Labor

President Obama highlights the momentum building across the country to give Americans a raise and reiterates his call for Congress to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. The President has already signed an executive order to raise the minimum wage for people working under new federal contracts.

An Indiana company, Clear Path Construction, Inc., has been accused of intimidating and harassing workers who are seeking to find information on joining a union. An investigation into the matter has found merit to these claims.

Video of the dispute between Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy that spilled out quite publicly after a meeting with the President has emerged from the depths of the internet. From minimum wage hikes to Obamacare mandates to the Keystone XL pipeline, these two governors found a way to sneak all the jabs in just a short press conference.

A new collaborative report from several organization shows that nearly 50,000 of the country's 75,000 port truckers are incorrectly labeled as independent contractors, costing the average driver an astonishing $5,072 each month. It's a billion-dollar tax loophole that impacts everything from a family's reliance on safety nets to tax revenue and even the environment.

The United Automobile Workers union has decided to appeal the vote by workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga not to unionize. Filing with the National Labor Relations Board, the union claims outside interference did not allow for a free and just vote.

In what amounts to the largest wage violation settlement in the Department of Labor's history, sports bar chain Chickie's and Pete's will shell out $8.5 million to their shorted employees. The sports bar failed to pay overtime and out-and-out stole tips from the servers.

President Obama signed an executive order that, while a bit symbolic since it only reaches a few federal workers, lifts the minimum wage to $10.10 for all federal projects. Those projects, however, generally came with better wages already. Millions more are waiting on congress to act for the rest of the nation.

A major ruling in labor's favor: H-2b visas, those allowing foreign workers into the country to work, will now be regulated by the Labor Department's wage methodology. It layman's terms, it means that big business has to make sure there are no available American workers first, and they can't undercut those Americans' wages.

In what is sure to anger Republicans seeking to curb the influence of labor, the National Labor Relations Board is proposing a streamlined process to make it easier for workers to organize. The new plan could cut time from petition to elections to under a month, scaring big business leaders who would prefer to indefinitely delay workers.

As the Missouri legislature prepares to battle over right-to-work legislation, the Springfield News-Leader reminds us in an op-ed how necessary apprenticeship programs are, and how they would essentially be cut out entirely if the right wing (and ALEC-written) law comes to pass. One of the many back door ways right-to-work guts unions.