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☆ Railroad workers aren't the only Americans without paid sick leave
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Tami Luhby | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The US does not have a national standard on paid sick leave, a rarity among industrialized nations. “The most disempowered workers – who are low-wage workers – don’t have an opportunity to demand paid sick leave from their employers,” he said. Railroad workers’ battleWhile the vast majority of union members have paid sick days, the freight railroad workers do not. Meanwhile, a growing number of states, cities and counties have been enacting paid sick leave laws in recent years. Advocates see the railroad workers’ battle as an opportunity to renew interest in expanding the availability of paid sick leave.

☆ AMC Networks booted its CEO after only 3 months, gave her a $10 million payout, and cut about 20% of its staff. So much for workers being empowered.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Rebecca Knight | Marguerite Ward | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Former AMC CEO Christina Spade got a $10 million payout after only three months on the job. AMC's former CEO getting a massive payout for three months of work is not good for shareholder capitalism or stakeholder capitalism. "But AMC's former CEO getting a massive payout for three months of work is not good for shareholder capitalism or stakeholder capitalism. Ja_inter/Getty ImagesLayoffs vs. the golden parachuteResearch shows that CEO severance packages serve an important purpose in corporate America. And some investor groups have recently proposed votes to curb CEO pay.

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☆ Meet a Republican who would have all $10,000 of his student loans canceled under Biden's plan but thinks it's an unfair policy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-27 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

He told Insider he wasn't surprised to see court challenges and worried for people who got refunds. Since Biden announced his plan at the end of August to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers, the plan has been fraught with legal challenges. I think many of the court challenges have tried to shine light on that," Matthew said. "My generation, the millennial, Gen Z generation, are facing a significant problem with student-loan debt," he said. "This radical scheme must be eviscerated entirely, and Republicans will continue to support legal challenges to achieve that end."

☆ Biden's Education Department says it's 'examining' extending the student-loan payment pause to remedy the 'significant confusion' among borrowers after federal courts blocked debt relief
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Education Department said it is "examining" extending the student-loan payment pause. This comes after two federal courts blocked the department from implementing debt relief. "Most borrowers have been told that all they need to do is submit an application to obtain one-time student loan debt relief. Now, as a result of litigation they are left to wonder when, if at all, if debt relief will be effectuated. Advocates and some Democratic lawmakers have been amplifying their calls to extend the payment pause in recent days.

☆ Student-loan borrowers who applied for Biden's debt relief shouldn't have to worry about living with 'crushing student loan debt as a result of a court challenge,' the nation's largest labor federatio
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan is currently paused after two court rulings. Over the past week, courts handed Biden's student-debt relief plan two major blows. That decision was in favor of the six Republican-led states who sued the debt relief, arguing it would hurt their states' tax revenues. "The AFL-CIO is extremely disappointed in the partisan legal effort to shut down the Biden administration's life-changing student loan relief. The federation's president, Liz Shuler, called on Biden to cancel student debt in the spring.

☆ The White House is reportedly considering extending the student-loan payment pause again as Biden's debt relief sits in federal courts
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The White House is considering extending the student-loan payment pause again, per The Washington Post. This comes as Biden's debt relief is on pause after federal courts blocked its implementation. Given that these legal proceedings could take months, extending into the new year, calls to extend the student-loan payment pause beyond December 31 have been amplifying. The Washington Post reported on Monday that White House officials are considering another extension, according to two people familiar with the matter who stressed that no final decisions have been made. Advocates have also been calling on Biden to extend the student-loan payment pause.

☆ Steffan Nero: The record-breaking Australian blind cricketer who has found a 'family' in the sport
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Ben Morse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

There’s goalball, there’s tennis, there’s soccer, there’s cricket, AFL, golf. Nero remembers being introduced to sport when he played cricket with his dad at the park. Cricket Australia‘Flourishing’Playing cricket was purely about enjoyment at the beginning for Nero, though adjusting to a completely new sport is tough. Nero remembers one training session where one of the more established players, Lindsay Heaven, took him under his wing. Having reached 309 not out – surpassing the previous Australian record of 222 held by Eugene Negruk – Nero remembers the fatigue he felt afterwards.

☆ Amendment 1: Voters in Tennessee will decide if mandatory union membership and fees should be legal
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Amendment 1 would alter the state's constitution to prohibit mandatory union participation at workplaces. Ballot measure detailsAmendment 1 would add language to the state's constitution that gives employees the fundamental right to refuse to join a labor union and/or pay union fees at their workplace. The measure would make it illegal for workplaces to add union membership as a requirement to work at their company. These groups argue that the amendment will weaken union organizations that rely on mandatory fees to stay afloat while legally representing everyone in the company. Without mandatory fees, they argue, workers will be able to "freeload" the benefits of union representation without paying.

The latest data on jobs from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows a still-robust labor market in the US. With inflation continuing to soar in the US, the Federal Reserve has moved aggressively to combat high prices by hiking interest rates. But on Friday, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the labor market continues to be strong. As Insider previously reported,the Fed's high interest rates would cause companies to slow their hiring plans, and therefore lead to smaller pay gains for workers. Looking ahead, all eyes are on the Fed's December meeting when it will announce its next round of interest rate hikes.

☆ The unemployment rate for Black men fell in October, but so did labor force participation
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Carmen Reinicke | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Joe Raedle | Getty ImagesThe unemployment rate for Black men ticked down in October while it rose for most other groups, but that may be because workers are dropping out of the labor force. For Black men, unemployment fell to 5.3% from 5.8% a month earlier on a seasonally adjusted basis. Though overall there is strength in the labor market, "this is not the tight labor market where people can just walk in and get a job no matter who they are." Overall Black unemployment ticked up led by Black women. In October, the unemployment rate for Black women jumped to 5.8% from 5.4% in September.

The local unemployment rate is already nearly a percentage point above the U.S. average of 3.5%. "It's very premature in my view to think about or be talking about pausing our rate hikes. The target federal funds rate is now in a range of between 3.75% and 4%, the highest since early 2008. In the 1970s and 1980s, Fed Chair Paul Volcker's attack on inflation sparked a recession that pushed the unemployment rate above 10%, then a post-World War II high. "I do worry about how rates affect the economy," Bostic said at the forum.

☆ Missouri Amendment 3: Voters could legalize marijuana for personal use
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Taiyler Simone Mitchell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Missouri Amendment 3 would legalize marijuana use. Ballot measure detailsWhile the use of medical marijuana was legalized in the state in 2018, Amendment 3, the Marijuana Legalization Initiative, would legalize personal marijuana use for adults over the age of 21. Several groups support it, including the ACLU of Missouri, Empower Missouri, Missouri AFL-CIO, Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, MoCannTrade, NAACP St. Louis City, NORML KC, and Reale Justice Network, according to Ballotpedia. "Missouri shouldn't legalize marijuana without automatically expunging thousands of criminal records for marijuana offenses that will soon be legal," John Bowman, president of the St. Louis County NAACP, told the Missouri Times. Mike Parson, State Rep. Ashley Bland Manlove, Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, Missouri Catholic Conference, Missouri Constitutional Conservatives PAC, and Missouri NAACP all oppose the measure, according to Ballotpedia.

☆ These baristas are leading a nationwide campaign to unionize Starbucks. It came at a cost
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

Since then workers at 243 other stores spread over 38 states have voted to join Starbucks Workers United — that’s more than five stores a week. Still, most of the fired workers nationwide remain off the job, including Tambellini. “The pizza place next door [to the Starbucks store I worked at] offered me a job almost immediately,” said Tambellini. Starbucks employees and supporters react as votes are read during a union-election watch party in Buffalo, New York. The Starbucks workers are really demonstrating that it’s possible to unionize in an industry where it was thought of as impossible to organize, due to high turnover and a large percentage of young people,” he said.

☆ The Fed says it could cool it on rate hikes as soon as next month. Now the future of the economy depends on how long the increases last.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Fed hiked interest rates by 0.75 percentage points on Wednesday. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled the hikes could simmer down as soon as next month. "Incoming data since our last meeting suggests that ultimate level of interest rates will be higher than previously expected," he also said. "Increasing interest rates signals to working people that the government thinks we have too much money and we should have less money to spend." Powell stood by the hikes, but said they might soon come at a lesser scale to hopefully avoid a recession.

☆ The Fed may have to blow up the economy to get inflation under control
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Paul R. La Monica | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Jobs report also on tapThe Fed meeting takes place just two days before the nation will get its next report card on the labor market. Another jobs report, from payroll processor ADP, is also due out next week, and this one looks just at Corporate America. The government said in the September jobs report that average hourly earnings rose 5% in the past 12 months. The Fed typically prefers to see wage growth in the 2% to 3% annual range as a sign that inflation is under control. Discovery, Starbucks (SBUX), PayPal (PYPL), Amgen (AMGN) and Block (SQ)Friday: US jobs report; earnings from Cardinal Health (CAH), Duke Energy (DUK) and Hershey (HSY)

☆ U.S. autonomous vehicle group picks ex-Senate aide as director
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA) has tapped Jeff Farrah as its first executive director, the group told Reuters. U.S. lawmakers have been divided for years over how to amend current auto safety regulations to encompass self-driving cars, including the scope of consumer and legal protections. In August, U.S. House members launched a bipartisan effort to help revive stalled legislative efforts to boost self-driving vehicles. In July, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said GM's Cruise and Ford sought exemptions to deploy up to 2,500 self-driving vehicles annually without human controls. The Transportation Trades Department for the AFL-CIO, told U.S. lawmakers in 2021 that autonomous vehicles place "millions of jobs at risk" and any self-driving legislation should not apply to commercial trucks.

☆ Netball Australia: Gina Rinehart pulls sponsorship in dispute over father's racist comments
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Brisbane, Australia CNN —When Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart threw a financial lifeline to Netball Australia, she triggered a debate about sponsorships and the role of social and political issues in the sporting sphere. Donnell Wallam of the Firebirds is a rising star in Australian netball. On Monday, Kathryn Harby-Williams, CEO of the Australian Netball Players’ Association told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Wallam had asked for an exemption not to wear the logo and was refused. Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan told Nine News the loss of Hancock sponsorship was “disappointing” but a “strong balance” needs to be struck between social issues and funding. “When done well, sport sponsorship is brand transforming for both the sport and sponsor.”

☆ White House taps Commerce official to run 'Made in America' office
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The White House said Wednesday it is tapping a Commerce Department official to run an office aimed at spurring the U.S. government's purchase of more American products and services. Livia Shmavonian is taking the helm of the White House Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) "Made in America" office created by President Joe Biden last year. Shmavonian was at the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration and previously staff director for a Senate Finance trade subcommittee. She is replacing Celeste Drake, a former trade official at the AFL-CIO, who has moved to a new White House job. The order sought to make "Buy America" waivers more transparent.

Gig company stocks were hammered by the news, with Uber (UBER.N), Lyft (LYFT.O) and DoorDash (DASH.N) all falling at least 10%. The proposal would require that workers be considered employees, entitled to more benefits and legal protections than contractors, when they are "economically dependent" on a company. Millions of Americans are working "gig" jobs and this labor has become vital to some transportation, restaurant, construction, health care and other industries. "Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages," Walsh said. Seth Harris, President Joe Biden's former top labor adviser, said the rule will not directly impact how courts determine whether workers are employees or independent contractors.

☆ Hispanic unemployment rate falls sharply in September, but fewer workers join labor force
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Samantha Subin | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Marco Bello | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe unemployment rate among Hispanic workers dropped sharply in September, but that could be due to fewer eligible adults looking for a job. Hispanic workers saw their unemployment rate fall to 3.8% from 4.5% in August. But Hispanics saw a sharp decline in labor force participation, which tracks how many people are employed or searching for work. Many Hispanic workers do seek employment in some areas of the market heavily affected by Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, she added. While Hispanic workers saw the biggest declines on a month-to-month basis, she noted that Black women have still seen the sharpest decline in labor force participation since the start of the pandemic.

☆ McDonald's owners group says company rejected request to delay big changes to franchise system
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Kate Rogers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

A customer places an order September 24, 2022 at a McDonald's Restaurant along the New York State Thruway in Hannacroix, New York. A group representing McDonald's owners said the company rejected its request to delay changes to franchising policies, including updated standards and adjustments to how the company evaluates potential new restaurant operators, according to a letter seen by CNBC. The leadership group represents McDonald's owners across the country. As of the end of last year, according to the company, there there were more than 2,400 franchise owners. The company declined to comment on the changes or the NFLA's letter and its request to delay the adjustments.

☆ Freight Labor Unrest Is Going Global and Weighing on Supply Chains
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Paul Berger | Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

Newsletter Sign-up The Logistics Report Top news and in-depth analysis on the world of logistics, from supply chain to transport and technology. But this complex movement of goods underpinning the global economy is far more vulnerable than many imagined. The Biden administration narrowly avoided a systemwide freight rail shutdown last week after brokering a last-minute deal between railroads and unions. The Biden administration narrowly avoided a systemwide freight rail shutdown last week after brokering a last-minute deal between railroads and unions. The labor concerns have grown as some of the broader pandemic-driven upheaval in supply chains, including factory closures and vessel backlogs at ports, have eased.

☆ Freight Labor Unrest is Going Global and Weighing on Supply Chains
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Paul Berger | Liz Young | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +7 min

☆ Next up for US unions: Major contracts for 700,000 workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

In terms of big US labor contracts, however, this is just the opening act. And as with the rail unions, members are focused on staffing shortages and scheduling problems that they say have brought many employees to a breaking point. And soon after the Teamsters contract for UPS ground workers expires, contracts for UPS pilots and aircraft mechanics become amendable. That’s a major concern for unions whose members build engines and transmissions. But that settlement did not address the looming question of what a switch to EVs will mean for union workers going forward.

☆ Senate Republicans want Congress to step in and prevent a nationwide rail strike that could hammer the economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-14 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Joseph Zeballos-Roig | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Two Senate Republicans want Congress to step in and avert a shutdown of the nation's railroads. The US Chamber of Commerce estimates a rail shutdown would cost the economy $2 billion a day. A strike could prove expensive, with the business-friendly US Chamber of Commerce estimating a shutdown would cost the economy $2 billion a day. "We need action immediately to avoid a rail shutdown and the economic impacts that would fall on businesses and consumers," Drake said. "This is an issue that can and should be worked out between the rail companies and the unions, not by Congress.

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