Chaz Bolte Posts

The official number of deaths resulting from the infamous 9/11 Al-Qaeda attacks stands at 2,996. But by the middle of this century, that number could as much as double. That’s because more than 2,500 of the workers who helped in the crucial moments and months following the World Trade Center attacks have cancer.

An Indiana Judge has ruled that the state’s “Right-to-Work” law is unconstitutional, the second such blow to the legislation since its passage in 2012. Following the decision, Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller said he would ask for a stay to prevent the decision from immediately taking effect. He also argued that the law’s fate is still truly in the hands of the state Supreme Court.

The latest “business conditions” survey from the National Association of Business Economics shows an improving economic outlook with higher levels of growth and dropping unemployment. The majority of survey participants represent companies with more than 100 employees and 40 percent represent firms with over 1,000 workers. The survey also showed that wages are rising and echoed arguments made by Federal Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen that discouraged workers would return to the labor force when the economy improved.

Six years after Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick created the Joint Task Force on the Underground Economy (JTF) via executive order, the highly successful program will become statute thanks to language in the state’s newly enacted minimum wage law. Recent reports show that in 2013 alone the JTF recovered $15.6 million in back wages, unemployment insurance premiums, penalties and fines following over one thousand investigations. Since its inception, the JTF has recovered over $56 million.

St. Louis County Council member Steve Stenger is asking labor to help him in his bid to become County Executive, claiming incumbent Charlie Dooley’s anti-union record should be enough to encourage union members to get out the vote. With low turnout likely (65,000 of the county’s 700,000+ voters are expected to make it to the polls for the August 5th Democratic primary), every vote will count.

Just weeks after the Fort Wayne City Council passed legislation ending collective bargaining for city employees, it has taken the assault on workers rights further by passing a new law which would make union membership for all public safety employees optional. This local “Right-to-Work” law goes further than the state’s bill which exempted policemen and firefighters.

Tracy Morgan has sued Walmart after one of its drivers slammed into the comedian's limo a month ago. Walmart routinely makes its drivers drive long shifts for little pay and no protections.

File this under "Shooting Yourself in the Foot." The states with the worst infrastructure woes are the very same ones with representatives trying to make it even worse. Republicans are refusing to budge, and their intransigence is allowing the Highway Trust Fund to run alarmingly low.

Despite losing a close vote to unionize in an election marred by the Tennessee government's union-busting tactics, the United Auto Workers will come to Chattanooga anyway. Workers at the new plant will be represented by the Union and will work closely with Volkswagen as part of a 'works council.'

Teachers and laborers want answers after it was discovered that a minor was working on the $880,000 expansion of Cornelia Elementary in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. Union reps who had been monitoring the worksite snapped photos of a young boy, age 13 or 14, performing dangerous work including operating a bobcat without proper safety gear.

In Minnesota, union organizers are making inroads at charter schools as teachers increasingly feel they need power in numbers to affect positive change at the privatized schools. In January, teachers at the Twin Cities German Immersion School organized after minor clashes with higher-ups. And in July the teachers and staff of the Community School of Excellence in St. Paul did the same. The two schools are the first of Minnesota’s 150 charter schools to go union.

The subject of Voter ID usually revolves around race. Laws have been struck down in states such as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania due to their disproportional effect on minorities and the elderly, but other segments of the population are up in arms as well. Namely, college students.

California truck drivers for three major transportation companies went on strike Monday morning to protest labor law violations. Over 120 drivers are taking action at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, two of the West Coast’s largest supply points which handle roughly 40 percent of the nation’s imports.

The irony is steep in El Centro's joining of a lawsuit against California's Senate Bill 7, which withholds state funds for municipal projects that do not offer a prevailing wage, considering the city has the second highest unemployment rate in the country. Why not add costly legal fees to an already struggling budget?

With their contracts expiring at midnight, city workers in Los Angeles flooded the streets around city hall in protest on Tuesday. They oppose predatory fees the city pays to Wall Street banks and believe that money should be redirected to improve city services.

Home care workers in Minnesota, Maryland and Vermont fought long and hard for representative rights. So many of them are saying "pfft!" to the Supreme Court's anti-union Harris vs. Quinn decision.

The Memphis City Council’s new 2015 budget includes major changes to city employees’ health insurance, a big business win that has many public employees considering a change in profession.

A case to be heard by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on August 25th revolves around California trucking company Green Fleet Systems, who the Teamsters union claims has used threats, coercion, and the termination of two employees to squash unionization efforts among misclassified independent contractors. Green Fleet Systems is also accused of illegal surveillance of its workers, including using anti-union agents.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has dropped the city’s legal challenge to a law that would require companies receiving more than $1 million in economic development aid to pay the prevailing wage. The legal challenge to the law began after the city council overrode Mayor Bloomberg’s veto of the law by a 44-4 vote in May of 2012. Following the override, Mayor Bloomberg sued the city council arguing that the legislation would increase city costs and was preempted by the state’s minimum wage law.

A new investigative report from the Detroit Free Press reveals a problem in Michigan found in many other states: Charter schools with little oversight and nearly no regulation underperforming to the detriment of students. The report’s findings led the Michigan Association of Public School Academies (MAPSA), a lobby group focusing on the for-profit education industry, to wage an all-out PR campaign to minimize the positive impact of this solid journalistic effort.