White-collar workers are turning to labor unions
NEW YORK — The next wave of union protesters isn’t blue collar.
It’s lawyers, paralegals, secretaries, helicopter pilots, judges, insurance agents and podiatrists.
These white-collar workers are not exactly the picture of the labor movement, but they are becoming a more essential part of it as they turn to unions for help in a tough economy as bosses try to squeeze out more profits.
What Do Washington State CEOs Know About the Minimum Wage that Other CEOs Don't Get?
Both Starbucks and Costco are headquartered here in Washington, the state with the highest minimum wage in the nation (currently $9.19). Starbucks and Costco are arguably two of the most success retailers in the nation. Costco in particular out-competes Walmart’s Sam’s Club while paying its typical workers about double. It’s an experience with higher wages that CEO’s elsewhere might do well to learn from.
Is U.S. manufacturing making a comeback or is it just hype?
In the past few years, hundreds of factories have started returning to the United States. But economists are still unsure whether this is just a blip—or the start of a revival of American manufacturing.
Coordinated strategy propelled passage of Rhode Island gay marriage bill
Phone banks, an army of volunteers and alliances with organized labor, business leaders and religious clergy propelled gay marriage to victory in Rhode Island this week, a savvy and coordinated strategy that relied on growing public support and old-fashioned bare-knuckle politic
This machine allows anyone to work for minimum wage for as long as they like. Turning the crank on the side releases one penny every 4.97 seconds, for a total of $7.25 per hour. This corresponds to minimum wage for a person in New York. This piece is brilliant on multiple levels, particularly as social commentary. Without a doubt, most people who started operating the machine for fun would quickly grow disheartened and stop when realizing just how little they’re earning by turning this mindless crank. A person would then conceivably realize that this is what nearly two million people in the United States do every day…at much harder jobs than turning a crank. This turns the piece into a simple, yet effective argument for raising the minimum wage.
(Source: blakefallconroy.com)
Academia's indentured servants
On April 8, 2013, the New York Times reported that 76 percent of American university faculty are adjunct professors - an all-time high. Unlike tenured faculty, whose annual salaries can top $160,000, adjunct professors make an average of $2,700 per course and receive no health care or other benefits.
When the Minimum Wage Makes Economists Smile
In 1992, when New Jersey raised the state minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.05, Krueger and his then-Princeton colleague David Card surveyed 410 fast-food restaurants in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania before and after the wage hike. The idea was to compare changes in fast-food employment in New Jersey, where the minimum wage had risen, with those in Pennsylvania, where it stayed constant at $4.25. The surprising result: fast-food employment went up in New Jersey relative to Pennsylvania.
Corporate Profits Have Risen Almost 20 Times Faster Than Workers’ Incomes Since 2008
As a percentage of national income, corporate profits stood at 14.2 percent in the third quarter of 2012, the largest share at any time since 1950, while the portion of income that went to employees was 61.7 percent, near its lowest point since 1966. In recent years, the shift has accelerated during the slow recovery that followed the financial crisis and ensuing recession of 2008 and 2009, said Dean Maki, chief United States economist at Barclays.
Corporate earnings have risen at an annualized rate of 20.1 percent since the end of 2008, he said, but disposable income inched ahead by 1.4 percent annually over the same period, after adjusting for inflation.
Public sides with Obama on minimum wage
A minimum-wage increase enjoys majority support regardless of party — 87% of Democrats, 68% of independents, and even 50% of Republicans.
