Organized Labor

Economic Report:

By Doug Cunningham

The Congressional Budget Office says absent a major jobs program U.S. workers won?t see pre-recession employment levels return until the end of 2013. 14 million people are jobless. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research it will be 2021 before enough U.S. jobs are created to catch up to the expanding workforce. Economists at the center and at the Economic Policy Institute agree with organized labor that a big jobs program and dramatic shifts in economic policy are needed to overcome this historic jobs crisis.

The city council of Austin, Texas passed an ordinance yesterday that will provide construction workers with a 10-minute water break for every four hours they are on the clock. Advocates of the water breaks pointed to a study by the University of Texas that found 41 percent of construction workers do not take rest breaks while working. OSHA regulations require construction companies to make water available for workers, but does not require that workers be given breaks to consume it.

California?s governor doesn?t think working 12 hour days in the farm fields or 60 hours a week is a burden, but in his mind allowing those farm workers regular overtime after 8 hours I na day or 40 in a week is somehow too heavy a burden for agribusiness to bear. Jesse Russell reports.

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By Doug Cunningham

UNITE-HERE workers at two Hyatt hotels in the Monterey California area have reached agreement on a new contract calling for up to $5.21 an hour in additional wages and benefits over the life o the contract. Last week UNITE-HERE members in fifteen cities used civil disobedience protests at Hyatt hotels as part of a campaign for justice for Hyatt workers. This year contracts for 45,000 UNITE-HERE hotel workers expire nationwide.

By Doug Cunningham

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Downtown Detroit is receiving some much needed good news in the form of nearly 5,000 new jobs. The Detroit Free Press reported Wednesday that Quicken Loans will be moving 1,700 jobs downtown in August followed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan moving 3,000 jobs from the suburbs of the city to downtown later this year. In May of this year the city?s jobless rate was 13.7 percent.

Companies are reporting record earnings, but where are the jobs? In the bank. Jesse Russell reports:

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By Doug Cunningham

A federal judge Wednesday temporarily barred Arizona from enforcing parts of its controversial immigration law. Until courts can rule definitively on the issues police will be barred from checking the immigration status of people arrested for any crime and immigrants won?t have to carry their papers and produce them upon demand by police. But widespread prayer vigils and protests against the immigration law will go forward as planned Thursday. And Trina Zelle, Lead organizer for Arizona?s Interfaith Alliance for Worker Justice says the law is already being enforced.

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