Tag Archive for "labor rights"

Posts Tagged labor rights

By Courtney Baxter • 10 years ago

Weekly Feminist Reader

On deromanticizing the Civil Rights Movement with Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, Lucas Johnson and Krista Tippett.

And really fucked up ways to honor Reverend King.

A language immersion day-care on Pine Ridge Reservation has helped to keep the Lakota language alive.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck asks if the rise of feminism is a threat to national security.

A trans woman in Louisiana helped repeal an anti-discrimination ordinance by daring the asshole-Councilman to own up to his beliefs and stone her.

Framing college as the pathway to economic mobility isn’t an answer (and in fact, is harmful to low-income, minority students.)

On deromanticizing the Civil Rights Movement with Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons, Lucas Johnson and Krista Tippett.

And really fucked up ways to honor Reverend King.

A language immersion day-care on Pine Ridge Reservation has helped ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 10 years ago

Charts of the Day: Being in a union raises a woman’s pay by 12.9 percent

Hey ladies, you may need a PhD to earn as much as a dude with a BA, but being in a union could be worth a year of college in terms of a wage boost. According to a new report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research, unionization has a big impact on women’s economic well-being.

Hey ladies, you may need a PhD to earn as much as a dude with a BA, but being in a union could be worth a year of college in terms of a wage boost. According ...

By Verónica Bayetti Flores • 10 years ago

Fast food workers follow up year of protests with nationwide strike

Fast food workers are following up a year of protests demanding wage increases with a nationwide strike across 130 cities in the United States. Workers are asking for $15 an hour, and are part of a larger movement demanding the rise of the minimum wage.

Fast food workers are following up a year of protests demanding wage increases with a nationwide strike across 130 cities in the United States. Workers are asking for $15 an hour, ...

By Verónica Bayetti Flores • 10 years ago

Sexual assault endemic for agricultural workers

When your assailant is has control of your livelihood, and even whether you can stay in the same place as your family, you might think twice about reporting it. This is exactly the position of many women agricultural workers in the U.S, the vast majority of whom are immigrants, and many of whom are undocumented:

By Sesali B. • 10 years ago

Grocery store worker sues employer for death of newborn

Like many women, Reyna García had to work during her pregnancy. She submitted 3 doctor’s notes explaining her need to have a lighter work load due to her high risk pregnancy; all three of them were ignored. Then, in November, after experiencing pain, her request to leave work was denied. According to the complaint:

“García, a general merchandise manager at the Atascadero store, asked to leave work while in pain one day last November. But her request was turned down, and she continued heavy lifting at the store. She went into labor that night, rushed to the hospital and found out that her baby was losing fluid and sustaining brain damage, she says.

García gave birth two days later to a ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

Women need a raise in the minimum wage

In a far-ranging speech that covered everything from climate change to AIDS, President Obama presented a few proposals that are particularly important for women: Implementing universal preschool, passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, and raising the minium wage. As Bryce Covert notes, all three of these policies would help combat the gender pay gap, since “balancing children and work, making the minimum wage, and being forced into secrecy about paychecks” are all huge factors.

Raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 per hour would affect approximately 21 million workers. About two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women, and they are disproportionately women of color. At the current rate–which is lower than it was a few decades ago and hasn’t ...

By Maya Dusenbery • 11 years ago

Support the striking fast-food workers in New York City

Photo via Sarah Jaffe.

Fast-food workers at dozens of chains in NYC are walking out today in what is the first step in the “biggest effort to unionize fast-food workers ever undertaken in the United States.” They are demanding a raise from near-minimum wages to $15 an hour and the right to form a union. The walk-out–which includes McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Domino’s, Taco Bell and others–is the first-ever multi-restaurant strike by fast-food workers in the country.

The median hourly wage for food service and prep workers is a $8.90 an hour in NYC. And it’s not like these workers are just teenagers hoping for some extra cash; the median age is over 28. Women make up two-thirds of the ...

Photo via Sarah Jaffe.

Fast-food workers at dozens of chains in NYC are walking out today in what is the first step in the “biggest effort to unionize fast-food workers ever undertaken in the United ...

By Sesali B. • 11 years ago

New report on domestic workers exposes low pay, harsh conditions, and need for labor protections

Yesterday, the National Domestic Workers Alliance–led by the amazing Ai-jen Poo–released a groundbreaking report on the work conditions faced by domestic workers (nannies, maids, caregivers, etc.) nationwide. The survey of over 2,000 domestic workers revealed the effects of race and immigration status on workers’ pay. Some troubling stats:

94% of domestic workers are women. 23 percent of workers are paid below the state minimum wage.* Undocumented domestic workers are paid about 20% less than those who are U.S. citizens. 66% of all those surveyed reported working while sick, injured or in pain. 56% of U.S.-born domestic workers and 77% of undocumented domestic workers reported working under such conditions. Workers of color make up 54% of the domestic workforce. The median wage for white caregivers is $12/hour; that of black ...