Free Republic

ATLANTA — At the day labor pickup spot by the Home Depot on Sydney Marcus Boulevard in Atlanta, workers leave for the Gulf Coast every few days as contractors stop and offer them jobs. They'll eagerly take work cleaning out maggot-infested food from refrigerators in New Orleans hotel kitchens and gutting homes and businesses containing asbestos and toxic sludge. The huge, multibillion-dollar cleanup task on the Gulf Coast is a magnet for immigrant workers, legal and illegal. Although some are happy with their jobs, others find that the conditions aren't what they had hoped. Many immigrants have fallen victim to...

Fired New Orleans city workers get final paychecks 20 minutes ago Final paychecks were issued to thousands of New Orleans city workers laid off in the wake of ruinous hurricanes, according to city officials. A message posted on the city website provided further details of the layoffs from Mayor Ray Nagin, seen here 6 October(AFP/Getty Images/File) NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - Final paychecks were issued to thousands of New Orleans city workers laid off in the wake of ruinous hurricanes, according to city officials. "In addition, all employees who are part of the layoff are asked to turn in...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Entering a fight over union rights that could have national implications, Sen. John Kerry warned Thursday that a ballot initiative backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could tip the balance of democracy by muzzling the voice of working people. Proposition 75 would force public employee unions, such as those representing teachers, firefighters and prison guards, to seek written permission from members before using dues for political purposes. Kerry, speaking outside a downtown firehouse, said the initiative would condemn workers to "a completely unfair system." The proposal "represents part of an ongoing effort by the Republican Party to...

After persisting with their protest for more than 2 months, the Chongqing Special Steel Mill workers have been suppressed by armed forces, two women were killed, an unacountable number of people injured, and 9 workers’ delegates were seized, leaving thousands of laid off workers without a leader. The rumor was that the suppression was incited by Beijing. An insider said, that around 7:00 am on October 7, approximately 3,000 policemen entered the Shuangbei Garden, as nearly 10,000 workers gathered. After a stalemate for a period of time, the police started arresting the workers’ delegates, and an intense struggle occurred, during...

TALLAHASSEE -- A rare and spectacular showdown may be coming in Florida's Republican Party: Big Business vs. Big Guns. And the stakes couldn't be higher. To critics, it's about the safety of workplaces, including hospitals and churches, throughout the Sunshine State. To supporters, it's about the safety of employees who travel to and from those workplaces. The dust-up is over the "guns-at-work" bill, which the National Rifle Association began pushing last month in Tallahassee to force all Florida businesses to allow firearms in the vehicles of any employee or visitor. Companies could keep policies banning guns from their buildings themselves...

Calling the ruling an enormous step backward for workers, state lawmakers and advocates for immigrants are working to override a little-noticed Supreme Judicial Court decision that they say limits penalties to be paid by employers who illegally withhold wages. Since 1993, employers in Massachusetts found guilty of not paying their workers have been ordered to pay three times the back pay they owe. On July 21, the SJC said that the penalty tripling the back pay due an employee was not mandatory, but up to a judge's discretion and applicable only in situations in which the employer demonstrates ''evil motive...

Soviet bloc workers flocking to Britain By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor (Filed: 24/08/2005) Nearly a quarter of a million workers from the east European countries that joined the EU in 2004 have arrived to work in Britain over the past year - more than 15 times the Home Office estimate, official figures showed yesterday. Half the new workers are from Poland and are predominantly in their 20s. Britain has proved attractive to nationals from the eight former Soviet-bloc countries, not only because of its buoyant economy but also because other EU members exercised an option to restrict access to...

Chris Core, WMAL Radio to Broadcast Live from Herndon, (VA) Town Council Meeting on Day Laborer (Illegal Alien) Shelter.... ..(Tonight), the Herndon Town Council will vote on public funding for a day laborer shelter that would serve a large number of illegal aliens..... 630 WMAL's Chris Core will be there in person to deliver blow-by-blow coverage of what promises to be a contentious meeting..... The Chris Core Show will broadcast live from Herndon Town Hall beginning at 6:00pm (Eastern Time, 3:00 p.m. Pacific). How do you feel about this issue? Come out and make your opinion known, or call...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Workers' compensation insurance rates paid by California employers have dropped an average of about 26 percent since lawmakers instituted a series of cost-cutting bills beginning in 2003, but bigger reductions are possible, Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi said Monday. "The full effect of reforms have not yet been realized to employers," he said in a conference call with reporters. "Further reductions are possible and should happen." Garamendi estimates that the claims insurers have paid for work-related injuries has dropped 36.5 percent since mid-2003, but insurance companies have reported overall base-rate reductions of about 26.8 percent in the same...

Union riveter Chester A. Riley would know what to say: What a revoltin’ development this is. Two major unions broke away from the AFL-CIO this week with others likely to follow. When the dust settles, the labor federation stands to lose a third of its membership. After 50 years of dominance in representing unionized workers, the AFL-CIO will now confront that which it abhors, competition. Union power is predicated on monopoly. Use our members or go out of business, Mr. Employer. Pay our dues or go without a job, Mr. Worker. Protect us from overseas competition, Mr. President. AFL-CIO boss...

Heat May Have Killed Second Farm WorkerUPDATED: 11:10 am EDT July 26, 2005 ROXBORO, N.C. -- A migrant farm worker who was found dead near a Person County soybean field died of heart attack or heat stroke, the county sheriff said Tuesday. Pablo Ordaz was working at the Walker Farm, a tobacco and grain farm in Olive Hill, on Tuesday when he said he wanted to quit for the day because he didn't feel well, Person County Sheriff Dennis Oakley said. Ordaz left the farm and was last seen walking toward a mobile home at the farm. He never returned...

If you're lucky enough to still have a pension plan, it's an endangered species after last week's move by Hewlett-Packard. Buried in the details of a restructuring program cutting 14,500 jobs was a small reference to a decision by HP essentially dismantling its pension program to save $300 million a year. New employees won't get any pension, and many current employees will see their benefits shriveled by the time they reach retirement. HP Chief Executive Mark Hurd, is only (pardon the pun) running with the herd. Big employers nationwide are axing pension plans, shifting to programs such as 401(k)s where...

Dear “Pride at Work”, I am writing this open letter to you because you are an affiliated AFL-CIO constituency group whose purpose is to mobilize support between organized labor and the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender groups. “PLEASE RELEASE JOHN SWEENEY”. So that he may again recognize his Christian workers who live according to the Word of God and their Bible, which says the practice of homosexuality is an abomination to God.The line has been drawn in the sand and has never been clearer. Whether workers are Democrat, Republican or Independent and whether they are autoworkers, Wal-Mart employees, housewives, schoolteachers...

<p>Few Islamic countries have taken steps to tackle the pandemic as the death toll continues to mount.</p> <p>''I just pray that God ends my life before more symptoms show. I don't want to create problems for my family.''</p> <p>Before his HIV-positive diagnosis in 2001, the Egyptian engineer who spoke these words thought that AIDS was a faraway disease that afflicted only foreigners. He had no idea that the global AIDS pandemic had reached his country. Now he says he would rather kill himself than be rejected along with his family by neighbors and friends, who regard HIV as synonymous with sin and shame.</p>

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Faced with the costs of coping with illegal immigrants, one county is looking to the courts for help - by filing a racketeering lawsuit against the businesses that hire these workers. The legal theory: that a pattern of immigration violations by employers is costing Canyon County millions for law enforcement, education and social services. "Their presence lowers the labor wage for American citizens and removes employment opportunities," county Commissioner Robert Vasquez, an ambitious politician who just started a bid for Congress, said of the illegal workers. "Certainly it uses tax dollars to provide them with educational...

Cadillac recognizes group for helping in city park cleanup. CADILLAC, Mich. (AP) -- A civil rights group is seeking an explanation after city officials gave a certificate of appreciation to the self-described America's Nazi Party. City officials say the certificate presented to the National Socialist Movement at a citywide park cleanup in May was an innocent mistake. "We certainly do not endorse the types of things that this organization stands for," City Manager Peter Stalker told the Traverse City Record-Eagle for a Thursday story. A local chapter of the National Socialist Movement posted the certificate on a Web site, along...

OUTSOURCING will inevitably eliminate many more American jobs, says Ron Hira, assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Skip to next paragraph Sean Kelly It's time for the federal government to take action to limit the damage, says Professor Hira, co-author with Anil Hira of "Outsourcing America: What's Behind Our National Crisis and How We Can Reclaim American Jobs" (American Management Association, $22). Here are excerpts from a conversation. Q. Will more jobs be lost offshore? A. We're just at the beginning of this trend, particularly in the services area. The manufacturing sector is much more...

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Attackers in southern Thailand slashed the necks of a couple, almost severing their heads in the latest killings attributed to Islamic separatists in the region, police said Friday. The couple, Jad Suwanchatri, 52, and his wife, Serm, 51, had stopped their motorcycle to clear a log from a road in Yala province when assailants shot Jad and then cut the throats of the couple, police Lt. Somporn Ritthirat said Friday. The couple's dog, which was in a sidecar, also was slashed to death, he said. The couple were rubber plantation workers, Buddhists and members of a...

/begin my translation N. Korea: 200 Dollar Bounty per Escaped N. Korean Workers in Russia  N. Koreans workers encountered in Khabarovsk     In order to encourage the arrest of N. Korean escapees(N. Korean workers who escaped from N. Korea-operated enterprise inside Russia,) N. Korean Consulate at Khabarovsk, Russia, announced that local Security Dept. of Construction Association is offering a bounty of $200 for catching an escapee, in order to root out this long-running problem.   As a result, N. Korean workers, who can barely earn $300 per month even after back-breaking work, are now abandoning all other efforts to capitalize on the only opportunity for earning large...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Nearly 2,000 state employees earned more than $132,000 last year, according to a newspaper report. That's up from 1,194 in 2003 and 1,021 in 2002. The state controller's office provided data on the state's highest paid employees to the San Francisco Chronicle. As a group, the state's top 20 best-paid employees earned $6.2 million in 2004, up 9 percent from 2003 and up 20 percent from 2002. "Whenever you see such significant increases in such a short amount of time, it is a red flag," said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, a...