Labor

Between April and June of this year, five dozen clean energy and transportation projects were announced that will result in 38,000 new U.S. jobs. That figure represents a slight increase from the same period last year when 37,400 jobs were created. These jobs span the industries of energy generation, manufacturing, transmission/smart grid, energy efficiency, and public transportation.

New federal regulations handed down by Labor Secretary Thomas Perez will help disabled workers and veterans gain employment from federal contractors. The new standards would mandate that disabled workers make up 7 percent of the workforce on any federal contract. They would also set a benchmark of eight percent for veteran workforce make up.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor had intended to use an appearance at a Labor Day picnic to tout his record on worker's rights issues such as the minimum wage as he faces a 14-month battle to keep his seat in Arkansas. But as the two-term Democratic senator moved from table to table at a fairgrounds hall, he also quizzed constituents about whether Congress should authorize military action against Syria.

The containers that arrive in American ports by the thousands every day need drivers to move their contents from the stacked metal containers to shelves of Walmart, Target, Home Depot and more. In Los Angeles and Long Beach, the non-unionized truck drivers, often wrongly hired as independent contractors, set up the picket line to highlight their "fight for respect and a fair wage."

Over the weekend, Salinas Valley community supporters joined Walmart workers at a demonstration in front of the Laguna Seca Raceway in California during the annual Monterey Motorsports Reunion. The demonstration took place while Walmart Board Chair, and heir to the Walton family fortune, Rob Walton raced two of his multimillion dollar race cars worth more than $16 million.

Weeks after Missouri Lt. Governor Peter Kinder told attendees of an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) conference that his state was hoping to enact Right-to-Work legislation, the prospects that reality look grim. Kinder said “Right-to-Work” could be achieved through a ballot measure, but some of his fellow Republicans believe this would inevitably fail and could even cost the party seats in the legislature.

In a recent op-ed for the Modesto Bee, Mark Breslin, CEO of San Francisco-based United Contractors, explains why he favors California’s SB7, a bill which would make charter cities eligible for public funds if they would only follow prevailing wage guidelines.

A Michigan state appeals court has ruled that an anti-union right-to-work law applies equally to all state employees. The three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that the law superseded the Michigan Civil Service Commission, which had be tasked with setting compensation prior to the legislation.

The EB-5 investor program connects wealthy immigrants with U.S. businesses seeking capital. Run by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency (USCIS), its stated purpose is to “stimulate the U.S. economy through job creation and capital investment by foreign investors.” One of those companies is forcibly trying to deny benefits, and inhibiting lawful organizing of its employees into a union.

The leader of the city's struggling school system wants to suspend rules that require laid-off workers to be rehired based on seniority, a move the teachers union said it would fight.