Free Republic

President Obama held up France as the gold standard the U.S. workplace should emulate during an event at the White House Monday. Extolling the business virtues of helping workers balance family and employment demands, including providing paid time off for the birth of a child, Obama said if France can provide the benefits, so can the United States. “Other countries know how to do this,” Obama said. “If France can figure this out, we can figure it out.” France provides some of the most far-reaching worker rights in the developed world, including limiting a standard work week at 35 hours...

Currently, America’s 10 largest unions used an average of only 30 percent of their dues to represent their members and negotiate with employers. They spent the other 70 percent on activities like lobbying, political activities, gifts, grants, overhead, and compensation for their staff according to James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation.

The Denver PostWorkers fighting English-only rulesWhile still rare, cases brought against employers who limit language have grown 612% since 1996.By Jeremy Meyer Denver Post Staff WriterThursday, November 18, 2004 - Aurora - Luz Ornelas and Guadelupe Coronado say they were humiliated and degraded when their boss forbade them from speaking their native Spanish while working at a Family Dollar store on East Colfax Avenue. Not long after, they say, they were fired along with five other Spanish-speaking employees and replaced with workers who spoke only English.The women recently filed a lawsuit in federal court, saying their civil rights were violated...

Workers Assail Night Lock-Ins by Wal-Mart By STEVEN GREENHOUSE ooking back to that night, Michael Rodriguez still has trouble believing the situation he faced when he was stocking shelves on the overnight shift at the Sam's Club in Corpus Christi, Tex. It was 3 a.m., Mr. Rodriguez recalled, some heavy machinery had just crushed his ankle, and he had no idea how he would get to the hospital. The Sam's Club, a Wal-Mart subsidiary, had locked its overnight workers in, as it always did, to keep robbers out and, as some managers say, to prevent employee theft. As usual,...

The White House threatened yesterday to veto legislation to create a Department of Homeland Security if it does not include language limiting the workplace rights of the proposed agency's 170,000 employees.Entire article here.

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that illegal immigrants do not have the same rights as Americans when they are wrongly fired from U.S. jobs. The court split 5-4 on whether companies can be forced to give back pay to illegal workers when they mistreat them on the job. "Awarding back pay to illegal aliens runs counter to policies underlying" federal immigration laws, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote in the court's opinion. The Bush administration had argued that penalties are needed to keep employers from wronging illegal workers, considering the estimated 7 million undocumented workers in the United...