Tomato farming is tough work for the pickers and the growers. A University of Florida study showed that neither the workers' wages nor the wholesale price of tomatoes has risen for 30 years when adjusted for inflation.

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If workers go on strike, Delphi can hire new employees and then fire them before their 90-day probation period is up, about the time Chiaravalli expects Delphi to need to reach an agreement with unions.

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Perhaps not by chance, on May 1st, when the world had it's eyes on the fate of workers in the US, an agreement was signed giving 450 poverty-wage janitors the right to form a union and raise living standards for their families.

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May 1st 2006 felt like I was living in a democratic country again. Small restaurants, mom and pop stores like panaderias and mercados, body shops and garages, nail parlors and beauty salones were all closed.

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Some of those with the most to lose economically are staunchly dedicated to the work boycott. At the Home Depot in Mission Valley this week, day laborers waiting for work in the parking lot said they didn't plan to be there May 1.

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Like a train without brakes, plans for an immigrant work and school boycott on May 1 continue to build steam across the nation. But some prominent pro-immigrant leaders and groups, including the Archdiocese of Denver, are urging immigrants to go to work and school on May 1.

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Nearly two months into a strike by janitors at the University of Miami, a determined band of South Florida clergy has rallied religious support for workers that crosses traditional faith boundaries.

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If passed, the legislation could usher in a new era of segregated housing. A throwback in many ways to the early 20th century model of company towns, these new communities would cluster young teachers into living arrangements governed by etiquette and laws not yet established.

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In the UK there is no "right to strike", only immunity against legal recourse providing a lengthy balloting process is followed. In France they have the right to take immediate industrial action and solidarity action to challenge company decisions. In France the right to strike is included in the constitutional rights of all workers.

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"People were really looking for more flexibility and less stress," he said. "That just got pounded into our heads." The top three complaints of stress were too much work at 28 percent, no room for advancement at 20 percent and deadlines, also at 20 percent.

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With an overwhelming strike authorization vote in hand, and a bankruptcy judge's decision pending, Delta Comair flight attendants represented by Teamsters Local 513 today called on the airline to return to the bargaining table and negotiate a good-faith settlement.

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In contrast to this image, critics say that in terms of wages and benefits, working conditions, sweatshop-style foreign suppliers, and effects on local retail communities, big box Target stores are very much like Wal-Mart, just in a prettier package.

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A recent independent investigation into the alleged human rights abuses at Coke's bottling plants in Colombia, led by New York City Councilman Hiram Monserrate, verified 179 separate human rights abuses at Coke bottling plants in Colombia.

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Obviously those who have something to say about our regressive tax system are outnumbered, and discouraged. Unfortunately, tax and wealth distribution fairness is another victim of the week. A deadly victim, such as so many hardworking men and woman around the country.

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To fix the problems with our tax system, the participants of ''Since Sliced Bread'' proposed many idea, some of which we presented yesterday. Today, we bring you a few more of a sampling that represents some of them.

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There is strong consensus that our present tax system is unfair to those who work hardest in America and robs average citizens of a voice; that it rewards bad behavior and doesn't do enough to encourage what is right.

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''This is the first national agreement that we're aware of, that's ever dealt with workers or guest workers in this country,'' Arturo Rodriguez, UFW president

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Once again we see how with the government in the hands of corporation, not only workers loose their rights and their livelihood. Our children loose too.

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Cheaper labor is not the real cost problem. Other costs are. These costs are driven by management and egos of management. The first place to streamline and downsize is in administration, management and corporate expenses.

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Americans with annual incomes of $1 million or more reaped 43 percent of all the savings on investment taxes in 2003. The savings for these taxpayers averaged about $41,400 each. The newspaper's tax cut analysis showed that more than 70 percent of the tax savings on investment income went to the top 2 percent of the population, about 2.6 million taxpayers; that is, the same number of Kansas residents, as reported by the U.S. Sensus Bureau in 2000.

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The AFL-CIO announced yesterday that it finds itself in a different possition from the Change-to-Win coalition regarding the issues. The AFL-CIO has rejected the inclusion of a guest worker program in the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill that "by their very nature harm the interests of foreign -- and U.S.-born workers alike," but the Change-to-Win coalition supports the guest-worker program in the bill, although it says it will strive to add a series of needed protections for temporary immigrant workers.

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''FPI's new evidence shows that a higher minimum wage not only benefits workers but can spur economic growth that benefits small business owners,'' said KRC labor economist Mark Price. ''Increases in labor costs are offset by savings from lower recruitment and training costs and by greater revenue from increased sales.''

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Protecting the rural sector from cheap, highly subsidized, US agricultural products would help reestablish livelihoods on small farms, allow people to stay on the land and preclude the need to migrate to survive.

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The Teamsters Union supports measures passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee that include smart border security measures, as well as earned legalization for the 12 million undocumented workers in the country who are essential to our economy and communities.

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"The study points out that wages in the region have not kept up with inflation," said Michael L. Dolfman, regional commissioner of the bureau. Annual inflation in the region, reached 4.4 percent in March 2005.

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The U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit Boston, upheld findings made by the Labor Department in which it found Vieques Air Link Inc. (VAL) violated the whistleblower provisions Act when the pilot was suspended and later fired after he brought up safety concerns to his employer and the Federal Aviation Administration in March 2002.

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Michigan's nonprofit community hospitals provided more than $1 billion in uncompensated care and in the unreimbursed costs of government programs (such as Medicaid and Medicare) and more than $327 million in free or reduced-fee community-based programs in fiscal year 2004 (the most recent year for which data is available),

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Hoping to stem persistent hunger and improve nutrition for poor children, the Chicago Public Schools and Greater Chicago Food Depository are sending kids home from school for the weekend with sacks of food.

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Job security, health care, vacations and pensions are fragmenting and falling away. I fear the worst.

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"Any way you look at this, these people's lifestyles are changing drastically and not for the better," said Gary N. Chaison, professor of labor relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. "It's the end of the grand social contract that Henry Ford began. It's going to be a very sad ending for tens of thousands of American people."

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Nearly 65 million women are now in America's workforce, including three-quarters of U.S. mothers of children younger than 18.

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The survey of over 1,500 families-from very low-income, to moderate- and high-income groups-also showed surprising agreement both on causes of poverty and on measures to reduce it. But virtually none of the moves they support are being considered by the GOP-controlled Congress or President Bush.

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How is it possible that such educated and intelligent people forget the simple fact that CEO salaries are set by a board of peers or by a group of CEO wannabes whose salaries go up every time they vote an increase for their bosses? Yes, basically, CEOs set their own salaries, and workers don't.

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There's also good news for the janitors at the University of Miami. After three weeks of protests over low pay wages, janitors will get a raise of 25%, announced the Univeristy president Donna Shalala. The new policy will apply to about 900 workers. The current hourly base pay is $6.40. The new hourly minimum will be $8 for food service workers; $8.55 for housekeepers; and $9.30 for landscapers. In addition, health care benefits will also be offered.

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In a show of strength that surprised even the organizers, tens of thousand of immigrants poured into the Loop Friday, bringing their calls for immigration reform to the heart of the city's economic and political power. But few main stream media outlets reported this large scale demonstration.

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Why doesn't Mr. Bush get any economic respect? I think it's because most Americans sense, correctly, that he doesn't care about people like them. We're living in a time when many Americans are feeling economically insecure, but a tiny elite has been growing incredibly rich. And Mr. Bush's problem is that he identifies so totally with the lucky, wealthy few that in unscripted settings he can't manage even a few sentences of empathy with ordinary Americans. He doesn't feel your pain, and it shows.

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Overall, Oxford Analytica predicts that the influence of unions will remain stable in the near term due to the shrinking manufacturing workforce. This also includes the fact that service, construction and public sector unions are adopting effective new organizing strategies and campaign approaches, and that worker rights have gained visibility in the mass media, through negative publicity associated with off-shoring.

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Ignoring such violations of workers' rights, the Bush administration is proposing to include Ecuador in the so-called Andean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA). Like the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the pact does not include enforceable protections for workers' right to form a union or other core human rights. The Bush administration could send AFTA to Congress in the coming months, with a vote by spring.

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''When contractors pay less than agreed-upon wages, or do not pay at all, they violate labor laws and subject honest contractors to unfair competition,'' said Santa Cruz Police Chief Howard Skerry, whose department joined forces with a Latino community service agency to set up the hotline.

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After the strikes, the vietnamese government increased the minimum wage in foreign invested factories by nearly 40 percent. Monthly earnings went from less than $40 a month to a minimum of $55.

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Shalala, who as the University of Miami president makes more than $500,000 a year, . . . declined to comment about the walk out beyond an earlier statement, noting the formation of a group to look into compensation for contract workers.

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The head of the second-largest labor union in the country, said: "We are not going to let the right of companies to fire at the snap of a finger become entrenched in French law. We are not going to let France operate under the same rules as the socially most backward countries."

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David Groves, a spokesman for the Washington State Labor Council, said he's not surprised that there's been some resistance to the union security clause, but it is an essential tool that gives the union bargaining strength.

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Census data released this past August suggests that the number of Americans in poverty grew slightly in 2004 (the most recent year for which data is available) to 12.7 percent from the 12.5 percent recorded the previous year, representing about 37 million mericans. Since 2000, the number of people living in official poverty has increased by 5.4 million. But according to experts, that number vastly underestimates the real total. Duke university sociology professor David Brady puts it this way: "Each August we Americans tell ourselves a lie. The entire episode is profoundly dishonest."

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"County workers provide many vital services that make Santa Cruz County a better place to live," one of the organizers said. "Many of these services require a level of training and experience that are difficult to quickly replace. Workers are marching for community support to maintain community services by retaining the people who provide them."

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Whather the economy is growing as fast as it should be or not, the simple fact is that, in America, we leave in the world's reachest country, and disposable income abounds. But what happens when there's a slip in the economic growth, or even worse, when that disposable income is not shared by all?

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Union workers are calling for developers to use local contractors to build a string of Walgreens stores between Rochester to Geneva, NY.

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Americans have always believed that hard work will bring rewards, but vast numbers now cannot meet their bills even with two or three jobs. More than one in 10 citizens live below the poverty line, and the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening.

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The suit asserts that the genetically modified alfalfa will probably contaminate conventionally grown alfalfa at a fast pace, ultimately forcing farmers to pay for Monsanto's patented gene technology whether they want the technology or not.

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AUT general secretary Sally Hunt said university staff had run out of patience. "Employers must respond immediately with an offer - not talks about talks - if they are to prevent disruption." "For too long, she added, they have had to accept the tired old excuses from vice-chancellors of wanting to pay more, but not having the money. That money is here now," she said.

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"This is a very good job," said industry analyst Art Hatfield of investment bank and brokerage Morgan Keegan. "It has all the kind of benefits associated with the U.S. manufacturing sector 20 years ago."

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"Hell, no, don't bring no one in from nowhere," said Johnson, a 47-year-old Mississippi native who founded his consortium of 35 minority contractors a decade ago. "Train the people here. Give the people here the same opportunity you're willing to give someone out of this country."

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Consumer advocates, trial lawyers and state officials say the recent moves to preempt state laws through federal regulation are a backdoor effort by the Bush administration to protect manufacturers from liability for faulty products.

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"We can never enter into a trade agreement that does not have labor and environmental standards as part of trade-Clinton said-. If we don't have trade agreements that lift the bottom up, we'll only see a race to the bottom."

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Since 2001, the Pentagon's budget has increased by 20 percent. The United States now accounts for almost half of world military spending, meaning it's budget is nearly as much as the rest of the world's combined.

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Packers and mechanics at the Blue Diamond plant in Sacramento, CA, say their employer has denied them respect, raises, and benefits for many years. Last summer, they began organizing to form a union with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. But when workers stood up to exercise their rights, Blue Diamond's anti-union campain went off.

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UPI reports that some 20 percent of U.S. nurses have left the profession, and 55 percent of nurses surveyed by their professional association said they would not recommend the career to others.

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Globalization has so far not led to the creation of sufficient and sustainable decent work opportunities around the world. That has to change, and as many leaders have already said we must make decent work a central objective of all economic and social policies. This report can be a useful tool for promoting that objective.

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Who benefits from "consumer directed" health savings? People with large incomes who have the ability to put significant amounts of pre -tax dollars into a health savings plan.

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A weekly update on avarice in America.

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Nearly one-half of Americans now live in states that require wages higher than the $5.15 an hour set by Congress nine years ago. And the trend of states raising their minimum wages in the face of federal inaction shows no sign of fading.

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Dozens of hotel workers and community allies demonstrated last week against a local hotel owner who has not signed a labor contract in more than 2 years, and who has denied his employees a health insurance plan for 16 months

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"Too many women get stuck on a 'mummy track' of low pay and low prospects. The pay gap for women working part-time, at nearly 40%, has barely improved since the Sex Discrimination Act was introduced 30 years ago," said Caroline Slocock, the chief executive of the UK Equal Opportunities Commission.

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Outside of the 600 executives the Delphi plan earmarks for bonuses, none of the 24,000 workers the UAW represents at Delphi-and none of the workers in Delphi's five other unions-will get to share in the bonus bonanza the company has proposed, no matter how well Delphi should do. Indeed, Miller wants to fire thousands of Delphi workers and cut the pay of the rest, to just above that of the average Wal-Mart worker.

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Employers still think workers will quit only if disgusted by poor management, and don't grasp the extent to which employees are contemplating the increased salary, opportunities for advancement, recognition and excitement that might await them in a new job.

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Three months ago, SEIU asked Americans to submit common sense ideas on how we can strengthen our economy and improve the day-to-day lives of working men and women and their families. Today we have a winner. -Second Part

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Three months ago, SEIU asked Americans to submit common sense ideas on how we can strengthen our economy and improve the day-to-day lives of working men and women and their families. Today we have a winner.

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We reproduce clips from an interview by Amy Goodman, from DemocracyNow.org.

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Today, we bring clips from an interview by Amy Goodman, from DemocracyNow.org.

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Timbuk2 distributed checks totaling more than $1 million at its Mission District factory to 40 employees participating in its wealth-sharing program.

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Six years ago Johnson was earning more than twice as much money--$29 an hour--at a nuclear power plant in nearby Clinton. Then he got laid off and tumbled into an underworld of low wages and slimmed-down benefits.

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Many Americans still believe that the U.S. health-care system is the best in the world. But the fact remains that Americans live shorter lives, with more disabilities, than people in countries that spend barely half as much per person on health care.

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"The restructuring plan announced this morning by Ford is extremely disappointing and devastating news for the many thousands of hard-working men and women who have devoted their working lives to Ford," United Auto Workers president Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement.

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Seems like one of the key things in modern American society is to appeal to the masses of so-called "professionals" who don't see themselves as "labor," and don't realize it's not a level playing field.

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"The government is giving a green light to the coal operators to violate safety"

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"This is a protest movement of Wal-Mart workers uniting to make their lives better at work and in their communities," said Rick Smith.

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Is it any of your business how much your boss makes? Well, when you do, It will cause your eyes to pop!

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Labor will take its major victory from Maryland's health care vote this week to 31 other states, hoping to capitalize on anti-Wal-Mart sentiment and to build momentum in state legislatures considering similar measures

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''Now our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality." --M. L. King Jr.

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Rising financial risks for American families

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Unions have got to find a language that supports ethically the actions they are taking, and that language exists in the ideals of the Civil Rights Movement.

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Even if inflation in the metropolitan area returns to its 2004 pre-gas hike level of 3.5 percent, the transit workers will be looking at a real wage cut.

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Productivity statistics may be misleading.

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