Posts tagged Retirement
Union group home workers strike across Connecticut
May 24, 2023 // More than a thousand union group home workers walked off the job Wednesday morning, demanding a new contract that includes better pay. As the governor and state lawmakers get closer to the deadline on budget negotiations, about 1,200 unionized group home workers walked off the job at 6 a.m. Wednesday morning. SEIU District 1199NE, the New England Health Care Employees Union, represents over 25,000 caregivers in Connecticut and about 4,000 in Rhode Island. The union said that most of its workers have been without a contract for about three weeks and are demanding what they call “living wages,” affordable health insurance and better retirement benefits.
Southwest pilots union vote on potential strike underway
May 2, 2023 // The strike voting period opened Monday at noon. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association said they're still disagreeing with management on salary, benefits, retirement and other contract terms after years at the negotiating table. SWAPA President Casey Murray wrote in a statement the company's management has shown "no willingness" to address pilots' concerns related to scheduling and technology issues. “The decision to authorize a strike is not one we have taken lightly, but given the lack of accountability and dearth of leadership exhibited by our current executives, we felt that this was a last resort to try to force them to face the issues plaguing our passengers, our frontline employees, and our pilots,” Murray wrote in a statement.
NY union wants more remote work for state employees
March 17, 2023 // Spence called for New York to do more on remote work flexibility and go beyond what was proposed in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget for the Empire State. Hochul’s budget would not only consider more flexibility for public employees to work remotely, but it allocated over $18 million to address worker shortage issues. Yet it was not enough for Spence, who has been pushing for public employees to remain as remote workers on a long-term basis and has clashed with state lawmakers over the remote work issue during the past year. The union president asserted that New York public employees are leaving New York for other states that offer more remote work flexibility and have a lower cost-of-living. Neither PEF nor Spence outlined specifics about flexible remote work and which incentives could lead to higher retention rates of employees.
Americans are taking more control over their work lives – because they have to
January 6, 2023 // In research I’ve been conducting on side hustles in the sharing economy, I am finding that many people take these gigs to compensate for limited control in their “traditional” jobs. Although gig work comes with its own set of challenges – lack of benefits is a key one – people feel liberated by greater control over where, when and how they work. Switching on an app shifts allegiance from one company to another. Turning off an app ends the workday in an instant. People rely on side hustles to earn additional income but also because of the freedom that comes from being an independent worker. Another benefit of portfolioing is hedging risk. Sudden layoffs, such as those recently affecting the tech industry, leave people feeling exposed to financial hardship and identity loss from being involuntarily sent to the exit. When facing difficult times at one job, people can turn to other parts of their career portfolio for security and stability.
Healthcare Workers, Especially Physicians, Slow to Unionize in Past Decade: Study
January 6, 2023 // Some physicians, however, may oppose unions because of the cost of union dues or fears that union goals might not align with their responsibility to patients. Doctors and other healthcare workers are often concerned about the ethics of unionizing, Onello said. “They see this looming tactic of a strike or work stoppage and think, ‘I could never do that to my patients,’ ” Onello said. “But the process of collective bargaining, when it’s working well, should not lead to a strike if both sides are negotiating in good faith to reach a fair and workable agreement.”
‘Neglected for far too long’: RISD essential workers union votes to authorize strike
January 5, 2023 // But discussions over wage increases remain at the center of negotiations. According to Suazo, a vast majority of the RISD workers in the bargaining unit currently make $15 to $18 dollars an hour. “The bargaining unit members believe that they have been neglected for far too long by the school,” Suazo said, adding that no “significant move” has occurred regarding wages since the strike authorization.
Sen. Braun Introduce Bill To Maximize Americans’ Retirement Funds
November 25, 2022 // Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) to require plan fiduciaries to select investments solely on pecuniary factors. If a fiduciary cannot distinguish between investments on pecuniary factors alone they may use non-pecuniary factors, but must provide participants reasoning for their decision. Pecuniary factors are defined as any factors that a fiduciary prudently determines is expected to have a material effect on the risk or return of an investment. fiduciary duty of plan administrators, ESG (environmental, social and governance) funds,
Another Weirdness of the COVID Labor Market
September 2, 2022 // The early retirements problem came into view as pandemic unemployment “cleared” and the labor market returned to status quo ante. The 65-plus group accounts for between 50 percent and 100 percent of the decline in the population-to-employment ratio, amounting to .7 percent of the entire workforce, perhaps a million or so workers, and about half that number were among those who chose to hang up their cleats ahead of time. These early retirements are interacting with the overall market in some unique ways. In a normal recession, businesses tend to cut labor costs through automation. As the old jobs are eliminated, workers are “reallocated,” meaning they move into new occupations. The NBER study finds that the COVID-19 recession saw almost no reallocation except in low-skill leisure and hospitality occupations. In the meantime, the number of workers in professional occupations grew as a share of the labor market. This relative expansion of professional jobs was also accompanied by “downskilling” (i.e., the relaxation of educational and experience requirements reflected in help-wanted ads) as firms responded to the tight labor market by making it easier for less credentialed workers to qualify for openings further up the value chain.
Punching In: High Court Signals Coming Curbs on Agency Deference
August 2, 2022 // The Supreme Court earlier this summer affirmed that agencies can’t regulate “major questions” with significant economic or political implications unless Congress explicitly gives them the power to do so, Given the court’s recently expanded view of what presents a “major question,” some attorneys say the conservative-majority court may next take a swipe at Chevron deference all together. And with the Biden administration’s ambitious regulatory agenda, the DOL’s moves to define an approach to independent contractor status, alter how prevailing wages are calculated, expand overtime pay protections, or issue most any other regulation could be more vulnerable to litigation if that happens. A revised version of President Joe Biden’s $94 billion bailout for union-backed pension plans will take effect next week, outlining a realistic path for hundreds of cash-strapped plans to pay benefits for the next 30 years. Michael Lotito, co-chair of Littler Mendelson PC’s Workplace Policy Institute,
‘The Simpsons’ production workers go union, saying they deserve a place at the table
July 5, 2022 // 20th Television Animation, The Simpsons, American Dad!, Family Guy, Ashley Cooper, Rick & Morty, Solar Opposites, Jason Jones,