Labor Pains: Because Being in a Union can be Painful

Archive: Feb 2015

  • Wage Hike not Good Enough When the Goal Is a Union

    Posted on Feb 26, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team

    Earlier this week, Wal-Mart issued a directive raising base pay at the company’s stores to $9 per hour for new hires and $10 per hour for current employees. If the complaints of the “Organization United for Respect At Walmart” (OUR Walmart) were really about the company’s pay being too low, you might expect at least […]

  • Will Wisconsin Be Number Twenty-Five?

    Posted on Feb 24, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team

    Big news from the frozen tundra of Wisconsin: Legislators are calling a special session to advance a right-to-work measure. Following reforms permitting employees to refrain from funding unions in Indiana and Michigan, the state legislature has indicated that it will pass the measure and Governor Scott Walker has said he will sign it. Wisconsin would […]

  • What Is One Union Hiding?

    Posted on Feb 20, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team

    The Daily Caller got wind of a curious decision by Transportation Workers Union Local 577, which was certified in 2010 to represent flight attendants for Allegiant Air. Apparently, TWU 577 hasn’t been filing financial reports with the Office of Labor-Management Standards. The Caller reports: In the letter, which was obtained by The Daily Caller News […]

  • An NPR ‘Miss’ On Labor Unions and the Minimum Wage

    Posted on Feb 13, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team

    A recent National Public Radio (NPR) report looked curiously at the phenomenon of unions pushing for radical minimum wage increases (including in some cases a more-than-doubling of the current minimums). Correspondent Ben Bergman notes that few workers who make the minimum are unionized, and he asks what unions stand to gain from their campaigns. We […]

  • Union Strike Threatens Cheap Gas, Ambulance Services Might Be Next

    Posted on Feb 04, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team

    You may have noticed that the price of gasoline has plummeted recently. Good news, right? Well, not if you’re the United Steelworkers (USW): The union just walked out on strike at nine oil industry facilities in Texas. The Houston Chronicle quotes an employment lawyer noting that USW’s strategy seems lacking: The strike could be a […]