole Democrat on the commission, voted against the rule, saying that it “stands in the way of shareholders’ rights to elect the directors of companies they own.”
CVS Fined for Exposing Minors to Hazardous Working Conditions
CVS Pharmacy Inc. will pay nearly a quarter of a million dollars in fines and more than $38,000 in back wages for exposing young workers to hazardous conditions and altering employee time cards in violations of the wage and young worker provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the U.S. Department of Labor announced this week.
The investigation covered 63 CVS retail locations in the Northeast. The department said 78 minors had been exposed to hazardous working conditions, including the loading and operation of cardboard compacters and bailers. Also, seven young workers were allowed to work long or later than the law allows.
