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HavenWorks.com/labor/archive/2004 |
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- Labor Archive
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ARCHIVES NEWS Labor News History Archives Labor Archives 2003 Labor News Archives 2002 Labor News Archives 2001 Labor News Archives Labor News |
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Photo
News - "Woman
fired by military contractor for published photograph of flag-draped U.S.
coffins." ... "A military contractor fired two cargo
workers responsible for a photograph of flag-draped coffins of U.S. soldiers
that appeared on a newspaper's front page." ... "Maytag Aircraft Corp.
fired Tami Silicio, 50, and her husband, David Landry, because they "violated
Department of Defense and company policies by working together" to take
and publish the photograph, company president William Silva said in a news
release Thursday." ... "The firing was first reported Thursday in The Seattle
Times, which published the April 7 photo on Sunday." -By
Gene Johnson -AP
via -SFGate.com
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- 
- 
- "High
court mulls Mexican truck access." ... "A Bush administration
lawyer told the Supreme Court yesterday that the president must be able
to open America's roads to Mexico's trucks without delays for an environmental
study." ... "But a lawyer for labor and environmental organizations cautioned
justices that ''we're talking about tens of thousands of trucks" packing
US roads after a two-decade moratorium ends." ... "Some of those trucks
are older and may be pollution-causing safety hazards, said the organizations'
lawyer, Jonathan Weissglass." -By Gina Holland
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- 2004
ELECTION - "Kerry:
Comment aimed at 'attack dogs': Hastert takes 'great
umbrage' at comment." ... "Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John
Kerry said on Thursday that he was not referring to all Republicans as
"crooked" in an off-the-cuff comment captured on camera -- just his political
opponents' "attack dogs."" ... "After a union rally in Chicago, Illinois,
on Wednesday Kerry
told a worker that "these guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group
of people I've ever seen." His microphone was still on when he made the
comments." -CNN
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- 2004
ELECTION - "Bush
distances himself from jobs figure in forecast."
... "President Bush distanced himself Wednesday from a forecast made by
his economic advisers predicting that the U.S. economy will add 2.6 million
jobs this year." ... "A Feb. 9 report by the White House Council of Economic
Advisors (CEA) predicted that payrolls would grow to an average of 132.7
million in 2004 from 130.1 million in 2003, an exceptionally rapid employment
gain for an economy that has shed 2.3 million jobs during Bush's tenure.
Facing the prospect that Democrats would make a campaign issue of Bush's
failure to meet his own projections, the president and top administration
officials declined to endorse the 2.6 million jobs forecast." -By
Dana Milbank -WashingtonPost
via -StarTribune.com
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- "Japan's pride
and joy gets a 'Made in China' label." ... "The qualms
are gone. Now even Japan's pride and joy, its top-end electronics manufacturers,
are coming to China with abandon." ... "They are building immense new plants
and research centers here [in China] to take advantage of abundant Chinese
labor up and down the value chain, doing nearly every kind of job their
Japanese work force does. Cost pressures are driving them to forget old
fears of having their best technology stolen or of harsh publicity at home
over moving high-paying jobs overseas." -Ken Belson
-NYTimes
via -IHT.com
Poverty
- Business
- Politics
- 2004
Election - "Wages
up for the well-off, but not for others: 'Rich-poor
gap' relates to long-term forces, but could hurt Bush as it reaches record
level prior to election." ... "Most US workers saw their earnings fall
or stagnate last year, with those at the bottom of the income scale hit
hardest." ... "The trend, coming alongside a slack job market, explains
why many Americans feel left out of the economic recovery - and why President
Bush faces a tough sell with his campaign-trail message that there is "good
strong growth." Democratic rivals point to "two Americas," one for the
rich, one for the poor." ... "Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina speaks
of "two Americas," while the leading contender, John Kerry, promises "a
prosperity where we will reduce the poverty of millions instead of constantly
reducing taxes for millionaires."" -By David R. Francis
-CSMonitor
- -
- "About
2 Million to Use Up Jobless Benefits." ... "Nearly
2 million people are expected to exhaust their state unemployment benefits
in the first half of the year without access to more government aid or
a regular paycheck, according to a study released Thursday." ... "Congress
has refused to approve another extension of federal unemployment benefits
for people who exhaust their state aid." -By Leigh
Strope -AP
via -AJC
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- "In-House
Audit Says Wal-Mart Violated Labor Laws." ... "An
internal audit now under court seal warned top executives at Wal-Mart
Stores three years ago that employee records at 128 stores pointed
to extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations requiring
time for breaks and meals." ... "The audit of one week's time-clock records
for roughly 25,000 employees found 1,371 instances in which minors apparently
worked too late at night, worked during school hours or worked too many
hours in a day. It also found 60,767 apparent instances of workers not
taking breaks, and 15,705 apparent instances of employees working through
meal times." ... "Officials at Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer,
employing 1.2 million people at its 3,500 stores in the United States,
insisted that the audit was meaningless, since what looked like violations
could simply reflect employees' failure to punch in and out for breaks
and meals they took." (1, 2)
-By Steven Greenhouse -NYTimes
via -Google-News
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- ELECTION
2004 - "Many
see Bush immigration proposals as non-starter." ...
"President Bush dived into a heated political debate on Wednesday by proposing
to create a class of legal "guest workers" in the United States, but analysts
said it was doubtful the blueprint could gain congressional approval in
this election year." ... "In a carefully balanced speech, Bush proposed
giving some of the estimated 8 million to 14 million illegal immigrants
in the country a way to gain three-year temporary work permits, but offered
them no clear path to becoming U.S. citizens." ... "The proposal seemed
calculated to win Bush Hispanic support ahead of the November presidential
election while pleasing employers looking for workers to fill mainly manual,
agricultural or low paid service jobs." -By Alan Elsner
-Reuters via -Forbes
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- "Labor
Dept. offers ways not to pay overtime: While touting
the benefits of new overtime rules for poor workers, the Labor Department
offers pointers on how to avoid paying the extra wages." ... "The Labor
Department is giving employers tips on how to avoid paying overtime to
some of the 1.3 million low-income workers who would become eligible under
new rules expected to be finalized early this year." ... "Among the options
for employers: cut workers' hourly wages and add the overtime to equal
the original salary, or raise salaries to the new $22,100 annual threshold,
making them ineligible." -By Leigh Strope
-AP via-Miami/Herald
