Chrysler recently announced it will be freezing pension plans for salaried workers, further expanding the trend once reserved for employers claiming extreme financial distress. By December 31, 2013, some 8,000 salaried Chrysler workers who have earned a pension will no longer accrue additional benefits. While they will get to keep the pension benefits they’ve already
Read moreIAM President Tom Buffenbarger became the first union official from North America to address the Czech Metalworkers Federation. Speaking in Prague as the first international union president from North America to address the Czech Metalworkers’ Federation (OS KOVO), IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger praised the federation’s successful effort to restore independent trade unionism to the
Read moreLeft, a circa 1960 photo of African Americans marching for equal voting rights. The Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. Right, a 2013 rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court where, with a 5 to 4 vote, the Court’s conservative majority gutted a key provision of the landmark law. The U.S. Supreme Court
Read moreSeventy-five years ago today, with the American economy in the midst of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) into law. The landmark bill outlawed child labor, established the 40-hour work week, guaranteed overtime pay and instituted a national minimum wage. Opponents said it would stifle the economy
Read moreA new website run by labor-rights group Working America is making it easier than ever for employees from almost any industry to organize and improve their workplaces. FixMyJob.com offers an interactive online tutorial for workers who are “feeling overworked, underpaid, unsafe, or disrespected by [their] boss.” Users can create a free personal account that
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