Category: Labor

Student op-ed: Eastern Michigan University lied about construction agreements on FOIA request

Student op-ed: Eastern Michigan University lied about construction agreements on FOIA request

The following guest post was written by Liam Reidy, a student at Eastern Michigan University. University Leadership Should Adhere to the Same Rules as Students Eastern Michigan University’s mission statement proclaims five core values that govern how students, staff, faculty, and leadership live our daily lives on campus. We should expect that these core values inform every action of the […]

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Unemployment insurance is NOT a giveaway, it’s INSURANCE!

Unemployment insurance is NOT a giveaway, it’s INSURANCE!

Pretty much all of us have insurance of one sort or another. We (hopefully) have health insurance. Some of us have life insurance. We have insurance on our cars, on our homes, sometimes even on our pets. Insurance is designed so that you pay a small amount on a regular basis over time. Then, if you need it, it’s there […]

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Michigan AG Nessel is being sued to restore earned paid sick time & increased minimum wage laws

Michigan AG Nessel is being sued to restore earned paid sick time & increased minimum wage laws

In 2018, worker advocacy groups gathered enough signatures to put several citizen-initiated ballot proposals on the November ballot. However, according to law, before that happens, the legislature has the ability to make them law immediately by passing them as legislation. If this is done, it bypasses the governor and they become law without the governor’s signature. There were several ballot […]

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Will the Amazon union drive in Alabama be the most important vote for workers this century?

Will the Amazon union drive in Alabama be the most important vote for workers this century?

If unions didn’t make workers lives better, corporations wouldn’t mind if you joined one. You know the basic story of labor in this country. Unions used to represent as many as 1 in 3 private sector workers. That number is now just 1 in 16. And as union membership has fallen, the share of income sucked up to the richest […]

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It’s time to pass the Raise the Wage Act for a $15 federal minimum wage

It’s time to pass the Raise the Wage Act for a $15 federal minimum wage

The following essay was written by David Williams. David is a McDonald’s worker from Detroit who makes only $10/hour. He is a leader in the Fight for $15 and a Union. Suffice it say, David speaks for me and for many of us. In July 2019, working people across the country cheered when the U.S. House of Representatives passed the […]

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A group of marchers moves from the US Capitol towards the Lincoln Memorial grounds for the One Nation Working Together rally in Washington, DC.
CC image credit: ep_jhu | Flickr

Changing the narrative around immigrant labor

In November of 2005, Bush proposed the following to fix the immigration system in America: As we enforce our immigration laws, comprehensive immigration reform also requires us to improve those laws by creating a new temporary worker program. This program would create a legal way to match willing foreign workers with willing American employers to fill jobs that Americans will not […]

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Why Democrats should actively fight for stronger unions & a higher minimum wage: Low unemployment + low wages = Corporate utopia

Why Democrats should actively fight for stronger unions & a higher minimum wage: Low unemployment + low wages = Corporate utopia

On this week’s podcast, we talked to David Pepper, the Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party, about the fact that Donald Trump is the most anti-worker president we’ve ever had. The truth is, America in 2019 is corporate utopia. We have almost everyone working and wages remain low. How is this possible, you might ask? How is it that wages […]

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First Trump told union members they make too much money. Now he says they should cut their own throats.

First Trump told union members they make too much money. Now he says they should cut their own throats.

In August of 2015, the year before he was elected president, Donald Trump had a clear and concise message for auto workers: You make too much money. He said U.S. automakers could shift production away from Michigan to communities where autoworkers would make less. “You can go to different parts of the United States and then ultimately you’d do full-circle […]

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While Trump lays down multiple smoke screens to shield them, it’s business as usual for anti-environment, anti-worker, corporatist Republicans

While Trump lays down multiple smoke screens to shield them, it’s business as usual for anti-environment, anti-worker, corporatist Republicans

The Great Orange Smoke Screen The front pages of any major news outlet, online or otherwise, are full of news of Donald Trump and the corrupt, inept-yet-frighteningly-effective cabal of criminals that make up his administration and circle of advisors. Nearly 40 people tied to him, his administration, his inauguration, and his campaign have been indicted and more are sure to […]

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Republicans move to exempt 93.5% of Michigan companies from paid sick leave law. What will be Gov. Snyder’s legacy?

Republicans move to exempt 93.5% of Michigan companies from paid sick leave law. What will be Gov. Snyder’s legacy?

As Republicans in Wisconsin and Michigan work to cement their anti-worker agenda into our states’ laws during their petulant, sore loser session before they lose significant political power in 2019, perhaps the most outrageous is the effort to take away sick time pay for workers in over 93% of Michigan’s firms. This is because they changed the threshold for exemption […]

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Anti-labor hypocrisy is clear as day in lame duck bill to kneecap (some) unions in Michigan. Again.

Anti-labor hypocrisy is clear as day in lame duck bill to kneecap (some) unions in Michigan. Again.

This week marks the painful beginning of the lame duck (or, as I call it, “enflamed duck”) session in the Michigan State legislature. With a Democratic governor about to take the reins, Republicans are hell-bent to pass as much regressive legislation into law as they can before Gov. Gretchen Whitmer moves into her new office. One of the worst is […]

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