Word: labors
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Organized labor often complains of its treatment at the hands of corporate America, but its accusations pale in comparison to those made recently by the widows of Colombian mine workers in an Alabama courtroom. During a two-week trial, a Birmingham jury weighed charges that the local Drummond Coal Company bore responsibility for the murders of three union leaders who represented workers at its Colombian mine - the world's largest open pit mine. The widows lost their suit last week. But the case, and issues at the heart of it, are far from resolved: an appeal is all but certain...
...congratulations were passed around by lawmakers a few weeks ago when the federal hourly minimum wage was increased to $5.85, a 70 cent uptick. But wages are just part of the problem for workers in bottom-rung jobs. Health hazards, lack of insurance and labor law violations are among the on-the-job inequities faced by these workers, according to industry experts interviewed by TIME, as well as a new report from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law. "This is incredibly important because we're talking about people who, for whatever reason, have been...
Grocery store workers earn an average of $332 a week, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared with average weekly earnings of $529 for all workers in the private sector. But some baggers don't even make $300, because they are paid only in tips. But according to Jill Cashen, spokesperson for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, grocery store jobs, when unionized, can be stable enough to support a family. "From baggers up to meat department managers," Cashen says, "workers can look at their union grocery jobs as career positions that provide financial security...
While chains like Whole Foods are making inroads across the U.S., independent, non-union grocery stores are proliferating too, and many lag on labor standards. On June 19, for example, the New York State Labor Department learned of potential labor violations at one of the grocery stores in the Manhattan-based Amish Market chain. The Department sent investigators to all 11 of the chain's outposts, and the preliminary findings suggested minimum wage, overtime and tip-credit violations, according to Commissioner Patricia Smith - charges that Amish Market downplayed, calling the investigation routine...
Smith?s department has also started performing random searches in an effort to combat other labor problems, not just wage violations. "In the past, if there were violations we didn't have jurisdiction over, we would just ignore them," she says. Now, Smith instructs inspectors to alert relevant agencies. Worker advocates argue that broader enforcement of existing regulations nationwide could help improve conditions for more than 2.5 million supermarket workers...