Sherman A1
Sherman A1's JournalSubway Franchisee Invented Fictional Workers To Avoid Paying Overtime
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/07/subway-franchisee-wage-theft_n_5659915.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000013&ir=PoliticsWASHINGTON -- A former Subway sandwich maker in Washington claims his employer used an inventive scheme to avoid paying him overtime: Creating fictional workers.
Erwin Zambrano Moya alleges in a lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday that the Subway franchise at 2301 Georgia Ave. NW, near Howard University, systematically shortchanged him for the two years ending in June. According to the complaint, the owner accomplished this, in part, by paying Moya as if he were multiple workers, thereby keeping the real Moya under 40 hours each week.
Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, most hourly workers like Moya are entitled to time-and-a-half pay for any hours worked over 40 per week. Moya says he worked 70 hours per week on average, but was paid in "straight time," thanks to the multiple paychecks.
"To hide Plaintiff's very high number of hours worked per week, Defendant regularly paid Plaintiff about half of his wages under his name and about half under a fictional employee name, typically, Ever Ventura," the complaint states.
Mass. To Make Big Food Wasters Lose The Landfill
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/08/06/338317224/mass-to-make-big-food-wasters-lose-the-landfillSure, there's plenty you can do with leftovers: foist them on your office mates or turn them into casserole.
But if you're a big food waste generator like a hospital or a supermarket, your scraps usually go to the landfill to rot.
In Massachusetts, that's about to change, as the state prepares to implement the most ambitious commercial food waste ban in the U.S.
The ban, which will commence Oct. 1, applies to institutions that produce more than a ton of food waste a week. Those 1,700 some-odd supermarkets, schools, hospitals and food producers will no longer be able to send their discarded food to the landfill. Instead, they they'll have to donate the useable food and ship the rest to a composting facility, a plant that turns the scraps into energy or a farm that can use it as animal food.
Gluten-Free Food Banks Bridge Celiac Disease And Hunger
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2014/08/07/338593844/gluten-free-food-banks-bridge-celiac-disease-and-hunger?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20140807For people with celiac disease, eating gluten-free can be a struggle. But it's even harder for those who aren't always sure where their next meal will come from.
Two grass-roots organizations, Pierce's Pantry in Massachusetts and the National Gluten-Free Food Bank Movement in Denver, are working to help those people who are trapped between celiac disease and hunger. They're reaching out to food pantries to help them better serve their gluten-free clients by supplying more options and teaching pantries to identify and sort the gluten-free donations that they already have.
Though both organizations are focused on serving their local communities, they hope that more people around the country soon recognize the importance of meeting the needs of this population. Of course, no one really knows how many people with Celiac need food assistance, because no one is collecting the data.
The threat of just-in-time scheduling
One of the most unnoticed labor trends in the past few decades has been the rise of “just-in-time scheduling,” the practice of scheduling workers’ shifts with little advance notice that are subject to cancelation hours before they are due to begin. Such scheduling practices mean that already low-wage workers often have fluctuating pay checks, leading them to rely on shady lenders or credit cards to make ends meet. Such consequences especially affect women and workers of color, who disproportionately fill these jobs.
New research from three University of Chicago professors, Susan J. Lambert, Peter J. Fugiel, and Julia R. Henly, examines scheduling practices for young adults (26 to 32 years old). Many outlets have reported their finding that part-time workers face greater scheduling uncertainty than full-time workers: 39 percent of full-time workers report receiving hours one week or less before work, compared to 47 percent of part-time workers. But less attention has been paid to the race gap: 49 percent of blacks and 47 percent of Hispanics receive their hours with a week or less of notice, compared with 39 percent of white workers.
Non-white workers also report far less control over their hours. Lambert and her co-authors find that 47 percent of white workers have their hours set by their employer. By contrast, 55 percent of blacks and 58 percent of Latinos say their employer sets their hours. Only 10 percent of Latinos and 12 percent of blacks report being able to set their hours “freely” or “within limits,” while 18 percent of white workers do.
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/8/just-in-time-schedulingshiftswalmartlowwage.html#
TEACHERS OFFERED PERSONAL LOANS TO BUY SCHOOL SUPPLIES
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2014/01/08/nevada-offers-teachers-personal-loans-to-buy-school-supplies/If you’re looking for just one image that says a thousand words about what’s wrong with America, here’s a contender.
The link will show a photo offering a 1 year $1000.00 loan for teachers to buy school supplies.
Postal Service, Staples attempt to obscure privatization program
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and Staples have apparently determined they are masters of illusion as well as privatizing mail delivery.
USPS and Staples entered a trial partnership at 82 stores in four states that allows the office supply company to offer postal services at its stores.
The American Postal Workers Union (APWU) has been urging a boycott of Staples and was joined by the American Federation of Teachers, prompting Staples, earlier this month, to announce that it would end the pilot program.
According to APWU that means only that Staples will remove Postal Service signage from its counters, and all Staples stores will now be part of the Postal Service’s Approved Shipper program, which is available in thousands of locations operated by third-party retailers and allows the stores to continue providing postal service.
http://labortribune.com/postal-service-staples-attempt-to-obscure-privatization-program/
A "Bill of Rights" for San Francisco's Retail Workers
http://truth-out.org/news/item/25414-a-bill-of-rights-for-san-francisco’s-retail-workersIn April 2011, Jessy Lancaster, then 28, was hired as a part-time cashier for the discount clothing store Ross Dress for Less in San Francisco. At the time, the city's hourly minimum wage was $9.92 an hour; in one of the most expensive areas of the country, Lancaster wanted to work as many hours as possible. Unfortunately, even making herself available six days out of the week—including Saturday and Sunday—wasn't enough.
"It didn't make a difference," Lancaster says. Most weeks, she would be scheduled for 12 to 20 hours, despite telling a manager that she was willing and able to do more. "It was piecemeal," she says. "I would usually work four to six hour shifts. Four hours here. Four hours there."
As someone who wanted to work 40 hours a week but was unable to do so, Lancaster was what San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar calls an "involuntarily part-time worker." The lack of sufficient hours doesn't just force such individuals to struggle to pay their bills; the unpredictability of work schedules makes it difficult to plan the rest of one's life. Lancaster says she never knew if she was going to be working first thing in the morning or late at night. For workers with family caretaking responsibilities or health concerns, this can make scheduling childcare or medical appointments almost impossible. It also creates difficulties for people trying to work more than one job or attend classes.
On Tuesday, July 29, Mar introduced the first half of a "Retail Workers Bill of Rights," which aims to help Lancaster and people like her attain stable employment, to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Supervisor David Chiu will introduce the second half of the bill in September. The two bills only apply to what San Francisco defines as "formula retail": stores, restaurants, hotels and banks with 11 or more outlets nationwide. According to Jobs with Justice San Francisco, a coalition of labor unions and community organizations that helped craft the bills, there are about 1,250 such businesses in San Francisco, employing about 100,000 people. (San Francisco is also currently considering modifications to the definition of formula retail, which would expand the bills' scope to include gyms, insurance companies and check-cashing outlets.)
Small cities near Albany, New York emerge as battlegrounds for health care unions
The small working-class cities in Montgomery and Fulton counties have emerged as major battlegrounds in New York between labor unions and health-care companies seeking leverage under the Affordable Care Act.
About 60 health care workers took steps this week to unionize at River Ridge Living Center in Amsterdam, a Montgomery County city of 18,600 people.
They followed more than 400 other employees already clashing with separate hospitals and nursing homes in Amsterdam and Gloversville, a Fulton County city of about 15,600 residents, and an hour's drive west of Albany.
Union organizing efforts and stalled contract negotiations in Fulton and Montgomery counties follow similar news in New York City, where threats of labor strikes among health-care workers have been on the rise in recent months.
http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/blog/health-care/2014/08/small-cities-near-albany-new-york-emerge-as.html
Guitar Center Accused Of Unfair Labor Practices
WASHINGTON -- More than a year after its initial election victory at a Guitar Center store, the union representing the chain's first unionized employees is accusing the retailer of bargaining in "bad faith" and trying to purge the union.
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that Guitar Center has stalled in bargaining talks and "punished" workers who voted in favor of representation. Last year, RWDSU won elections at three Guitar Center stores, although those workers have yet to reach a collective bargaining contract with the company.
On Tuesday, Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO labor federation, accused Guitar Center ownership of using "shameful" tactics to avoid a contract with the unionized workers.
"The fight against Bain Capital and Ares Management for fair pay and decent health care for the Guitar Center workers is what the labor movement is all about," Trumka said at RWDSU's convention in Orlando, Florida. "The dirty tactics of Bain and Ares have been shameful and ugly. I want every Guitar Center worker to know the entire AFL-CIO and every one of our affiliates stands behind them in their efforts to win a fair contract."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/05/guitar-center-union_n_5652157.html
Killed Sprint-T-Mobile deal may mean lower prices
NEW YORK • The collapse of Sprint’s push to buy T-Mobile US could mean fresh options in wireless plans and lower prices for U.S. consumers. But in the long run, tougher competition on prices could lead to slower service and slower expansion of coverage.
Sprint’s chairman, Masayoshi Son, said the company would shift its focus from “consolidation” — that is, buying up competitors — to “competing aggressively in the marketplace.” He is hiring Marcelo Claure, an entrepreneur who hasn’t run a wireless carrier before, to be Sprint Corp.’s new CEO, signaling that Son is looking for a new strategy.
Investors expect a price war to be part of that strategy, and shares of the four nationwide U.S. wireless companies — Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile — fell Wednesday.
Sprint may mimic changes made by T-Mobile US Inc. Last year, T-Mobile CEO John Legere tossed out the industry playbook, including the ubiquitous two-year service contract, and has drawn millions of new customers. Legere also cut prices, prompting AT&T to cut its prices. In the most recent move, T-Mobile launched a promotion last week with a cheap family plan that’s about $60 cheaper than the competition.
http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/killed-sprint-t-mobile-deal-may-mean-lower-prices/article_b96b4b69-0ace-5b46-bf48-44fd8b71777e.html
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