Tag: American workers

Why the Sickest Workers May Be Among the First Back on the Job

New York Times logoSince most people in the U.S. get health insurance through work, many with pre-existing conditions fear unemployment more than they fear coronavirus.

Last month, Patti Hanks faced a wrenching decision: go back to her job, or lose her health insurance.

Ms. Hanks, 62, recently had ovarian cancer treatment. With her immunity low, she was nervous about returning to her workplace, a store where she would be drawing up financing plans and taking cash payments from customers buying furniture and large appliances.

But she was even more worried about losing her health coverage if she didn’t go back. Finding a job with health benefits that allowed her to work from home felt like a pipe dream in the midst of an economic downturn. Continue reading.

No, The Stimulus Benefits Aren’t Turning Workers Into Lazy Freeloaders

A Washington spa owner told CNBC her workers hated her for getting them off unemployment. Her workers — and her own messages — tell a different story.

CNBC ran a story last Wednesday about Jamie Black-Lewis, owner of Oasis Medspa & Salon and Amai Day Spa in Washington state. The article detailed how Black-Lewis secured two loans through the new Paycheck Protection Program, for $177,000 and $43,800, to keep her businesses afloat through the pandemic.

But according to the article, Black-Lewis’ employees were fuming when they heard the good news. The reason? The money they were collecting through unemployment benefits was more than the wages they earn working for Black-Lewis, due to an extra $600 per week that the federal government’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stability Act provides.

Black-Lewis recounted the reaction as “a firestorm of hatred about the situation.” “They were pissed I’d take this opportunity away from them to make more for my own selfish greed to pay rent,” she told the outlet. CNBC described the employee “animosity” as “an unintended consequence” of the $2.2 trillion relief package. It ran with the headline: “She got a forgivable loan. Her employees hate her for it.” Continue reading.

Making Worker Protections Real During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Center for American Progress logoFederal lawmakers are working around the clock to ensure that the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis does not cause widespread and lasting consequences—debating policies ranging from direct relief to workers and corporate bailouts, to large-scale economic stimulus packages. In order to benefit Americans from all walks of life and ensure that some corporations do not choose to reward shareholders instead of investing in workers, Congress must attach worker protections to these investments and enact policies to ensure the protections are enforced. This column details the importance of such protections and outlines strategies to ensure that any response to the pandemic centers workers.

Coronavirus response bills must protect workers

Already, Congress has passed emergency paid sick days and emergency paid leave protections so that many workers can take time to care for themselves or a family member suffering from the virus. Congress has also included guardrails to ensure that some bailed-out companies respect employees’ right to organize into unions, honor collective bargaining agreements, and don’t engage in massive layoffs—as some have done in the past.

In the coming weeks, policymakers must continue to focus on worker protections as they debate measures to help put Americans back to work. For example, front-line workers involved in health care and emergency child care, as well as those ensuring Americans can obtain essential groceries, must be provided with safe working conditions, decent base wages and hazard pay, and a voice on the job. Moreover, Congress should expand emergency paid sick days and emergency paid leave protections to cover all workers, including those at large and small businesses. Emergency paid leave, which currently allows 12 weeks for parents to care for a child whose school or place of care is closed, should also include paid medical leave and paid caregiving leave to recover from COVID-19 as well as paid leave to care for a disabled adult child or family member whose regular caregiver may have been affected by the coronavirus. Continue reading.

How little Trump cares for workers — and how much he values corporate swamp monsters — is now on full display

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The Trump pandemic response stimulus plan, shown first to Senate Republicans, proposes $100 billion for workers. The thin gruel Trump’s team proposes recalls famous 1980 Boston Globe headline mocking President Jimmy Carter: More Mush from the Wimp.

Donald Trump may have finally realized the coronavirus pandemic is real, but he hasn’t a clue about the price in lost wages, not to mention lost lives, that Americans workers will pay for his lethargic incompetence. Continue reading.

Pay Is Rising Fastest for Low Earners. One Reason? Minimum Wages.

New York Times logoIncreases in minimum wages across the country may make the labor market look a bit rosier than it really is.

These days, wages in the United States are doing something extraordinary: They’re growing faster at the bottom than at the top. In fact, recent growth for workers with low wages has outpaced that for high-wage workers by the widest margin in at least 20 years.

The main story here is the long economic recovery, now entering its 11th year. For much of the early phase of this recovery, wage growth for the bottom group was weaker than for others, but it began gradually accelerating in 2014 as unemployment continued to fall. This was around the same time the labor market started tapping into people some economists had all but given up on as work force participants, such as those who had been citing health reasons or disability for not having a job. Continue reading.

Trump Moves To Crush Independent Unions

Anyone praising the Ukraine whistleblowers for their courage, and fearful of the chilling effect of the Trump administration’s crackdown on whistleblowers, ought to support strong and independent public sector unions. Unions, after all, offer federal workers protection from the whims of the political appointees who are often their ultimate bosses.

Yet President Donald Trump recently lifted a man whose whole career has centered on eviscerating public-sector unions to a position with direct power over them, and it was only reported in a single state blog. Last week, Trump appointed Maxford Nelsen to fill a seat on the Federal Service Impasses Panel (FSIP), a board housed within the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA).

Most people have never heard of Nelsen, FSIP, or the FLRA. But if you work for the federal government, this decision could leave you with less job security and more working hours. Since the federal government is the largest employer in the American economy, that’s a lot of people who could suffer due to this decision.

View the complete October 18 article by Max Moran from AlterNet on the National Memo website here.

Trade Mayhem Harms Working Americans Trump Claims To Love

The poorly educated are about to learn just how little Donald Trump loves them. His gratuitous trade mayhem is damaging the global economy.

That means workers in jobs requiring no more than a high school diploma may soon get let go from jobs moving goods. Longshoremen, railroad workers, teamsters, the lumpers who load trailers, warehouse workers and retail clerks are all at risk of being forced into unemployment.

Will these millions of workers grasp that Trump is abusing them to satisfy his whims? Or will they react more like battered spouses who keep returning for more abuse because they cannot see the harsh reality of their situation?

View the complete September 1 article by David Cay Johnston on the National Memo website here.

For Labor Day, Trump Attacks Workers And Social Security

Labor Day is a holiday designed to honor America’s workers. Instead, Donald Trump continues to attack them. Indeed, his administration is in the midst of a stealth effort that not only attacks workers but also our earned Social Security benefits and our federal government. The long-term goals of Trump and his Congressional allies are to destroy the labor movement, wreck the federal government, and end Social Security.

That may sound hyperbolic, but it is not. Trump’s latest stealth attack is not only anti-union, it will eventually make it so difficult to access Social Security benefits that some beneficiaries (particularly those attempting to qualify for their earned Social Security disability benefits) never receive them at all. Others will eventually claim their benefits, but only after an unnecessarily burdensome process of visiting field offices that are rarely open and have hours-long lines when they are.

For Republicans, that’s all according to plan. Trump and his Congressional allies are intentionally breaking our government so they can turn around and say that it doesn’t work.

View the complete August 31 article by Nancy Altman from AlterNet on the National Memo website here.

Corporate Governance and Workers

Center for American Progress logoWhy Today’s Economy Fails Working Families—and What To Do About It

The economic headlines are chock full of soaring corporate profits, booming CEO pay, and record share buybacks.1 Yet, America’s working families and communities are struggling to get by since wages and family wealth have barely budged after decades of stagnation. This is a dangerous situation, as the deep imbalances in how the U.S. economy works—and whom it fails to work well for—increasingly expose America to social and political division.

This issue brief explores why companies share their benefits overwhelmingly with those at the top, leaving little for working families. It discusses why this is the case and what can be done to shift corporate accountability and governance so that economic growth is genuine, lasting, and more equitably shared with working families.

A shift in corporate governance

The boards and managers running companies, especially public companies, respond to the stakeholders who have the power to make demands of them.2 Stakeholders include the consumers who buy their products and services; workers and suppliers who produce them; investors who provide capital and other know-how; and even communities who provide a clean, safe environment and educated workers.3 However, boards and managers have been implementing corporate governance strategies that prioritize Wall Street and corporate executives, over the rest of the stakeholders. Why are America’s companies so responsive to some stakeholders, to the detriment of others?

View the complete August 14 article by Andy Green, Christian E. Weller and Malkie Wall on the Center for American Progress website here.