Free Republic

Motherboard spoke to economists and historians about why fast food and retail workers around the country are suddenly quitting en masse. Something remarkable is happening in fast food establishments, retail stores, and restaurants across America. You may have seen photos of it go viral. You may have even experienced it in real life if you've dined at a Chili's or Applebee's and the hostess apologizes for extra-long wait times. “WE ALL QUIT, SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE,” disgruntled employees posted in giant letters on a sign outside a Burger King in Lincoln, Nebraska earlier this month.

The current Democratic Party’s demagoguery is unparalleled in human history. Their invective towards Republicans is unconscionable. Deplorable is the nicest word they use when describing the GOP or conservatives. They must portray Republicans as monsters. They are bereft of ideas. But the Republican Party led the way on improving the lot of minorities, women, and the working class. Consider the following—facts about the GOP not ordinarily available in the media or schools: Police Reform. A big topic now, it was the GOP that led the way 90 years ago. The first attempt to reform law enforcement in the United States...

California will reopen and do away with virtually all mask and social distancing requirements for vaccinated people in less than two weeks, in accordance with the CDC’s May 13 guidelines. But employment regulators in the Golden State are not ready to abandon the safety protocols by June 15 — a move that is angering some business groups. The California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board said Thursday it was exploring new rules that would only allow workers to take off their masks if everyone in the room was fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The rules could remain in effect until next...

The Fed has created trillions out of thin air to boost the speculative wealth of Wall Street, but it can't print experienced workers willing to work for low wages. The Federal Reserve is reassuring us daily that inflation is temporary, but allow me to assure you that wage inflation is just getting started and will accelerate rapidly. As I noted yesterday, the Fed can create currency out of thin and funnel it to financiers, but the Fed can't create experienced, motivated workers out of thin air or entrepreneurs with the chops to launch and sustain real-world enterprises. Let's start with...

The recent wage hike doesn’t apply to 95 percent of workers at franchise restaurants. Detroit and Flint workers will join McDonald’s employees in 15 other cities in a walkout next week. McDonald’s is boosting the hourly wages for some of its workers, joining a number of fast-food chains nationwide lifting pay as jobs go unfilled. But employees in Detroit and other cities across the nation say they’re still moving forward with a planned strike on Wednesday, May 19, pointing out that the pay raises will only impact a small portion of McDonald’s-owned restaurants. The McDonald’s wage announcement this week follows...

The growth of small businesses in the U.S. was held back in April because small businesses could not find enough workers, the National Federation of Independent Businesss said Tuesday. “Small business owners are seeing a growth in sales but are stunted by not having enough workers,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “Finding qualified employees remains the biggest challenge for small businesses and is slowing economic growth. Owners are raising compensation, offering bonuses and benefits to attract the right employees.”

As more and more states start easing pandemic restrictions, restaurants large and small are grappling with a widespread problem: hiring employees. Owners and managers from New York, California, Washington, and Chicago told The Epoch Times hiring woes have become a nightmare amid a litany of other challenges like indoor occupancy rules. They say the federal unemployment bonuses handed out during the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus pandemic incentivized people to stay home instead of working.

The Biden Administration’s acting general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board Peter Sung Ohr ordered the votes of 800 poultry workers who didn’t want to be members or have the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) represent them to be trashed. He justified this ruling by saying “a prior agreement between the UFCW and the owners of the Delaware processing plant overrides the wishes of the affected employees.” Oscar Cruz Sosa, the employee who championed the vote to decertify the UFCW as the workers’ representative complained that “this Union doesn’t represent the workers. It exploits and abuses them....

PHOENIX – A head-on collision involving two buses carrying workers at a gold mine killed 16 people and injured 14 The crash happened at 3:36 a.m. local time Tuesday near the entrance to the Noche Buena mine, about two hours driving distance south of the Lukeville, Arizona, port of entry, according to the Sonora Attorney General's Office. The mine used the two buses to shuttle workers, it said in a news release. Images of the crash site showed that the two buses had crashed head-on, obstructing the two-lane road. others south of the U.S.-Mexico border near Arizona.

The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits rose slightly last week as February’s massive winter storm roiled the coronavirus-battered labor market, the feds said Thursday. The 745,000 initial jobless claims filed last week brought the total for the COVID-19 pandemic to nearly 80.4 million — a number more than twice the size of California’s population.

American workers filed 779,000 applications for unemployment benefits last week in the latest sign that the labor market is still in the throes of its coronavirus crisis. The newest batch of initial jobless claims brought the total for the COVID-19 pandemic to roughly 77.2 million — a number nearly twice as large as California’s population.

Employees of tech companies in San Francisco, California, can’t leave the city fast enough, fleeing for the potential tech hubs of tomorrow such as Austin, Texas, and Miami, Florida. One former San Francisco exec said: “what else can God and the world and government come up with to make the place less livable?”

Up to half of health care workers in some parts of California are refusing to take the coronavirus vaccine, despite scientific evidence that it is safe, leading to a potential surplus of doses and renewed questions about the system for allocating them.

Some 742,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as a surge in coronavirus infections threatened to shut down businesses again, the feds said Thursday. The latest batch of initial jobless claims brought the seasonally adjusted total filed during the coronavirus pandemic to roughly 68.1 million — equivalent to more than 42 percent of the nation’s workforce.

Another 709,000 Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week as the labor market continued a slow recovery threatened by a dangerous new wave of coronavirus infections, the feds said Thursday. The latest initial jobless claims brought the number filed during the COVID-19 pandemic to a seasonally adjusted total of more than 67.4 million — a figure larger than the population of the United Kingdom, the US Department of Labor data show. The fourth straight weekly decline in new filings came as the US grappled with a record-setting spike in virus cases that’s led some parts of the country to consider...

President Donald Trump has launched a fundamental reform of the H-1B visa system to protect American graduates from outsourcing — despite furious opposition from donors and leaders from Silicon Valley, Fortune 500 companies, and coastal investors. The reform will end the annual award of 85,000 H-1B visas by lottery, which has been gamed by companies to import foreign workers at wages far below the salaries needed by American professionals. Instead, the visas will be offered to the companies that compete to offer the highest salaries, preventing employers from undercutting American graduates.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and 10 of the city’s public employee unions have struck another deal to delay the city’s furlough program, leaving workers with just one unpaid day off before the end of the year, according to a memo issued last week. The City Council approved a plan last month to force more than 15,000 city workers to take one unpaid day off every two weeks — effectively a 10% pay cut — as part of a larger effort to balance the budget. But last week, Garcetti and the city’s bargaining committee changed course, signing off on an...

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits topped 1 million for the twentieth straight week — bringing the total number of initial jobless claims filed during the coronavirus pandemic to more than 55 million. An additional 1.186 million people filed for unemployment last week, according to the US Department of Labor. Jobless claims were down 249,000 from the week prior, but at a total of 55.3 million, the number of Americans who have filed for unemployment claims during the course of the pandemic is greater than the populations of New York and Texas combined — and has long since...

The ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic on our Nation’s economy and workforce have been unprecedented. Businesses of all sizes have been forced to close, downsize, or restructure; countless employees have transitioned to working remotely; and tens of millions of Americans have found themselves newly unemployed. Despite the hardship caused by the pandemic, it has not encumbered the American spirit or the unyielding resolve of our Nation’s workers. The United States economy added 2.5 million jobs in May, rebounding with historic strength and beginning the transition back to strong economic growth. During Pledge to America’s Workers Month, we celebrate...

Seattle pajama boys are not only Zapatistas, but also "workers"! "Proletariats"!