Unions
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Report: Big Apple's Job Growth Predicted to Slow
A report by the Independent Budget Office says city's diversifying economy won't be enough to pick up a sagging Wall Street. The good news: office space bargains.
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Michigan Governor Signs Right-to-Work Bills Into Law
Once they take affect early next year, Michigan will become the 24th right-to-work state in the United States.
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Michigan Lawmakers Pass Controversial Right-to-Work Legislation; Gov. Snyder Expected to Sign
The Michigan House approved House Bill 4003 and Senate Bill 116, which will ban the practice of workers being forced to pay any money to a union as a condition of employment.
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Arbitrator Reinstates Chrysler Workers Fired for Drinking During Breaks
The workers were fired in September 2010 after a Fox network station in Detroit filmed them during breaks drinking alcohol and smoking in a nearby parking lot over several days.
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Disaffected Workers Want Out of Unions
As organized labor loses leverage in a race-to-the-bottom global market, some workers are becoming so disillusioned by what their unions can, or rather can't, do for them that they want out.
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New York City Fast-Food Workers Strike to Protest Wage Rates
Workers formed picket lines outside some New York City fast-food eateries to protest their wages and hours as part of a unionization campaign.
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NFL to Freeze Referees' Pension Plan Under Labor Agreement
Retirement benefits will be provided through a defined contribution plan to new referees immediately and for all officials beginning in 2017.
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Looming Strike in India a Threat to U.S. Companies?
Trade unions there called for a nationwide strike to protest India's opening of its retail sector to international retailers Walmart and Tesco.
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American Airlines to Freeze Pension Plans in November
To be frozen on Nov. 1 are pension plans for flight attendants, ground crews and mechanics, as well as the pilots' A plan. The pilots' B plan, which is a defined contribution plan, will be terminated Nov. 30.
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Chicago Teachers Strike Could Offer a Lesson on Performance Evaluations
Performance evaluation “is a nationwide issue—and it's an issue that is not going away,” said Norm Solomon, a professor of management at Fairfield University in Connecticut. “I don't think anybody should be surprised that this issue is coming to the fore.
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Chicago School Strike Lifts One Local Firm
In the wake of the Chicago Teachers Union strike, Sittercity, a website that helps parents find babysitters and nannies, has seen membership jump 35 percent in the past 24 hours in the Chicago market.
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Retired NFL Player Cannot File for Workers' Comp Benefits in California
The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals rules California workers' comp law doesn't apply to retired NFL player because he did not clearly show that he was injured in the state.
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Ford Seeks to Close $15-an-hour Canada Labor Gap With U.S.
Ford, which lists 7,400 employees at five plants in Canada on its website, pays $79 an hour for wages and benefits to its hourly workers in the country, said the official, who asked not to be identified because negotiations with the union are private.
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American Airlines Asks to End Retiree Health, Life Benefit Coverage
The airline and parent company AMR said they never promised to provide benefits for life and reserved their rights to modify the plans.
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The Midnight Shift Returns as Automakers Boost Output
By the start of 2013, 22 of the 83 assembly plants in North America will operate with three shifts of workers, and nearly half of all vehicles built here will come from a three-shift plant.
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Massive Master Complaint Filed Against NFL Over Concussion-Related Injuries
The 86-page document, filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, seeks financial compensation, injunctive relief and medical monitoring for former NFL players who claim the league misled them about the dangers of concussions.
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Ford to Offer Lump-Sum Pension Payouts to Ex-Workers
When individuals take a lump-sum payment rather than continued monthly benefits, Ford no longer will face such risks as paying more than expected if the individuals live longer than expected.
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California Addresses Labor Crime with a New Unit
The U.S. Labor Department's periodic report on new state labor laws finds that worker privacy and prevailing wages were the two most common subjects for new labor and employment laws enacted by states in 2011.
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Illinois' Pension Fix: Workers to Pay More, Retire Later
Workers would keep their defined benefit contributions, something that has largely disappeared from the private sector.
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Wisconsin Law Repeals Punitive, Compensatory Damages in Bias Cases
The bill, which was supported by numerous business groups, was signed into law by the governor April 5, but not announced until April 6.
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To Email or Not to Email?
Limiting an employee's digital access can decrease an employer's legal liability, attorney Jennifer F. DiMarco writes.
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Union Membership in New York State Slips to New Low
Unions now have the smallest percentage of the New York workforce since it was first measured in 1989. But it's still the highest in the nation.
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Michigan Unions Sue to Halt Mandated DB-or-DC Choice
A Michigan law requiring state employees to either contribute 4% of pay to the $9.
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Chrysler Rolling Out Bonuses
Chrysler Group hourly and salaried workers will receive profit-sharing and performance bonuses on Feb. 10, just nine days after the automaker reported a $183 million profit for 2011.
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Norwegian Insurance Company Monitors Workers' Bathroom Breaks
Norway's chief workplace ombudsman Bjorn Erik Thon told a media outlet that one firm required employees to wear a red bracelet during their menstrual cycles to indicate the need for more restroom visits.
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EEOC Issues Final Rule on Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act Records
GINA, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in May 2008, protects job applicants, current and former employees, labor union members and apprentices and trainees from discrimination based on their genetic information.
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Lockout of Union Workers in New York Shines Light on NLRB Appointees
In a memo released last month, the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel wrote that President Obama was justified in making the appointments.
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Dolan to Cablevision Employees: Email Me
A week after Brooklyn workers vote to unionize, company boss expresses disappointment in result and promises changes. Union says it's too little, too late.
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American Airlines Wants to Terminate Pension Plans
The termination, if approved, would shift billions of dollars of promised but unfunded benefits to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., resulting in the biggest loss ever for the agency.
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House Panel to Examine Financial Health of PBGC
The House Education and Workforce Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions subcommittee hearing comes at a time when the PBGC has a record $26 billion deficit in its insurance programs that are used to pay benefits promised by financially struggling or failed employers whose pension plans the agency...
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Bloomberg Outlines Ambitious 2012 Agenda
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg will push for a minimum-wage increase, a $20,000 salary hike for top teachers and the firing of lousy educators from failing schools.
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Union Says Staffing Suit Could Cost $10 Million
The lawsuit claims workers were regularly not paid for all hours worked and were not paid required overtime.
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Funded Status of Pension Plans Falls for Second Year: Mercer
In the aggregate, the plans' funding deficit hit $484 billion as of Dec. 31, 2011, up from $315 billion a year earlier and $229 billion as of Dec. 31, 2009.
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UPS Pilots' Union Says FAA Fatigue Rule Threatens Public Safety
Under the new rule finalized Dec. 21, cargo pilots are exempt from a sweeping overhaul of commercial airline pilot scheduling, where pilots would fly shorter shifts and be given longer rest periods, the FAA said in statement.
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NLRB Issues Proposed Union Election Changes
THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD will be approving a series of changes intended to streamline procedures for employee votes for union representation that will include: limitations on pre-election hearings; restrictions on post-hearing requests intended to facilitate prompt rulings;...
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Detroit 3 Salaried Labor Costs to Overtake UAW Hourly Costs, Researcher Says
For the first time in modern history, overall salaried labor costs next year at the Detroit 3 are expected to exceed those of all UAW-represented factory workers, says Sean McAlinden, chief economist for the Center for Automotive Research.
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Labor Department Approves Grant for Goodyear Union City workers
The U.S. Department of Labor has authorized a $3. 5 million National Emergency Grant to provide re-employment and support services to some 850 workers laid off when Goodyear closed its Union City, Tennessee, plant in July 2011.
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San Diego Public Employee Pension System Reform Going to Popular Vote in 2012
The proposal would see traditional pension benefits for all new city hires—excluding police—eliminated in favor of a 401(k)-style retirement plan.
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Report: Governmental Entities Benefit Most from Early Retiree Program
Federal agency says of the more than $2.7 billion that was paid out through June 30, 45.6 percent went to governmental entities while 36.6 percent went to commercial entities, such as self-funded private employers.
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Hybrid Pension Plan on the Drawing Board in California
The proposal would create a pension plan with elements of defined benefit and defined contribution plans and would also raise the retirement age for new state and local government employees to 67.
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UAW Says GM Workers Ratify Labor Contract By 2-to-1 Margin
Under the pact, the automaker's 48,000 hourly workers have traded the promise of generous pay and benefits for job security and compensation gains that are more closely tied to the automaker's health, profitability and quality advances.
