Free Republic

A few years ago, during a panel discussion at the 47th annual Congressional Black Caucus, U.S. Representative Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) was the opening speaker on the topic of “Putting Black America to Work: the New Skilled Trade Workforce.” Lawrence noted that the industry supported by skilled trade workers will need an infusion of youth because the average age of workers was 53 years old. Rep. Lawrence said, “We are building a new bridge from Detroit to Windsor (Canada). I’ve been told we are bringing in welders from Vietnam to help build it.” It seems unfathomable that the United States, a...

David Stephenson, store manager of Cedar City Deseret Industries, promised his team that if they met their sales goals, he would run at least 200 loops around the roundabout outside of their office—and he would do it in his work clothes: a shirt, tie, and slacks. “Where I work, we train individuals to get better jobs,” he explained. “They all face different challenges in their lives, so I’m always looking for any opportunity to show them that you can do hard things, even if some thing seem impossible—or not the smartest thing to do, in my case—you can still accomplish...

Federal Goverment Workers have only themselves to blame for their current negative financial position. If you had acted immediately by going after Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer & the entire Democrat Party, you never would have had your paychecks missing. Heed my words...going after POTUS, Trump will gain you nothing, not one thing!!! I mean how dumb can you folks be? Nancy Pelosi was getting Botox treatments in Hawaii on vacation, drinking "MAI-TAIs", while you folks were payless. At least, POTUS, Trump, cared enough about you folks to stay in the White House over the holidays...not so with your Democrat allies...

Thousands of federal workers in the Fresno area could receive eviction notices and struggle to feed their families in the near-future as they miss their first paycheck this week due to the partial government shutdown, and their work stoppage could soon impact millions of non-government workers as tax season approaches. About 125 employees gathered outside the Internal Revenue Service’s processing center in southeast Fresno on Thursday. Some held signs depicting crossed-out chess pawns or reading “We want to work. We want to get paid. End the shutdown.” B. Rodriguez stood near the front of the group holding a bright pink...

You may have to go all the way back to the late 20th century to recall an article in Harper’s magazine that was worth reading, but the current issue features an article from the controversial French novelist Michel Houellebecq that defends Donald Trump (“Donald Trump Is a Good President“) in ways that will drive just about everybody out of their minds But what’s most remarkable about the new American policies is certainly the country’s position on trade, and there Trump has been like a healthy breath of fresh air; you’ve really done well to elect a president with origins in...

President Trump is expected to speak at what the White House is describing as the inaugural meeting of the President's National Council for the American Worker on Monday. The president praised the efforts of first responders after Hurricane Florence lashed out at the East Coast. "Will not rest until that job is done and done perfectly," the president said, according to the White House press pool. "... It's a very dangerous situation. You have collapses. You have slides. Its very scary." The council was formed to develop a national workforce strategy to help students and workers have access to the...

Monday at a Labor Day breakfast in Boston, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) said Democrats “will be there” for workers if they take back the House and Senate in the midterm elections. Warren said, “Here is my promise: you give Democrats power in Washington, you give us back the House and the Senate, and Democrats will be there for unions and for workers across this country.”

What happens when the silent majority stand up in full force and elect a president entirely focused on advancing the interests of Main Street over Wall Street? What happens when that President takes office and begins systematically instituting a comprehensive series of economic policies that are targeted to Make America Great Again?

Lower-wage retail jobs in particular were among the big gainers as a tighter labor market forced employers to shell out a bit more. After a slow start to 2018 on the pay-raise front, workers in the United States are starting to benefit from the strong economy: Wages across all jobs climbed by 2.2% year over year in July, according to data provided by Glassdoor. "[This] is the fastest wage growth we've seen in more than a year," said Glassdoor Chief Economist Andrew Chamberlain in an email. "As employers raise wages to hire amid low unemployment across the country, it's a...

Two employees of a North Shore assisted living center were booked with cruelty to the infirmed after they "cheered on" one resident as he beat up another, the Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff's Office reported Wednesday (Aug. 1). Latricia Johnson, 20, of Ponchatoula, and Tykeshia Berry, 30, of Hammond, were also booked into the parish jail with being a principal party to an aggravated second-degree battery and criminal conspiracy. The two suspects neglected to obtain medical treatment for the 22-year-old victim of the beating, who sustained serious injuries to his face and leg, the Sheriff's Office reported in a news release.

Out of Control: Without question, the IRS can be one of the most punitive and punishing of all federal agencies. A government running a chronic multi-trillion dollar debt needs every penny it can get. But should American taxpayers have to shell out millions of dollars annually to pay shoddy, underperforming, and — in many cases — dishonest and threatening workers? Apparently so.

A labor shortage issue is increasingly weighing on small businesses around the country. This comes despite record-high confidence on Main Street. In May, one-third of small-business owners reported job openings they could not fill, and 12 percent reported using temporary workers. Mike Fredrich shows off unmanned presses in his Manitowoc, Wisconsin, company. They're ready to start production at MCM Composites, a 55-person enterprise that makes custom thermoset molding. The only problem? Fredrich has no one to operate them. "These tools are heated to 300 degrees," he said. "But we're not running them. Had we had the people for the first...

Job growth for foreign born workers is growing more than twice as fast as it is for native born American citizens, newly released labor data reveals. According to the May 2018 Jobs Report, employment for foreign born workers grew three percent over the last year. In the same time period, employment for native born Americans grew less than 1.5 percent. Job growth for foreign born men also has continued growing faster than job growth for native born men. In the last year, employment for foreign born male workers has grown 2.7 percent, while employment for native born male workers has...

Nancy Pelosi Backtracks on ‘Crumbs’ Tax Reform Comment: ‘We Are Thankful Whenever Workers Get Bonuses’ House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) backtracked on her “crumbs” comment about tax reform, admitting that “we are thankful whenever workers get bonuses.” Pelosi admitted in a tweet on Thursday, “Certainly we are thankful whenever workers get bonuses. But it is incredibly telling that companies by-and-large chose to give out one-time bonuses, and not long-term raises.” Pelosi’s backtrack is a stark contrast to comments she made in February where she called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “unpatriotic” at a town hall in Arizona.

At least 10 construction workers died and several were injured after a partially constructed bridge in central Colombia collapsed on Monday. The laborers were working on the bridge's drainage system when the incident occurred. The victims fell 280 meters (920 feet) into a ravine in Chirajara about 95 kilometers (60 miles) from the Colombian capital of Bogota.

SOUTHINGTON, CT — In alphabetical order, a majority of Democratic and one unaffiliated candidates for governor endorsed the idea of installing electronic tolls on Connecticut’s highways and received applause for it. The nine candidates participated in a forum Friday sponsored by the Connecticut Construction Industries Association. The same group sponsored a similar forum in December for the Republican gubernatorial candidates as well. None of the candidates who are still in the “exploratory” phase of their campaigns for governor were invited to either forum — only the declared candidates. The problem: Connecticut’s special transportation fund will start running a deficit in...

SILVER SPRING, Md. (ABC7) — MS-13 members held a Purple Line construction worker at gunpoint inside of a seemingly vacant building slated for demolition, police say. The two-story single-family house, which has since been torn down, was located at 807 University Boulevard East in Silver Spring - roughly a quarter-mile south of Piney Branch Road. The Maryland Transit Authority purchased the property to make way for the 16-mile light rail system that will link downtown Bethesda with the New Carrollton Metro station. According to Montgomery County Police, the Purple Line employee entered the abandoned structure around 8 a.m. on Tuesday,...

Thomas Frank, the author best-known for "What's the Matter with Kansas?" who's also a Washington political journalist, places the blame for the election of President Donald Trump squarely on the back of the Democratic Party and its abandonment of working-class Americans. "They love it when unions work hard for them and give them campaign funds," Frank said in a telephone interview. "But they aren't deeply concerned with the problems faced by working-class people," he said. "They need to stop taking those people for granted." What they got in exchange for that neglect was Trump, he said. Frank will be in...

I recently had the opportunity to read "The Creature from Jekyll Island" by G. Edward Griffin, a prodigious tome dealing with the circumstances surrounding the creation of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. I was taken aback by some of its provocative assertions. America joined World War I largely to help a few bankers profit off the war (despite a long-standing Monroe doctrine that prohibited our involvement in European affairs) The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was supported by international financial interests in order to destabilize Russia and steal the wealth of the Russian people; and So-called "foreign aid" is merely a...

It's possible Illinois is about to come down with a statewide case of Seasonal Affected Disorder. The season is construction, which an old joke says is one of two in Illinois. The disorder is the continuing one in Springfield, where the ongoing budget crisis is about to shut down road projects during the height of that season. And the affected are everyone from officials who work to put needed projects together, to the drivers who have to negotiate construction zones and torn up streets. In Aurora, workers last week got the barriers and cones out to reduce Farnsworth Avenue, near...