labor news stories on Newser

Foxconn Caves to Pressure, Ups Wages

Kevin Spak — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:24:26 CST

Foxconn will bump workers' salaries by as much as 25% while decreasing the amount of overtime demanded of them, the company announced this weekend, in a bid to stem the tide of outrage against it and high-profile customers such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell. The move is a victory for...

In Amazon's Warehouse, Shades of Grapes of Wrath

Kevin Spak — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:00:31 CDT

In the Grapes of Wrath , the Joad family gets a hard lesson in economics, when they follow a handbill for jobs to California—only to find there are no jobs. Why, he asks, did they put out the handbills? A fellow homeless man replies that if you’ve but one man...

Investors, Not Laborers, Are Now the Heroes

Kate Schwartz — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 10:13:50 CDT

"Labor Day" is a misnomer, and we're the ones who have made it so, writes EJ Dionne for the Washington Post . Today, and every day in America, we no longer celebrate workers "as the real creators of wealth." We reserve the highest praise for "capital," he explains. "In scores of...

Multinationals Cut 2.9M US Jobs, Hired 2.4M Abroad

Kevin Spak — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:36:45 CDT

The US Commerce Department released a report today throwing into sharp relief just how drastically US multinational corporations are shifting jobs overseas. During the 2000s, US companies cut 2.9 million jobs in the US, while hiring 2.4 million abroad—including an increasing number of highly-skilled workers, the Wall...

Preston: Why Scientology Moms Shut Up in Labor

Mary Papenfuss — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 03:37:45 CST

John Travolta's wife gave birth to new son Benjamin in total silence because that's what Scientology demands, right? Well, sort of. "It's just no words as much as possible. If you need to moan, if you cry out or all of that, of course, that's normal," Kelly Preston said on...

Bill Clinton Wants Credit for Inducing Labor

John Johnson — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 16:44:47 CDT

Today's odd moment from the campaign trail: Bill Clinton had to interrupt his stump speech on behalf of Ohio Rep. John Boccieri for a pretty good reason—Boccieri's wife was in labor. "The baby's now being born, tell him goodbye," Clinton told the crowd. "You'd be amazed how many times...

We Actually Need More Immigrants

Kevin Spak — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:31:00 CDT

Ezra Klein has a plan that will drastically improve our economy by lowering prices and raising wages. “But few politicians are going to want to touch it,” he writes in Newsweek , because the plan is this: “More immigration.” Americans often make the mistake of thinking that the number of jobs...

French Kids Strike Over Vacation Cut

Emily Rauhala — Thu, 13 May 2010 11:57:36 CDT

French schoolkids are saying "non" to a shortened summer, with young people nationwide joining wildcat strikes and staging walk-outs to denounce plans to cut a month of vacation time. Which is all very French, notes the Independent , except that the plan doesn't exist—the education minister merely called for discussion...

Miracle Baby Elephant Struts His Stuff

Harry Kimball — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:26:02 CDT

A baby elephant who went into a coma in the womb while his mother spent a full week in labor has made his public debut at a Sydney zoo. Nicknamed Mr. Shuffles for his early difficulty walking, the calf captivated onlookers with his first shambling spin around his enclosure. “I'd...