Free Republic

<p>CHICAGO -- Factory employees who were harassed with epithets, racist graffiti and displays of hangman's nooses will receive a $1.82 million settlement, federal officials said.</p> <p>A lawsuit filed in January 2000 on behalf of 32 current and former black employees of Scientific Colors Inc. accused the company of racial harassment at its Rockdale facility.</p>

<p>The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that undocumented aliens working illegally in the United States were not eligible for payments by employers who mistreated them.</p> <p>The court set aside a National Labor Relations Board award of $66,000 in back pay, plus 13 years' interest, to Jose Castro, a Mexican national who lied to get his job in a California plastics factory and was laid off for trying to organize a union.</p>

BRUSSELS, March 22 The European Union (news - web sites) has drawn up a list of imports from the United States, worth about $2.1 billion annually, to penalize in retaliation for the Bush administration's recent imposition of tariffs of up to 30 percent on some imported steel. American steel, textiles and citrus fruit are among the items that would face punitive duties, officials said. The European Union has threatened sanctions if the United States does not agree to pay compensation for its measures to protect the struggling American steel industry. Under World Trade Organization (news - web sites) rules, the...

Opinion Piece from a Reader Guide Prologue: Since the terrorist attacks of September 11th, immigration has become one of the focal points in discussions among the media, politicians, law enforcement officials and people on the street. How much immigration is safe or desirable for the United States is a fiercely debated issue with divergent opinions. A frequently used argument stresses the necessity of the immigrant workforce, especially for jobs that American citizens aren't willing to do. If immigrant workers are to be used as strikebreakers, the debate will keep heating up. If these imported workers are employed to replace American...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. SPOKANE, Wash. -- The Boeing Co. said Wednesday it will try to sell its Spokane manufacturing plant to someone who will continue to operate it. The company has received numerous offers for the plant and anticipates "serious negotiations" this summer, said Boeing Commercial Airplanes vice president Mary Armstrong. Boeing is looking for a purchaser that will serve as a long-term supplier of parts needed at its Everett and Renton plants, and would consider an employee buyout, Armstrong said. "This plant has performed really well for us and we have no intention...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has won a court injunction to keep union organizers out of its 3,200 U.S. stores, and company officials said Saturday they hoped the union abides by the order. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jessica Moser said Wal-Mart employees have asked the company repeatedly since 1999, when the union activity began, to stop members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union from ``harassing them.'' A permanent injunction issued Friday by Chancery Judge Jim D. Spears should help resolve the issue if union organizers will comply with the order, she said. ``It is unfortunate that...

<p>WASHINGTON -- When President George W. Bush meets with Mexican President Vicente Fox next week, liberalizing U.S. immigration policy will not be on the agenda, much to the chagrin of Mexican officials.</p> <p>While immigration advocates hope to at least get a sign that the United States is ready to resume negotiations on the policy, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who are close to the issue expect Bush to be vague and general.</p>

Analysis of the U.S. Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by 2028, about 19 million business jobs will lack skilled workers to fill them. This is due in part to minorities earning fewer undergraduate business degrees in the 1990s than in previous decades.

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. NORTHFIELD, Ill. (Reuters) - Kraft Foods Inc., the largest North American food maker, said it is cutting about 7,500 jobs as it folds cookie and cracker maker Nabisco into its operations. The job cuts, which had reached nearly 2,700 through early March, call for the payout of $373 million in cash for severance and related costs. So far, Kraft has spent about $74 million on those costs, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday. Through December, Kraft employed 114,000 workers. Northfield, Illinois-based Kraft, the...

<p>Supervalu Inc. plans to close a massive grocery distribution center in Belle Vernon, a move that will leave 300 workers jobless.</p> <p>Supervalu said Thursday it plans to consolidate grocery distribution at a twin distribution center in New Stanton, about 15 miles from the Belle Vernon center. The action is the result of recent business losses — including a $2.5 billion national contract with Kmart and the loss of business from some Country Market food stores in the region, which together represented about 38 percent of the work at Belle Vernon.</p>

Study: Living Wage Reduces Poverty Thu Mar 14, 2:18 AM ETBy JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Home health care worker Claudia Arevalo says her life changed for the better in 2000, when San Francisco enacted its living wage law. In 1998 she earned $6 an hour, rented out a room in her apartment and worked 300-hour months which included night shifts as a janitor. Now Arevalo, 37, works a regular schedule. "I have more time for my family, for myself. I have a better life," she said Wednesday. "It's the living wage that made the changes...

HRES 365 EH H. Res. 365In the House of Representatives, U.S.,March 12, 2002. Resolved, That upon the adoption of this resolution, the House shall be considered to have taken from the Speaker's table the bill H.R. 1885, with the Senate amendment thereto, and to have concurred in the Senate amendment with the following amendments: (1) Amend the title so as to read: `An Act to enhance the border security of the United States, and for other purposes.'. (2) In lieu of the matter proposed to be inserted by the amendment of the Senate, insert the following: SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE;...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Sprint Corp. announced Wednesday that it has laid off another 345 employees, most of them software developers. Sprint spokeswoman Laurie Ellison said the layoffs were part of Sprint's efforts to "adjust the work force to meet the current business needs" and to become more efficient. Three-hundred of the employees were software developers in Atlanta, Dallas, Kansas City and Reston, Va., Ellison said. The other 45 worked in the company's finance department in Kansas City. Ellison said the employees were notified Wednesday and the layoffs were effective immediately....

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. WICHITA, Kan. -- The Spiegel Group has announced it will close its Wichita call center, eliminating 670 jobs. Spiegel, based in Downers Grove, Ill., decided to close the center because of a decline in volume, spokeswoman Debbie Koopman said Tuesday. More customers are shopping on the Internet, she said, and technology has made call centers more efficient. The Wichita center, which opened in 1994, will close May 17. It is one of five in North America that services the Spiegel Group, which includes Spiegel, Newport News and Eddie Bauer catalogs. The...

from todays WSJ: quot;INDIANAPOLIS -- After Sept. 11, Kimberly Kelly says, she got a lump in her throat each morning as 'The Star-Spangled Banner' blared at the Eli Lilly amp; Co. plant where she worked as a pipe insulator.quot; quot;But on Jan. 29, her supervisor informed her that the drug giant, after conducting a criminal-background check as part of new post-attack security measures, had decided to ban her and several other contract workers from its facilities.quot; quot;Her crime? In 2000, the 46-year-old single mother bounced a $60 check to a refrigerator-rental company. Ms. Kelly, who was going through a divorce...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. The once-resilient region struggles after Global Crossing job cuts. ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Janet Mahoney has never had to apply for a job since getting out of college 20 years ago. With high-tech positions popping up all over town, companies were wooing her. But as one of the growing number of employees let go by fiber-optic networking company Global Crossing Ltd., which filed for bankruptcy protection in January, the 41-year-old technology executive is finding the job market much different. (Continued)

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. BASKING RIDGE, N.J. -- Telephone system maker Avaya Inc. is eliminating about 1,900 jobs, or 8.3 percent of its work force, as part of a bid to cut costs of up to $200 million a year. The company also said Monday its loss for this quarter could be larger and its revenue may be less than previously expected. Basking Ridge-based Avaya said it would sell about 14.4 million shares of its stock for about $90 million to the investment group Warburg Pincus Equity Partners in a bid to improve liquidity and...

In all countries, globalisation can be a cruel discipline. It destroys as it creates. It may produce #147;the greatest happiness of the greatest number#148;, but it is natural for communities to fight for their own survival, particularly in their home markets. We should have some sympathy for the American steelworkers, who are losing their jobs not for lack of skill but as a consequence of distant financial forces which have little to do with them. The United States steel tariffs look like an ordinary trade issue, disturbing no doubt, indeed causing serious international protest, but self-contained and relatively simple. In...

Lockheed Martin's unionized workers will vote Sunday on a deal that could avert the first strike at the Marietta aircraft plant in 25 years. Company and union officials say the apparent breakthrough came after three days of federally mediated contract talks in Georgia and California. A Lockheed spokesman, Sam Grizzle, says the company has made its best and final offer, but he would not give details about the offer. The International Association of Machinists says members will vote on the new proposal Sunday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. using secret ballots. The union represents 2,700 of Lockheed's 7,000 workers...

Beware the Democratic Trap Paving the way to November. By Kevin A. Hassett amp; John R. Lott Jr., resident scholars, the American Enterprise Institute. March 8, 2002, 8:25 a.m. nbsp; he House voted Thursday to pass a significantly pared down stimulus package. The package included an extension of unemployment insurance benefits and a relatively small tax break for business investment. By giving so much ground on the stimulus bill, House Republicans have fallen into a trap that was set for them two weeks earlier by Tom Daschle. It is fairly clear now that a key Democratic strategy for the fall...