WASHINGTON–In a decision that could help millions of low-paid fast food workers win better wages and the right to organize, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Richard Griffin – its top enforcement official – ruled McDonald’s and its thousands of franchised restaurants nationwide are jointly responsible for labor conditions at the eateries.

WASHINGTON–Democratic President Barack Obama will soon sign a wide-ranging executive order cracking down on all federal contractors who break labor laws, including collective bargaining rights, safety and health laws and wage and hour laws, the White House press office announced on July 31.

“Take Me Out To The Ballgame” may be a favorite baseball anthem for fans, but hundreds of the workers in the sport are singing a different tune, thanks to the Labor Department: “And while you’re at it, pay me, too.”

Fed up with low wages, part-time hours, lousy benefits and lack of respect on the job, hundreds of “Wal-Mart Moms” descended on the monster retailer’s annual meeting June 5 in Bentonville, Ark. That came after a day of Wal-Mart worker walkouts from stores nationwide. Another protest, led by the AFL-CIO, was in D.C., on June 6.

SAN JOSE –Barack Obama’s praising Wal-Mart again, and union leaders Maria Elena Durazo and Joe Hansen don’t like that one bit. The Democratic president traveled on May 9 to a Wal-Mart in San Jose, Calif., to laud the firm for committing to solar energy technology to power hundreds of its stores and for being a leader in that movement.  That […]

WASHINGTON —If you’re a woman worker seeking equal pay for equal work, your best bet is to move to Los Angeles, D.C. – the city — Las Vegas, or Vermont. And even in those cities and states, you won’t quite catch up to men in the wage gap. Conversely, you want to stay out of three deep-red states – the […]