Posts tagged inflation
House Republicans serve up reforms for tipped wage and paid leave
January 16, 2025 // House bills 4001 and 4002, introduced by Reps. Jay Deboyer, R-Clay Township, and Rep. John Roth, R-Interlochen, would modify new laws that, as of Feb. 21, will require paid time off for all employees and minimum wage for tipped wage workers. The 2024 decision by the state’s high court followed years of lawmaking, and the resulting laws, which have become a hot potato for both parties. Taken together, the new laws could increase restaurant costs by a quarter or more, according to a restaurant industry survey.
When New Jersey Hiked Minimum Wages, Fast Food Prices Rose
January 14, 2025 // Today, New Jersey's minimum wage is a little more than $15 per hour, thanks to a provision that automatically raises the minimum wage along with inflation. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania's minimum wage is $7.25, which is the federally mandated level. Interestingly, the study found that menu price hikes did not occur immediately after the minimum wage increases. Rather, it took an average of about six weeks for menu prices to rise.
Restaurant Minimum Wage Hurting Businesses and the Workers Proponents Seek to Help
January 10, 2025 // For fast food operators, it’s not just this latest minimum wage increase. Since 2013, their minimum wages have increased from $8 to $20, which is 2.5 times. It’s unsurprising that they’re slashing jobs, cutting hours and raising prices. This also coincides with a major turn towards automation. Of course, automation is driven by many factors, not just increased labor costs – but they certainly don’t help.
American Airlines Union President Faces ‘Embezzlement’ and ‘Cover-Up’ Allegations Amid Mounting Dissent
January 10, 2025 // Formal charges have been filed by one of the American Airlines flight attendant base Presidents against their union President, Julie Hedrick. These “Article VII Charges” allege ‘willful violation’ of the union’s constitution including improper use of union funds for personal enrichment. This includes the allegation of having the union lease her an apartment without first certifying that she lived outside the area (the union can lease apartments for its officers to stay at in Dallas only if their primary residence is elsewhere).
From Amazon warehouse to port strikes, shippers and the DOT are preparing for an unpredictable 2025
January 2, 2025 // In recent years, the logistics industry has become familiar with "black swan" events, the biggest being Covid, which brought the global supply chain to a halt. The lessons learned during the pandemic led to new digital solutions for companies to track trade and solve for the lack of communication and data sharing that contributed to massive congestion at ports. Those solutions will continue to play a major role in dealing with trade disruptions.
Op-ed: Biden’s Last Labor Stand: Honoring the First Female Secretary of Labor While Propping Up His Failed One
December 17, 2024 // Biden even attempted to appoint a radical progressive incompetent to the post of United States Secretary of Labor and as much as bragged about this in this speech. What Biden failed to note is that Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su was never confirmed by the Senate, because she is that incompetent. Yet, Su was there anyway, praised and introduced by the first female president of the AFL-CIO, Liz Shuler, who credited Su with turning "the Department of Labor into a true House of Labor." A house of labor that has tacitly excluded and targeted the more than 64 million independent professionals and small businesses; but, apples and oranges.
Five years after failed vote, Pitt grad students unionize
November 30, 2024 // From 2021 to 2023, nearly 64,000 U.S. grad student workers joined unions. By comparison, only 20,394 students unionized from 2013 through 2020. Today, four in 10 grad student employees belong to labor groups. This trend was, experts say, driven in part by the pandemic and by the administration change from Donald Trump to Joe Biden in 2021, which ushered in a National Labor Relations Board more amenable to organizers.
After Democrats lost the working class, union leaders say it’s time to ‘reconstruct the Democratic Party’
November 18, 2024 // “We can’t communicate with every nonunion laborer. We can only communicate with a portion of our members,” said Booker, who thinks Democrats could have performed better with a fierier populist message on the economy and a cooler one on cultural issues that make some of his members feel like Democrats are out-of-touch elitists. “A lot of our members own guns. A lot of our members hunt.” Booker said that when he toured job sites this year, he heard about inflation, immigration and the demise of the Keystone Pipeline, which would have created jobs for his members but was killed for environmental concerns — all issues that played to the GOP’s favor.
PHILADELPHIA: SEPTA workers unanimously authorize strike
October 29, 2024 // SEPTA workers in the Transport Workers Union Local 234 -- which represents more than 5,300 employees -- announced on Sunday morning that it has authorized a strike, unless they can reach a deal with management by midnight on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. In a statement released around lunchtime on Sunday, union officials said that a "large gathering" of workers met for a special meeting and all in attendance voted to authorize the strike.
Boeing Strike Is a Hot Mess. The Union Has Risk, Too.
October 29, 2024 // “The biggest change I’ve seen [recently] is it’s become cool among younger people to be part of a union,” says Jacobs. “It’s been decades since that’s been true…it’s a form of activism, it’s a form of progressive political behavior and that’s something I’ve never seen before.”