News
Prank call shows Wisconsin Governor Walker in billionaire benefactor’s pocket
March 22, 2011 8:00 PM
Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin received a telephone call from an individual he believed to be his politically conservative billionaire benefactor (but who was in fact someone posing as him). Walker eagerly reported on what he and the state's Republican legislators are doing to, not for, the working people of the state and the 14 state senators who have been fighting for them.
Women sue non-union Standard Hotel for discrimination
March 22, 2011 8:00 PM
Two female former cocktail servers have sued the non-union Standard Hotel for gender discrimination. The suit alleges that the two women, both of whom are about 5-foot-4, did not meet the Standard's new standard for cocktail waitresses, i.e., "women who appear to be willowy, svelte and statuesque runway models " The fired cocktail servers sued the hotel due to the gender specific nature of this new policy.
Media coverage of national labor battle
March 22, 2011 8:00 PM
Bills aimed at weakening and ultimately eradicating labor unions continue to be pushed aggressively in state legislatures across the country. Ominously, this is true even in states where, for generations, unions have been strongest where it became possible for working families to constitute America's great middle class.
Finnish hotel workers document sexual harassment
March 7, 2011 7:00 PM
Another Best Western opens in Brooklyn
March 7, 2011 7:00 PM
Within months of Brooklyn's first Best Western opening in Brooklyn, Best Western International opened its second in mid-December 2010. As announced in Hotel Interactive, the new property, the Best Western Plus Prospect Park Hotel, is a ground-up project and is located on 4th Avenue at 26th Street. The hotel is yet another in a series of new openings in a borough that had previously seen almost nothing by way of hotel development.
Another new hotel for Lower Manhattan
March 7, 2011 7:00 PM
According to Crain's New York, hotel builder Sam Chang is about to begin converting a former residential building he purchased prior to the economic downturn into a seven story, 80-room hotel. Located on Pearl Street, just one block west of historic Fraunces Tavern, the hotel will be the area's second Hampton Inn.
Morgans Hotel Group to open Mondrian SoHo
March 7, 2011 7:00 PM
Morgans Hotel Group Co. has announced it will be opening Mondrian SoHo at the beginning of March. The 270-room hotel will be the Morgans Group's third Mondrian and its first downtown hotel. The continuous development of new hotels, including new luxury hotels, is evidence that the hotel industry in New York City is on the rise and steadily rebounding.
NYC hotel industry enjoys global appeal
March 7, 2011 7:00 PM
Quickly on the rise after the economic downturn, New York City's hotel industry is again one of the strongest and most appealing markets in the world. Crain's New York reports that foreign investors, many without previous real estate experience, are flocking here to benefit from the big gains investments in NYC hotels yield.
Union-busting in state capitols
March 7, 2011 7:00 PM
In Wisconsin, as well as Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and other states, government workers are fighting hard to protect their unions against attempts by Republican governors and legislatures to crush any viable political opposition to their rule.
Billionaires spend big on efforts that will weaken unions, hurt workers
March 7, 2011 7:00 PM
Billionaires Charles and David Koch are now using their enormous wealth to contribute to the crushing of public sector unionsââ¬âdespite the injury that will inevitably be inflicted on millions of middle class working people across the United States. A recent article in The New York Times explored the nature of their involvement.
Contract win at Westin Providence
March 7, 2011 7:00 PM
Since the expiration of their contract at the end of October 2009, union workers at the Westin Providence, in Providence, Rhode Island, have been fighting for a new contract. Their efforts paid off when they recently approved a new three-year contract by a decisive 114-4 vote.
Kimpton aims for 10 more NYC hotels in next 10 years
March 7, 2011 7:00 PM
San Francisco-based Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, LLC, is planning on operating an additional 10 hotels in New York City within the next decade, according to an article on the Bloomberg Businessweek website. The company currently operates the Ink48, 70 Park Avenue, the Muse, and Eventi, all of which are union shops in Manhattan.
70% of Boathouse workers sign up
February 25, 2011 7:00 PM
After signing up a majority of the workers, the union has filed all necessary petitions with the United States Government to demand union recognition from Boathouse management. The union, along with its supporters, is now free to take any actions necessary to force management to reinstate the employees who were illegally terminated, and to negotiate a contract with the union.
NY unions stand up to political attacks on workers’ pensions
February 15, 2011 7:00 PM
State and local politicians in New York seem unwilling to recognize that Wall Street and corporate executives, not government workers, are to blame for the budget deficits the politicians must now confront. This is no surprise; their counterparts in a number of other states are also behaving as if the pension benefits of government workers are solely responsible for their states' budgetary difficulties.
U.S. working class hit hardest by falling wages, unemployment
February 15, 2011 7:00 PM
Recent articles in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times discuss the falling wages and increasing unemployment that continue to plague the American workforce even as some sections of the economy and other nations' economies recover from the recent recession. àWorkers are still suffering from the economic implosion despite the fact that corporate profits "have more than recovered, rising 12% since late 2007." The main cause of this "jobless recovery" is the basic structure of the American economy ââ¬â one where employers function with few restraints. ÃÂ
U.S. corporate tax laws full of loopholes
February 15, 2011 7:00 PM
While the federal corporate tax rate is 35 percent, there are so many loopholes in the tax laws that many corporations pay far less than their fair share in taxes. Despite the obvious need to make corporations pay a reasonable tax rate, political leaders do not have the courage to try to make them do this.
S.E.C. enacts toothless “cosmetic” rules on executive pay
February 14, 2011 7:00 PM
The near collapse of the U.S. economy badly hurt workers and their families. During and throughout this period, Wall Street executives and their counterparts at big banks continued to receive compensation so large that "ordinary people" can only shake their heads in disbelief and disgust. According to an article in the New York Times, stockholders must now be permitted to vote on the compensation of executives at publicly traded companies at least once every three years.
State and local politicians attacking unions
February 14, 2011 7:00 PM
Politicians at state and local levels are blaming government workers and their unions for growing deficits in state and local budgets. They claim public workers' health and pension benefits are out of proportion with those of workers in the private sector and must be reduced. Such attacks are steadily increasing throughout the country.
Union hotel workers picket D.C.‘s Madison Hotel
February 2, 2011 7:00 PM
Members of Unite Here Local 25 who work at the Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C., have been picketing the hotel since Monday, January 31, 2011. They are protesting the new owner's refusal to honor their existing union contract, which covers 150 workers. Twenty-five workers have been laid off since Jamestown, an asset investment and management company headquartered in Atlanta, took over the hotel on January 19.
NLRB prepared to sue to protect key provision of NLRA
February 1, 2011 7:00 PM
In a January 14, 2011, press release, the National Labor Relations Board announced it is prepared to bring suit to invalidate amendments in four state constitutions that abrogate a key portion of the National Labor Relations Act. The Board has concluded these amendments restrict the rights available to workers and employers under Section 7 of the NLRA, and are thus violative of the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution and cannot legally be applied or enforced.
