Labor

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton signed into law a bill that raises the state's minimum wage to $9.50 an hour over two years. The new law then allows the minimum wage to go up based upon inflation. "Our fight is more than raising the minimum wage, we're fighting to raise up people," said one of the bill's authors, Sen. Jeff Hayden.

Don Blankenship's hubris is surpassed only by his greed. The “Dark Lord of Coal Country,” as the former CEO of Massey Energy has been called, is using the fourth anniversary of the tragic Upper Big Branch Mine explosion not to honor the lives of the fallen mines, but to absolve himself of any responsibility for the 29 deaths, even having the nerve to point blame at the Mine Safety and Health Administration.

Politifact has determined that comments made earlier this month by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker concerning public support for the anti-union Act 10 are false. During an April 1st radio interview with WISN-AM, Walker claimed that a poll taken “a few months” ago showed public support for his landmark anti-union legislation was at “70 percent or higher.” The fact checkers disgree, however, finding that the poll in question was taken in early 2012 and the results were not what the governor had claimed.

Speaking in Washington, D.C., Department of Labor head Thomas Perez labeled America’s lack of a workforce investment policy a “sleeper issue.” Just days after the Obama Administration announced $100 million in federal grants that would ostensibly create innovative programs to cultivate a new generation of ready-to-work Americans, Perez says the U.S. is getting "our butts kicked."

The World Bank, pursuing its own neoliberal agenda, is demanding that countries change their labor laws and worker protections for a seat at their bargaining table.

The Minnesota Senate has passed a bill that would boost the minimum wage in the state – to $9.50 an hour for employees in larger businesses, and to $7.75 for smaller ones. Though still not quite a living wage, it's at least a step in the right direction.

For the first time, the U.S. Labor Department has gotten involved in a high-profile lawsuit brought by unpaid interns. On Friday, the federal agency filed an amicus brief in support of eight former interns suing Hearst Corporation for back wages.

Students at George Washington University are delving into worker safety issues by focusing studies on different safety risks posed by different types of construction worker. The studies go above and beyond what the federal regulatory body, OSHA, can do with its limited budget.

An investigative report from Nashville’s News 5 shows that Governor Bill Haslam tied the fate of $300 million in promised tax incentives to the outcome of the United Auto Workers (UAW) organizing effort at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga. The report also revealed that Sen. Bob Corker had direct email conversations with anti-union organizers which he shared with members of the Haslam Administration.

California could become one of the first states in the nation to hold companies legally responsible for wage and safety violations by their subcontractors and temp agencies if a bill proposed Friday becomes law. The bill tackles the longstanding complaint of labor leaders that companies can often shirk responsibility for the abuse of workers by hiring them through agencies or contracting with smaller firms.