Deciding it can find cheaper labor in the United States, Caterpillar shuts its London, Ontario, plant and plans a move to America's newest right-to-work-for-less state: Indiana. The company placed an ad saying it's looking for a plant manager with "experience providing union-free culture and union avoidance."
From making public school curriculum optional to watering down domestic abuse protections, New Hampshire’s GOP-controlled legislature has come up with all manner of attention-generating bills recently. Now lawmakers are suggesting there's no need for the law requiring employers to give their workers time off for lunch, under the rationale that all employers will simply grant lunch breaks out of the goodness of their hearts.
A Feb. 8 memo from Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli announced the paper's fifth round of buyouts since 2004. The company wants 33 of the voluntary buyouts to come from the newsroom's Guild unit; under the Guild contract, the union has 10 working days to negotiate the terms of the buyouts.
Saying the anti-worker crusade in the United States can't go unchallenged, the website Alternet is establishing a special area for labor coverage and a weekly electronic newsletter. Sign up via a link in the article.
Operators of the biggest hotels in New York City have agreed to a long-term contract that will give hotel housekeepers and other employees significant pay raises, fully paid health coverage, larger pension contributions and one unusual benefit: personal panic buttons.
Updating a Monday story, Think Progress reports that multimillionaire lobbyist Rick Berman, head of the so-called Center For Union Facts, was one of the actors in the misleading anti-union ad that aired during the Super Bowl.
Mark Gruenberg —
January 27, 2012— Press Associates Union News Service
Unions gained a net of 49,000 members nationwide in 2011 compared to 2010, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports. But the union share of the U.S. workforce slipped slightly, down 0.1%, to 11.8%.
Beating back a vigorous anti-union campaign by their employer, Cablevision technicians and dispatchers in Brooklyn voted Thursday to join CWA. The unit of 282 workers is the first to successfully unionize at Cablevision. “This is about my son, his future, and the future of the Cablevision 99%,” said technician Marlon Gayle.“We can now negotiate with management for a safer work environment, better healthcare, a more secure retirement and a salary that will allow us to support our families.”
Mary Beth Schneider —
January 25, 2012— IndyStar.com
By a 54-44 vote, the Indiana House voted Wedneday afternoon to pass controversial "right-to-work" legislation. Five Republicans joined 39 Democrats in voting against the bill, which passed as union protesters inside the statehouse shouted their disapproval.
