March 2009 - Posts

• Gallup: Strong Support for Freedom to Form Unions

  by Seth Michaels, AFL-CIO NOW Blog - March 17, 2009 A new independent Gallup poll says a majority of Americans favor new legislation to make it easier for workers to form unions and bargain—vital public support in the fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. Created and conducted by Gallup, the poll of 1,024 adults across the country shows 53 percent of respondents favor “a new law that would make it easier for labor unions to organize workers.” The poll was reported this morning by Huffington Post’s Sam Stein, who says the results “give a boost” to efforts to pass this critical bill. The bill would give workers, not their bosses, the ability to choose how to form a union and protect workers from corporate coercion, harassment and illegal firing when they try to form unions. Keep reading. posted Mar 19 2009, 09:23 AM by jwilkinson with no comments

• Huge layoffs push joblessness toward double digits

  Jeannine Aversa, Associated Press March 6, 2009 WASHINGTON -- Tolling grimly higher, the recession snatched more than 650,000 Americans' jobs for a record third straight month in February as unemployment climbed to a quarter-century peak of 8.1 percent and surged toward even more wrenching double digits. The human carnage from the recession, well into its second year, now stands at 4.4 million lost jobs. Some 12.5 million people are searching for work - more than the population of the entire state of Pennsylvania. No one seems immune: The jobless rate for college graduates has hit its highest point on record, just like the rate for people lacking high school diplomas. Employers also are holding hours down and freezing or cutting pay as the recession eats into sales and profits. If part-time workers who can't find full-time jobs are counted in, along with those who have simply given up looking, the rate would be 14.8 percent, the highest in records going back to 1994. Continue posted Mar 09 2009, 02:34 PM by jwilkinson with no comments