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Many Low-Wage Jobs Seen as Failing to Meet Basic Needs

Sat, 04/02/2011 - 11:10 — Dave Culver

A study on economic stability says many jobs today are unlikely to cover fundamentals like housing, utilities and food.

Motoko Rich, New York Times | NY

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People rely on food banks, like the Community Food and Outreach Center in Orlando, Fla. Todd Anderson for the New York Times

The Labor Department will release its monthly snapshot of the job market on Friday (April 1) , and economists expect it to show that the nation’s employers added about 190,000 jobs in March. With an unemployment rate that has been stubbornly stuck near 9 percent, those workers could be considered lucky.

But many of the jobs being added in retail, hospitality and home health care, to name a few categories, are unlikely to pay enough for workers to cover the cost of fundamentals like housing, utilities, food, health care, transportation and, in the case of working parents, child care.

A separate report being released Friday (April 1)  tries to go beyond traditional measurements like the poverty line and minimum wage to show what people need to earn to achieve a basic standard of living.

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Section(s): 
Labor

Mike Thompson | China is now the world's biggest manufacturer / cmsimg.freep.com

Mon, 03/28/2011 - 09:01 — Dave Culver

Section(s): 
Labor

GOP governor removes labor-themed mural from lobby of public building

Sat, 03/26/2011 - 10:45 — Dave Culver
  • More than 250 demonstrators crowded into the offices of the Maine Department of Labor on Friday morning to protest GOP Gov. Paul LePage’s planned removal of a labor-themed mural from the building’s lobby.
  • The US Culture Wars Continue

Jeff Tuttle, Bangor Daily News | ME

Submitted by Evergreene Digest Contributing Editor Coleen Rowley

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More than 250 demonstrators crowded into the offices of the Maine Department of Labor on Friday morning to protest Gov. Paul LePage’s planned removal of a labor-themed mural from the building’s lobby.

The small lobby that houses the actual mural, however, was no match for the crowd, which instead was forced to line long stretches of the hallway to  listen to speakers express their thoughts — ranging from confusion to dismay to outrage — at the Republican  governor’s order.

“This mural belongs to the people, not the governor, and we want it to stay where it is,” Robert Shetterly, a Brooksville artist, told the crowd, which at times broke into anti-LePage chants including “Recall Paul!” and “Art in, Paul out!”

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Labor

Unemployment feeds the war machine

Wed, 03/23/2011 - 12:37 — Dave Culver
  • In a time where the catch phrase used by both President Obama and the Republicans is “shared sacrifice,” working people have already sacrificed too much: jobs, homes, college educations, healthcare -- and for some, a son or a daughter on battlefields they should never have seen.
  • "Jobs" are used as an excuse by giant corporations to get or keep contracts building war machines even the military doesn't want and to support our endless wars.
  • It is time now to connect the dots and stand up for both new jobs and an end to the wars.
  • The Two Roads out of Recession

Lydia Howell, Guest columnist, Things We're Not Supposed to Say

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High unemployment is good for war.

Whether it’s debt-ridden college graduates working as baristas or small town youth with only fast-food and Wal-Mart as post-high school career options, high unemployment keeps "volunteer" military ranks full.

Underemployment, whether the problem is low wages or part-time hours, makes the National Guard and military reserves attractive for essential cash for (the promised) one weekend a month. Unfortunately, more and more weekend warriors are finding themselves in combat when they thought they'd be helping with disaster relief in their local communities.

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Related:

The Two Roads out of Recession, Shamus Cooke, Workers Compass

  • There are only two ways out of this recession, the path sought by corporations and the one that will benefit working people. The two roads cannot be traveled on simultaneously. Nor can working people expect leaders of national labor unions or national liberal organizations to pick the correct path, let alone make one concrete step in any progressive direction.
  • Stop the Austerity Craze! Massive Budget Slashing Can Lead to Economic Disaster, Violence and Repression

Section(s): 
Labor

Special Report | The Fight for the American Dream

Sun, 03/20/2011 - 10:09 — Dave Culver

Continuing coverage of the massive protests that are rapidly causing ripples coast to coast.

6 Items including:

  • Fascism Comes To Michigan
  • Union-busting allows bosses to rig the labor market in their favor

David Culver, ed., Evergreene Digest

Don Wright

The Two Roads out of Recession, Shamus Cooke, Workers Compass

  • There are only two ways out of this recession, the path sought by corporations and the one that will benefit working people. The two roads cannot be traveled on simultaneously. Nor can working people expect leaders of national labor unions or national liberal organizations to pick the correct path, let alone make one concrete step in any progressive direction.
  • Stop the Austerity Craze! Massive Budget Slashing Can Lead to Economic Disaster, Violence and Repression

Fascism Comes To Michigan, Jessica Pieklo, Care2MakeADifference

  • In the boldest attempt at a power grab yet, Michigan's governor proposes dissolving municipalities and turning them over to corporations. And no one seems to care.
  • Michigan bill would impose "financial martial law"
  • This Is What Class War Looks Like

Union-busting allows bosses to rig the labor market in their favor, Joshua Holland, AlterNet

  • The War on Public Employees
  • 12 Things You Need to Know About the Uprising in Wisconsin


When Is It Time for a General Strike?, Laura Flanders, Nation Magazine

  • Few Americans remember the demands 30,000 women and girls shirtwaist factory workers made… not just for wage increases, but for the ability to have a say in the conditions of their workplace—the workplace that killed them. Those are the rights that will be taken from American workers if the Republicans’ power grab is allowed to stand.
  • Imagine, a century ago, if the rest of New York had stood with the women of the factories. Imagine if instead of 20,000, it had been 2 million workers marching. Or if it were to be today.

Show your support for Wisconsin workers, ANSWER Coalition

Wisconsinites determined, Obama is AWOL, James Clay Fuller, Things We're Not Supposed to Say
Add one more to the long, long list of promises Obama has broken.

Section(s): 
Labor

Khalil Bendib | Joe Sixpackus / otherwords.org

Fri, 03/18/2011 - 13:00 — Dave Culver

Section(s): 
Labor

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