Labor/Economics

News and events of the day
ap215
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Re: Labor/Economics

Post by ap215 »

Illinois voters approve collective bargaining amendment

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois voters have approved an amendment to their state constitution guaranteeing the right to bargain collectively.

The measure in last week’s election was closely watched in Illinois and beyond as a gauge of public support for the labor movement, which has lost ground for years in conservative-led states. Unions groups say it could signal a new chapter in the struggle over workers’ rights as U.S. union ranks have grown as everyone from coffee shop baristas to warehouse workers seeks to organize.

https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm ... 9761cf68f2
Motor City
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Post by Motor City »

Of cycles and privilege economics and labor punishment and humanity.

The Landlord and the Tenant
.....A bill being debated by state lawmakers in Madison will gut the ability of cities to inspect rental properties. And, say local officials from across the state, it will prevent them from forcing owners to fix code violations before renters move in.

One state legislative sponsor says the bill “promotes regulatory fairness” by treating all properties alike, whether occupied by renters or owners.

But Milwaukee says the bill’s prohibitions “strike at the heart of what a local government does — to protect the health, safety and welfare of its citizens.” Its inspection program, in place since 2010, has allowed the city to target areas with higher-than-average building-code complaints, officials write. The city of Beloit also opposes the bill. This year, in two months alone, its rental inspection program found 33 units unfit for inhabitation.

The bill passes the Republican-controlled Assembly along party lines, 60-31. The Senate gives its approval, and Gov. Scott Walker signs the bill into law.

The bill is one of five major, landlord-friendly laws passed between 2011 and 2019.

Among lawmakers voting on these measures, about 1 in 5 are themselves landlords or property managers.......
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Motor City
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Post by Motor City »

Approaching Thanksgiving once again we ponder what we are thankful for and where it all comes from.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-idyCP-YHo

Migrant workers recount abuse while building stadiums for World Cup in Qatar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hXtG2rhl84
World Cup in Qatar Is "Deadliest Major Sporting Event" in History, Built on a Decade of Forced Labor

As the World Cup begins, we look at the host country of Qatar's labor and human rights record. "This is the deadliest major sporting event, possibly ever, in history," says Minky Worden of Human Rights Watch, who describes how millions of migrant workers from the world's poorest countries have faced deadly and forced labor conditions working on the $2 billion infrastructure.

By one count, 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since 2010, when it was awarded the right to host the games. "These are unprecedented labor rights abuses," says Worden, who claims "there's no ability if you're a migrant worker in Qatar to strike for your basic human rights."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8c2zZtg004

Why slavery as a punishment for crime was just on the ballot in some states
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carmenjonze
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Post by carmenjonze »

Motor City wrote: Tue Nov 22, 2022 5:02 am Approaching Thanksgiving once again we ponder what we are thankful for and where it all comes from.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-idyCP-YHo

Migrant workers recount abuse while building stadiums for World Cup in Qatar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hXtG2rhl84
Labor unions are illegal.

A woman without a male "guardian" is illegal.

Samesex-anything is illegal.

Strikes for better working conditions are illegal.

But slavery and rampant exploitation of immigrants and migrants is perfectly legal.

And now! oh my goodnes heavens to betsy! people have critiques of FIFA for holding the World Cup there, so the FIFA president is convinced he's a victim of "racism." :roll:
:roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8c2zZtg004

Why slavery as a punishment for crime was just on the ballot in some states
Have all 50 states even ratified the 13th Amendment, yet? :?
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Motor City
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Re: Labor/Economics

Post by Motor City »

Workers beaten by police while protesting pay at biggest Apple iPhone factory in China
......Foxconn offered higher pay to attract more workers to the Zhengzhou factory to assemble the iPhone 14, which sells starting at $799 in the United States.

On Tuesday, a protest erupted after employees who had traveled long distances to take jobs at the factory complained that the company changed terms of their pay, according to an employee, Li Sanshan.

Li said he quit a catering job when he saw an advertisement promising 25,000 yuan ($3,500) for two months of work. That would be a significant hike over average pay for this type of work in the area.

After employees arrived, the company said they had to work two additional months at lower pay to receive the 25,000 yuan, according to Li.

"Foxconn released very tempting recruiting offers, and workers from all parts of the country came, only to find they were being made fools of," he said.......
just like in American employers promise things in a way that are unobtainable or easily undone then sick the militarized police on them to intimidate force them back into servitude.
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Motor City
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Foxconn apologizes for pay dispute at China factory
....Employees complained Foxconn Technology Group changed the terms of wages offered to attract them to the factory in the central city of Zhengzhou. Foxconn is trying to rebuild the workforce after employees walked out last month over complaints about unsafe conditions.

Videos on social media showed police in white protective suits kicking and clubbing workers during the protest that erupted Tuesday and lasted into the next day.

Foxconn, the biggest contract assembler of smartphones and other electronics for Apple and other global brands, blamed a “technical error” in the process of adding new employees and said they would be paid what they were promised.

"We apologize for an input error in the computer system and guarantee that the actual pay is the same as agreed and the official recruitment posters," said a company statement. It promised to “try its best to actively solve the concerns and reasonable demands of employees.”.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EHAo6rEuas
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carmenjonze
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Post by carmenjonze »

Read Jackson Rising by @CooperationJXN
@JoshuaPHilll
It would be cool if just once they framed it like “billionaire rail owners refuse to give people sick days, so workers voted against a tentative contract…”

Reuters
@Reuters
Official

WATCH: Workers at the largest U.S. rail union voted against a tentative contract deal, raising the possibility of a year-end strike that could cause significant damage to the U.S. economy and strand vital shipments of food and fuel https://reut.rs/3VfOvoc

https://twitter.com/JoshuaPHilll/status ... 5455105026
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ZoWie
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Post by ZoWie »

Foxconn is a forced-labor camp by any other name, and they most likely made your iPhone.

The scope and sheer insanity of the place is way more than Americans are capable of imagining. It's more like bad 1960s science fiction.

Foxconn granted the specific wage demands that precipitated the latest rumble, blaming the software or some similar excuse, but that's only about 1/3 of their problem. We will never know how many employees got covid, since officially nobody at all in China has it. (Disregard the few million that have something that sure looks like it.) Employees work, eat, and sleep in the walled Foxconn compound that's more like a prison than what we'd consider a factory, making your iPhones, and they had started busting out and going over the hill. The more recent spectacle of cops in scrub suits and PPE whacking employees with 8 foot clubs (so you don't have to violate social distancing to bust their heads) was a culmination of something that has been going on for a long time, but according to the government line doesn't exist.

Apparently the Chinese made everyone get their vaccine, unlike here, but it was the shitty kind that doesn't work for more than a few months, not the big-time RNA vaccines we got, or at least used to get until Americans decided covid was over.

Now the Chinese are all getting covid but sssssssssh, you're not supposed to know that.
"We must remember that we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation." --Liz Cheney, Republican, 7/21/22
ap215
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Re: Labor/Economics

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NLRB Region-29 Wins Federal Court Order Requiring Amazon to Cease and Desist from Firing Employees for Protected Activities

Staten Island, New York – On November 18, 2022, Judge Diane Gujarati of the United States District Court for the District of Eastern New York issued a Section 10(j) injunction against Amazon.com Services LLC directing Amazon to cease and desist from discharging employees, and from engaging in any like or related conduct, in retaliation for employees engaging in protected activities. The injunction also directs Amazon to post, distribute, and read the Court’s order to employees at the Employer’s Staten Island facility (“JFK8”).

The injunction was issued based on a petition for Section 10(j) injunctive relief filed by Kathy Drew King, former Regional Director of Region 29 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) authorizes the NLRB to seek injunctions against employers and unions in federal district courts to ensure that employees' rights will be adequately protected from remedial failure due to the passage of time.

https://www.nlrb.gov/news-outreach/news ... -cease-and
Motor City
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Post by Motor City »

South Korea orders striking cement truckers back to work
South Korea’s government issued an order Tuesday for some of the thousands of truck drivers who have been on strike to return to work, insisting that their nationwide walkout over freight fare issues is hurting an already weak economy.

Despite facing the threat of delicensing or even prison terms, the strike’s organizers said they would defy the order and accused President Yoon Suk Yeol’s conservative government of suppressing their labor rights and ignoring what they described as worsening work conditions and financial strain caused by rising fuel costs and interest rates.

The order was approved in a Cabinet meeting called by Yoon and targeted about 2,500 drivers of cement trucks among a broader group of truckers participating in the walkout. It marked the first time a South Korean government has exercised controversial powers under a law revised in 2004 to force truckers back to their jobs.

A failure to comply without “justifiable reason” is punishable by up to three years in jail or a maximum fine of 30 million won ($22,400). Critics have denounced the law as unconstitutional, saying it doesn’t clearly define what qualifies as acceptable conditions for a strike......
Global trends for self-serving ends. Where will they lead us back to?

https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1596553116882722819
WATCH: Workers at the largest U.S. rail union voted against a tentative contract deal, raising the possibility of a year-end strike that could cause significant damage to the U.S. economy and strand vital shipments of food and fuel
Joe Biden not on the side of workers, employment security, workers health and safety or Mental Health here.
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Motor City
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Biggest U.S. rail union digs in on paid sick time, raising threat of strike
Labor unions have criticized the railroads' sick leave and attendance policies and the lack of paid sick days for short-term illness. There are no paid sick days under the tentative deal. Unions asked for 15 paid sick days and the railroads settled on one personal day.

Railroads have slashed labor and other costs to bolster profits and are fiercely opposed to adding paid sick time that would require them to hire more staff.......
....Last week, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said Congress should step in to prevent any disruption, warning it would be catastrophic for the economy.....
....The railroads showed no sign of being willing to reopen talks and said, "Congress may need to intervene, just as it has in the past, to prevent disruption of the national rail system."

The standoff between U.S. railroad operators and their union workers in September disrupted flows of hazardous materials such as chemicals used in fertilizer and disrupted U.S. passenger railroad Amtrak service as railroads prepared for a possible work stoppage.......
So the railroads and chamber of commerce and the president don't want to disrupt the flow of hazardous materials even to the point they support the rail companies not give any relief to the employees who are doing the hauling? They want sick employees coming in to work or fearing calling in when in no shape to work just so the rail company doesn't have to hire more people. It may be strategic in siphoning power away from workers but its certainly no way to handle hazzardous materials or workers health and safety or for that manner the dreaded boogie man mental health.
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ZoWie
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Re: Labor/Economics

Post by ZoWie »

That makes me hope that locomotives still have dead man's pedals.
"We must remember that we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation." --Liz Cheney, Republican, 7/21/22
Motor City
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Re: Labor/Economics

Post by Motor City »

Mayor says NYC will treat mentally ill, even if they refuse
.... It would give outreach workers, city hospitals and first responders, including police, discretion to involuntarily hospitalize anyone they deem a danger to themselves or unable to care for themselves.

“The very nature of their illnesses keeps them from realizing they need intervention and support. Without that intervention, they remain lost and isolated from society, tormented by delusions and disordered thinking. They cycle in and out of hospitals and jails.”.......
The kind of intervention most need is for people in positions of concentrated power and in circles of concentrated wealth to be treated for their delusions, isolation from society, and disordered thinking. The very nature of the concentrations of power and wealth keeps them from realizing that they need help and are imposing severe mental health strains on so many others. The cure has always been in our democracy, justice, and economic systems when those things become sick with concentrated wealth and power, and injustice there is no healing at all.
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carmenjonze
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Motor City
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Re: Labor/Economics

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Valley police arrest 82-year-old woman for failure to pay trash services
An 82-year-old woman was arrested for failure to pay for her trash services, according to the Valley Police Department.

According to officials, the City of Valley Code Enforcement Officers issued Menefield a citation in August 2022 for non-payment for trash services for the months of June, July and August.

Prior to issuing the citation, Code Enforcement said they attempted to call Menefield several times and even attempted to contact her in person at her residence. When contact could not be made, a door hanger was left at her residence.

The hanger contained information on the reason for the visit and a name and contact phone number for her to call. The citation advised Menefield that she was to appear in court on September 7, in reference to this case......
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carmenjonze
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Apple Retail Union
@Apple_Union

Apple Workers Stand in Solidarity with Zhengzhou Foxconn Workers.

https://twitter.com/Apple_Union/status/ ... 8262423553
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Libertas
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carmenjonze wrote: Fri Dec 02, 2022 4:23 pm Apple Retail Union
@Apple_Union

Apple Workers Stand in Solidarity with Zhengzhou Foxconn Workers.

https://twitter.com/Apple_Union/status/ ... 8262423553
i retweeted but i dont know how much longer I can justify being on twitter.

Mastodon is confusing as HELL, there is at least 3 servers or sites

masto.ai
sfba.social
mastodon.social

I have accts on the first two and I have different names on each...one seems to have more past info than the other. the APP on my phone is which site?
I sigh in your general direction.
Motor City
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Outages in North Carolina county could last days after 'targeted' attack on substations
More than 33,000 people were without electricity Monday after two power substations in a North Carolina county were damaged by gunfire in what law enforcement officials called a "targeted" attack that could leave residents without power for days.

A person "opened fire" at both substations Saturday, Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said during a news conference. He did not say how the person got past the gates at either substation, but a photo from The Pilot shows the gate to one of the substations on the ground.

The outages began in Carthage, North Carolina, around 7 p.m. Saturday and then spread through the majority of central and southern Moore County, Fields said. He said power crews and deputies found "extensive damage" at the substations.

Fields said the FBI and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation are investigating the attack, but authorities have not determined a motive.....

....Traffic lights were out throughout the county. Drivers treated intersections as four-way stops, which caused some traffic in places such as downtown Carthage. A consistent hum of honks could be heard as people signaled to each other when they should go at each nonfunctional traffic light. Many local businesses and restaurants displayed “Closed” signs in the windows and had empty parking lots.

Outages could last until Thursday for some customers as crews complete the "sophisticated repair," Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks said.

"Unlike perhaps a storm where you can go in and reroute power somewhere else, that was not an option in this case, so repair has to be complete; in many cases, some of that equipment will have to be replaced," Brooks said at the press conference.

The outages caused several accidents, including a four-vehicle crash that injured four people, Mike Cameron, Southern Pines’ assistant town manager and fire chief, told The News & Observer.

“The car wreck was totally because the stop lights were out,” he told the outlet, adding that temporary stop signs are being used to help with traffic navigation.....
Feel bad for people with medical devices that require electricity, elderly people struggling through this.

US power grid has long faced terror threat
...The sheriff noted that the FBI was working with state investigators to determine who was responsible. He also said “it was targeted.”

“It wasn’t random,” Fields said.

Duke Energy spokesman Jeff Brooks said that the company has multiple layers of security at each of its facilities but declined to provide specifics. He said that the company has planning in place to recover from events like the shooting and that they are following those plans......

...In January, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report warned that domestic extremists have been developing “credible, specific plans” to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020. The DHS report warns that extremists “adhering to a range of ideologies will likely continue to plot and encourage physical attacks against electrical infrastructure.".....
Wonder if its business extremists or security business extremists who know they will be showered with money by local state and federal govt for things like this.
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carmenjonze
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Closed labs, cancelled classes: inside the largest strike to hit US higher education - Guardian
University of California campuses come to a standstill as 48,000 student workers strike for better pay

The strike, which began 14 November, has already seen success – this week the UC system came to an agreement with postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers, agreeing to pay hikes of up to 29%.

Those wage increases are crucial for many workers, Arveson said. For Daniel McKeown, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Irvine, the new agreement means it’s much more likely he will be able to continue in academia and eventually become a professor.

The 39-year-old has two children, a doctorate in physics and more than $100,000 in debt after five years struggling to get by as a graduate student. McKeown’s work as a teaching assistant took up much of his time, interfering with his studies, but he was paid so little he relied on loans to support himself, he said.

“The fact that I worked that hard and all I have to show for it is an extra $100,000 in debt is very infuriating. I have regrets about that. I think maybe it wasn’t worth it to take on that debt,” he said. “We got marched into an impossible situation economically and on every level we weren’t given fair treatment. It was never a fair deal.”

Instead, he watched colleagues forced to leave the field for better-paying jobs: “We get all this training and we end up just working for Microsoft. There’s a lot of us in physics who have been pushed out where we wanted to continue on and continue researching because we couldn’t afford to.”
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Motor City
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Re: Labor/Economics

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carmenjonze
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Beth Revis
@bethrevis

Reminder that today is the NYT walkout, so don't read the paper, open the email, or play Wordle. (That last one almost caught me as part of my morning routine, so I tweeted the reminder instead!)

https://twitter.com/bethrevis/status/16 ... 2054940673
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carmenjonze
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Re: Labor/Economics

Post by carmenjonze »

Motor City wrote: Mon Dec 05, 2022 10:00 pm Outages in North Carolina county could last days after 'targeted' attack on substations



Feel bad for people with medical devices that require electricity, elderly people struggling through this.

US power grid has long faced terror threat



Wonder if its business extremists or security business extremists who know they will be showered with money by local state and federal govt for things like this.
Report shows ‘intrusions’ at Duke Energy power stations in Tampa Bay, elsewhere in Florida - WFLA

String of electrical grid attacks in Pacific Northwest are unsolved - Oregon Public Broadcasting
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carmenjonze
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Re: Labor/Economics

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More Perfect Union
@MorePerfectUS

The New School announced it is cutting off pay & benefits for striking workers.

The New School's president Dwight McBride reportedly makes about $1.5 million per year.

https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS/statu ... 3841547265
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carmenjonze
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Re: Labor/Economics

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UC Profs Expected to Withhold Grades for Thousands of Undergrads in Solidarity With Striking Academic Workers - KQED
The strike by University of California academic workers may soon hit some undergraduates in a vulnerable spot: their grades.

With the strike in its fourth week and with no end in sight, faculty across the system are now planning to withhold tens of thousands of grades this fall in solidarity with the workers. That could have significant and dire implications for some undergraduates, such as those who need a certain grade point average to maintain federal financial aid and students planning to graduate this fall or soon apply to graduate school.

Allie Jones, a senior at UC Santa Barbara double majoring in English and philosophy, relies on her grade point average to keep her financial aid. She is confident she’ll keep her aid in the long run, but she’s yet to receive clear guidance and is concerned it could be temporarily withheld. That’s problematic because she relies on that federal aid to pay for her off-campus housing.

“For someone like me, who lives off campus, withheld aid could literally mean losing my housing,” said Jones. She blames UC leadership for her predicament and says the striking workers have reasonable demands.

UC officials say very few students — maybe less than 1% of its 230,000 undergraduates — might have aid withheld if grades aren’t submitted on time and that the university is taking steps to mitigate those possible impacts.
Good. I personally know some UC profs who are on board, if anything because UC grad students are STILL fighting the same fights from when they were in grad school. More power to them all.
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carmenjonze
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Re: Labor/Economics

Post by carmenjonze »

carmenjonze wrote: Thu Dec 08, 2022 12:23 pm More Perfect Union
@MorePerfectUS

The New School announced it is cutting off pay & benefits for striking workers.

The New School's president Dwight McBride reportedly makes about $1.5 million per year.

https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS/statu ... 3841547265
Well. That was quick. #strikeswork

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