|
Holidays
/  Labor_Day
Working Folk's Holiday.
20080502
-
 Hillary
Clinton -  John
McCain -  Gas
-  Politics
- Consumer
- Memorial
Day - Labor_Day
-  New
York - 2008
Election
- "Clinton,
McCain Push Gas Tax Break Economists Panned (Update1)."
... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] Hillary Clinton
and [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain are both
pushing a ``gas-tax holiday'' to give consumers an 18.4- cent-a-gallon
price break. Clinton says the plan will take excess profits from oil companies.
McCain says it will help families buy school supplies." ... "Economists
have a different take: They say the oil companies may end up the biggest
beneficiaries, while the aid to families wouldn't be enough to buy a $35
backpack." ... "The trouble with the plan, they say, is that oil prices
are rising because of low supplies, and companies will continue to charge
the average $3.60 a gallon and just pocket the money that would have gone
to federal taxes." ... "``That's $10 billion, and it's going into the pockets
of oil refiners,'' said Leonard Burman of the Tax Policy Center in Washington.
``The last time I checked, they didn't need it.''" ... "Ethan Harris, chief
U.S. [United States] economist at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., said families
would save only about $18 a month. Burman estimated the total savings from
Memorial Day to Labor Day at $28." ... "New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
said the proposal was ``about the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time
from an economic point of view.''" -By Alison Fitzgerald
-Bloomberg
20080429
-
McCain
- Clinton
-
 Obama
- Transportation
- Infrastructure
-  Federal
-  Money
-  Arizona
- New
York
-  Illinois
- 2008
Election - Labor_Day
- Memorial
Day - Consumer
-  Car
- Gas
- Politics
- "What
a gas: Candidates seem far less presidential when
they talk about 'gas tax holidays' rather than the nation's ongoing needs."
... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator]
Sen. John McCain's idea to give Americans a summer holiday from federal
gas taxes is about as weighty as a Barbie Dream Car, yet he can't stop
driving it into the ground." ... "Neither can [2008 Election Democratic
Presidential Candidate and New York Senator] Sen. Hillary Clinton. The
two presidential contenders can't resist the chance to pander to voters
and, as a bonus, paint [2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate
and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama as an elitist. By doing so, they're
missing an opportunity to show leadership on some major long-term challenges
-- such as updating the nation's crowded roads and aging bridges." ...
"In a speech on April 15, McCain proposed that the federal government suspend
the 18.4-cent-per-gallon gas tax and the 24.4-cent-per-gallon diesel tax
between Memorial Day and Labor Day. ... "McCain's idea is problematic on
several levels. First, it would begin and end several months before the
next president takes office, so it's more of a thought balloon than a plan.
Second, the tax relief would save the typical American family only about
$40 per car, while also siphoning $10 billion from the cash-strapped federal
highway fund." ... "What's more, leading economists say the tax break would
do little to lower the prices at the pump. More likely, the slightly lower
prices would lead to higher demand, which would push the prices back up,
allowing oil companies to make more money while federal tax coffers go
hungry." ... "This is an election-year sop, not a plan for the future."
-Oregonian
20020902
-
"Workers
Are Angry and Fearful This Labor Day." ... "With
longshoremen, janitors and Boeing employees threatening major strikes and
employees reeling from corporate scandals and rising unemployment, the
mood among American workers has turned anxious and even angry this Labor
Day." ... "For organized labor, all this anxiety and anger has produced
some good news: Americans have warmed up to the idea of joining unions.
The Hart poll found that 50 percent of nonunion workers said they would
vote to join a union if they could, the highest level in two decades, up
from 42 percent last year and up from 30 percent in the early 1980's. The
number who said they would vote against unionizing fell to 43 percent,
from 65 percent two decades ago." -By Steven Greenhouse
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
20020831
-
"Labor
Day brings thanks for jobs." ... "The nation's unemployment
rate is hovering near a seven-year high, and new jobs are not being created
as the bleak economy teeters on the cusp of recovery and recession." ...
"The unemployment rate, now at 5.9 percent, dropped to a 30-year low of
3.9 percent in 2000 as the country enjoyed the longest stretch of prosperity
on record. Jobs were relatively easy to find, and many employers had to
compete for workers by boosting salaries and upgrading benefits." -By
Leigh Strope -AP
via -Miami/Herald
20020830
-
"Jobless
on Labor Day: The holiday honors American workers,
who might prefer something more substantial -- like a job." ... "The most
obvious problem facing the work force is stagnant job growth. Since March
2001, when a recession in the broader U.S. economy began, nearly 1.7 million
jobs have been lost, and more than 3.5 million people are drawing unemployment
benefits." -By Mark Gongloff
-CNN /fn
-
"Is
Labor Day just another day off?" ... "... with each
surge of industrialization, thousands of workers died. Each year 35,000
workers died from industrial accidents; the railroads alone counted for
6,000 fatalities a year during the 1890s, according to American People,
by Gary nash and Julie Jeffrey. Mine workers labored in temperatures more
than 120 degrees and often developed lung disease. Hunched over sewing
machines, women developed curved spines and digestive illnesses." ... "Such
was the case at the end of the 19th century. Faced with dangerous and unsanitary
environments, discontent and restless workers exploded into protests, strikes
and violence. On Sept. 5, 1882, thousands of union workers took an unpaid
day off and paraded through New York City carrying banners that read "Eight
Hours for Work, Eight Hours for Rest and Eight Hours for Recreation.""
-By Kelly DiNardo -USATODAY
-
"Organized
labor marks Labor Day with talk of strikes." ...
"Labor experts do see common concerns among workers in several of the recent
faceoffs, but they call the spate of recent walkout threats anomalies.
Most big unions, they say, have still all but forgotten how to strike."
... "In the early 1950s, when organized labor was at its peak, strikes
were frequent, and potent. There were a record 470 strikes involving more
than 1,000 workers in 1952." ... "These days, the records being set are
at the other end of the scale. Last year, there were just 29 strikes involving
more than 1,000 workers, the second lowest ever." -By
Adam Geller -AP
via -Boston/Globe
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
GOV Labor
Websites:
|
DOL.gov
NLRB
OSHA
Workers.gov
DOL.gov
"The
History of Labor Day. Labor Day: How it Came
About; What it Means." ... "Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is
a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic
achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute
to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and
well-being of our country." ... "The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated
on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the
plans of the [New York] Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held
its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883."
... "In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday,
as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations
in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's
holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations,
and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the
country." ... "The first governmental recognition came through municipal
ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement
to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the
New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon
on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts,
New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative
enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania
had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in
honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making
the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District
of Columbia and the territories." ... -Read more at:"The
History of Labor Day." -DOL.gov |
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