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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: labor

labor stories: 54 news summaries

1 - 20 of 54 Stories | 1 2 3 Next >>

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 French Telecom Suicides 
 Spark Official Unease 

Firm's chief to meet with labor minister

Sep 12, 09 4:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - A spate of suicides by workers at a French telecommunications company is prompting a meeting between the firm's CEO and France's labor minister, the BBC reports. Since last year, 23 employees of France Telecom have killed themselves; unions blame tough management practices, but the firm, which was privatized in 1998,... More »

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suicide • France • labor • telecom • labor unions • labor relations

Reality TV: Hollywood's Sweatshop

Producers make contestants suffer to bring out the drama

Aug 1, 09 3:32 PM CDT
(Newser) - They work up to 20 hours a day, often without breaks, and usually for no pay. Sometimes they're a little tipsy. Welcome to the secret lives of reality TV contestants. With no union to represent them, these “performers” suffer grueling conditions, the New York Times reports. “They... More »

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reality TV • labor • reality shows

Doctors Urged to Induce Labor Less Often

New guidelines warn
of risky 'epidemic' in
US hospitals

Jul 21, 09 3:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - New guidelines out today urge US doctors not to induce labor earlier than 39 weeks into a pregnancy unless there are compelling medical reasons, the Houston Chronicle reports. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued its first statement on induced labor since 1999, with the lead author calling it... More »

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pregnancy • labor • gynecology • doctor • birth • American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists • obstetrician-gynecologists

Gossip Site Broke Labor Laws With Octomom: Calif.

RadarOnline allegedly lacked permit to film minors

Jun 16, 09 5:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - California labor officials have cited RadarOnline for breaking labor laws in its coverage of octuplet mom Nadya Suleman, the Los Angeles Times reports. On March 17, the day the first two of the octuplets returned home from the hospital, a crew filmed the infants for the gossip site without first... More »

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California • labor • gossip • labor code • octuplets • Nadya Suleman • RadarOnline

(AP) - United Auto Workers members have ratified a package of concessions designed to reduce General Motors' labor costs. Union president Ron Gettelfinger said today 74% of GM's production and skilled-trade workers voted in favor. The vote comes before the company's expected Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing Monday. Bankruptcy experts say having... More »

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United Auto Workers • bankruptcy • General Motors • labor • union • labor unions • trade unions • auto industry • Ron Gettelfinger • Big Three • UAW

 Tomatoes Bring Fair-Trade 
 Movement Stateside 

Meager pay, slavery conditions for pickers prompt boycott threat

Apr 29, 09 11:01 AM CDT
(Newser) - With tomato pickers earning 45 cents per 32-pound bucket—the same wage as 30 years ago—fair-labor coalitions have long staged protests and boycotts. Now one of the country's biggest food-services companies is taking up the cause, the Washington Post reports. Bon Appetit says that if growers don't agree to... More »

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migrant workers • minimum wage • labor • tomatoes • fair trade • growers • day laborers • Bon Appetit Management

(Newser) - Nearly 10 months after their previous contract expired, the Screen Actors Guild and Hollywood’s major film and TV studios have a tentative agreement for a 2-year deal, the Los Angeles Times reports. Few details of the deal, which must be ratified by the union’s 120,000 members, were... More »

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television • labor • labor unions • contract • Screen Actors Guild • movies • Hollywood studios

Want a Mind-Blowing Orgasm? Have a Kid 

Labor pains can be overwhelmed by pleasure, some say

Mar 18, 09 9:47 AM CDT
(Newser) - Going into labor, most women would agree, is not much fun. But for Amber Hartnell of Hawaii, childbirth offered "the most overwhelming pleasure I have ever felt in my life"—a 4-hour sexual climax. As the Guardian reports, she's one of the women in a recent documentary on... More »

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women • labor • sexuality • childbirth • pain

Terrorism? Nah: French
Love Kidnapping Bosses

Laborers 'sequester' Sony chief to get better pay

Mar 14, 09 4:49 PM CDT
(Newser) - One country’s act of industrial terror is another’s negotiation tactic, the Independent reports. Disgruntled Sony workers in France weren’t shy about locking their bosses inside a factory overnight with trunks and tree branches, demanding better severance packages after job cuts were announced. Police didn’t interfere with... More »

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France • labor • Sony

(Newser) - The new class of temporary workers created by European labor reform is suffering most in the current wave of job cuts, the Wall Street Journal reports, testing the new policies amid the threat of backlash. Short-term employees—easier and cheaper to fire than permanent ones—also get fewer unemployment benefits,... More »

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Europe • labor • recession • immigrant • temporary employment • job market • unemployment benefits • job • financial crisis

 Male-Dominated Industries 
 Bear Brunt of Job Losses 

Construction, manufacturing cuts disproportionately hit men

Jan 22, 09 7:54 AM CST
(Newser) - The gap between men's and women’s unemployment is at a 25-year high because job cuts have hit especially hard in male-dominated industries like construction and manufacturing, reports Reuters. Some 80% of the nearly 3 million workers who lost jobs between November 2007 and November 2008 were men. Women hold... More »

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construction • labor • unemployment • manufacturing • job • financial crisis • Bureau of Labor Statistics • recession depression

OPINION

Developing World Needs
More Sweatshops: Kristof

Yes, they're ugly by US standards, but many nations' poor toil in much uglier conditions

Jan 15, 09 12:41 PM CST
(Newser) - Before Barack Obama follows through on tough talk about global “labor standards,” Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times wants to take him to a certain garbage heap in Cambodia. Here, where families live in shacks, scavenging in the hot sun, a sweatshop job is “a cherished... More »

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Asia • labor • Cambodia • poverty • developing world • sweatshop • President Obama

ANALYSIS

 US Jobs Picture
 Even Worse Than It Looks 

6.7% unemployment figure doesn't count those not working or looking for work

Dec 5, 08 1:45 PM CST
(Newser) - As bad as today’s jobs report seemed, it actually soft-pedals the US employment situation, David Leonhardt writes in the New York Times. In November, 251,000 workers lost their jobs, driving the unemployment rate to 6.7%. But “unemployed” describes only individuals actively looking for work, and the... More »

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labor • employment • unemployment • job • downturn • financial crisis

 Fired Workers Kill Boss in India 

Workers, invited to negotiate, beat Indian chief of Italian manufacturing firm to death

Sep 23, 08 4:17 PM CDT
(Newser) - An angry mob of laid-off workers killed their former boss at an Italian manufacturing firm in India yesterday, the Independent reports. Lalit Kishore Choudhary, who oversaw Oerlikon Graziano’s auto-parts business in India, was bludgeoned to death with iron bars as he tried to negotiate with the disgruntled former employees.... More »

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India • Italy • murder • labor • Delhi • manufacturing • riots • Uttar Pradesh

OPINION

 The Rich 
 Get Richer, 
 Work Harder 

Wealth disparities are what's keeping big earners sweating

Sep 2, 08 8:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - America’s higher earners are working harder all the time —but it’s not because of PDAs and laptops. It’s because of a fear of being “left behind” as wealth gaps widen among the upper classes, writes Dalton Conley in the New York Times. “Rising inequality... More »

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technology • work • labor • US economy • class divide

 Union Ad Urges 
 Vets to Abandon 
 McCain  

AFL-CIO spot aims to separate war record from economic policy

Jul 9, 08 5:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - Worried about the appeal John McCain has for military veterans among its members, the AFL-CIO is launching an advertising campaign criticizing the Republican's economic policies, the Chicago Tribune reports. The union will spend $53.4 million on the campaign, running mainly in places like Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Virginia— battleground... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • John McCain • veterans • labor • AFL CIO • George W. Bush

Actors' Family Feud Creates More Hollywood Labor Unrest

Larger SAG, with contract set to expire, aims to torpedo smaller union's deal

Jun 30, 08 10:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - In the escalation of a long-simmering turf war, the largest Hollywood actors union is attempting to scuttle a deal reached by its smaller rival with studios, the Los Angeles Times reports. Though the Screen Actors Guild isn't planning to strike when its contract expires tonight, it's urging members who also... More »

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labor • Tom Hanks • Jack Nicholson • Writers Guild of America • Screen Actors Guild • American Federation of Television and Radio Artists • Access Hollywood

Labor Blasts Obama's Top Economist

Unions worry that candidate is tilting toward Wall Street

Jun 12, 08 7:37 AM CDT
(Newser) - After locking up the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama moved quickly to bring Clinton supporters into his general election tent, including Robert Rubin, President Clinton's treasury secretary. Jason Furman, an economist closely associated with Rubin, was hired as economic policy director, and that's provoked the ire of labor unions, who see... More »

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Barack Obama • economics • labor • economist • AFL CIO • labor unions • Robert Rubin • Jason Furman • John Sweeney

NFL Owners Opt Out of Collective Bargaining Agreement

End of labor deal could lead to 2011 lockout

May 21, 08 8:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - As the NFL deals with Spygate's embarrassment, an even bigger concern has appeared on the horizon: the league's owners voted unanimously yesterday to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement, which could lead to a lockout in 2011. Commissioner Roger Goodell insists that there will be at least three... More »

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NFL • Roger Goodell • football • labor • NFLPA • Gene Upshaw • NFL Players Association

What Does This Man Have to Do to Get Fired?

Kerviel cost SocGen $7.2B, but law says he can't be sacked—yet

Feb 1, 08 11:27 AM CST
(Newser) - Make no mistake, Société Générale would like to fire Jérôme Kerviel, the rogue trader who cost the bank $7.2 billion. But under French labor laws, he can’t be dismissed without a formal sit-down to discuss his employer's problems with his performance. That will... More »

MORE ABOUT:
France • labor • Jérôme Kerviel • Société Générale

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