MINNEAPOLIS –Three years ago, the Jimmy John’s fast food chain fired six Minneapolis sandwich workers for putting up over 3,000 posters publicizing a grisly truth: Company policy and low pay routinely forced them to come to work and make sandwiches while they’re sick.

SACRAMENTO –California is on the verge of enacting a state-wide paid sick leave law and a second law that extends worker rights and protections to millions of temps and subcontracted workers, a top womens’ rights group and the state labor federation report. The state legislature cleared both measures in August and sent them to Gov. Jerry Brown (D), who is […]

Fast food workers walked out on Sept. 4, leaving jobs at McDonald’s, KFC, Burger King, Domino’s and Wendy’s restaurants in more than 150 cities. They demand a living wage of $15 an hour and the right to organize without employer interference, firing, harassment and labor law-breaking. In some cities, home health care workers joined them.

LAS VEGAS–Stagnation of workers’ wages and declining benefits for the last 40 years, with the Great Recession piled on top of that, has left U.S. workers “confused, angry, frustrated and scared,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says. Speaking to the Steelworkers convention in Las Vegas in mid-August, Trumka added that bleak prospects for the workers’ children only add to those woes.  […]

SAN DIEGO –A coalition of San Diego citizens and unionists cheered a 6-3 City Council vote on August 19 overriding the Republican mayor’s veto of a city-wide minimum-wage increase and paid sick days ordinance. The ordinance would allow a worker up to 40 hours of paid sick leave yearly, starting next July 1.  And it covers all workers, not just […]

WASHINGTON –Reviving a decision it made when it lacked enough legal members to rule on worker-boss disputes, the National Labor Relations Board again ruled  workers should not get stuck with the tax bill on back pay lump sums they win when triumphing against management labor law-breaking. In an August 8 ruling involving two Tucson, Ariz., workers and their employer – […]

WASHINGTON–Working women and groups representing them took their case for paid sick and family leave to Capitol Hill on July 30. They drew support from Senate Labor Committee Democrats, but the legislation – thanks to potential GOP filibusters and a jammed congressional schedule after the August recess – may go nowhere in this Congress.

The Supreme Court’s decision in the Harris v. Quinn case earlier this week is a disgrace to workers everywhere and the latest in a series of attempts to erode workers’ rights. Strong unions are the backbone of a fair workplace, and collective bargaining allows for working men and women to come together to make sure they are protected. This latest […]

When it comes to the thorny topic of funding public workers’ pensions, the city of Los Angeles and the state of Illinois provide a common theme: Hurt workers like Christine Bondi. Bondi, of Ontarioville, Ill., has worked for the Illinois Secretary of State for 25 years.  She helps people get drivers licenses as a customer service rep.  She used to […]

WASHINGTON –Working with the American Federation of Government Employees, a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers defeated a Right Wing Republican’s scheme to substitute contractors for thousands of Defense Department civilian workers. During House debate on May 22 on DOD’s legislation for the year starting Oct. 1, Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kansas, tried to “place a moratorium on insourcing previously contracted activities” at […]