Mayor Vetoes Chicago 'Living Wage' Bill

Mayor Richard Daley vetoed an ordinance Monday that would have required mega-retailers to pay their workers more than other employers after some of the nation's largest stores including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. warned the measure would keep them from opening their doors within the city's limits.

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Chicago Council Passes 'Living Wage' Act

The City Council brushed aside warnings from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to approve an ordinance that makes Chicago the biggest city in the nation to require big-box retailers to pay a "living wage."

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Whether Democrats conceived the idea of a minimum wage as an economic tool with which to buy the votes of those at the bottom rung of the economic ladder, or if the potential political benefits occurred to them as an afterthought, we may never know.

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It happens every month: Millions of American pony up for the gas bill, mortgage or rent payment and real estate taxes--and subsequently watch their bank balances dwindle. That's because housing expenses are the biggest monthly expense most families face.

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A little over a year ago, Mary Hampton and her two children were living in transitional housing operated by the Safe Haven Family Shelter. Today, the Vanderbilt University housekeeper is renting a two-bedroom house in South Nashville.

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The corporate right, already almost completely besides themselves at the prospect that the Employee Free Choice Act has been trying to come up with any reason at all as an excuse for stopping the bill.

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America faces a daunting challenge.

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Sixty labor organizers, immigrant rights activists and their supporters gathered on October 19 to protest the effects of the economic crisis is having on working people and to demand a living wage.

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by Peter Dumon The Los Angeles Times Many successful business owners have the foresight to see great potential in their environment and are responsive to change as their businesses evolve.

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Security officers who work for Inter-Con are the only workers inside Kaiser healthcare facilities who do not have a union, do not make a living wage, have no access to affordable family healthcare, no sick days, or other basic needs.

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Faith and community leaders joined hotel workers in welcoming today's ruling by the California Supreme Court requiring hotels near LAX to pay their workers a living wage of $10.64 an hour to thousands of hotel workers who work at the 13 hotels on the Century Corridor.

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Thousands of workers will march from the La Brea Tar Pits to the Port of Los Angeles beginning Tuesday in an effort to demonstrate their need for wages that meet today's cost of living, for proper equipment to do their jobs, full benefits and a safe working environment.

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"The proposal is unworkable, un-American, impractical and dangerous to our institutions," said Representative Wade Kitchens, a Democrat from Arkansas, during the Congressional debate over the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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Most would agree, as Wal-Mart goes so goes the American economy. At one time, Wal-Mart proudly displayed banners touting all the goods they sold that were made in the USA. Those banners now gather dust in the backroom. Most of Wal-Mart's good come from overseas manufacturers.

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It's tomato season in Immokalee, Florida. Today, like every other day, the tomato pickers will emerge from their trailers in the dark before dawn, and twelve hours later, they will return in the dark of the Florida night.

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You might not have heard of N. Gregory Mankiw. The Harvard economics professor and former adviser to George W. Bush is one of the most gifted economists of our generation. He is also one of the most effective and talented propagandists of our times.

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How can anyone not get caught up in the annual Thanksgiving turkey frenzy? At the food bank I co-founded in Hartford, Conn., November always meant cheering the caravans of fowl-laden trucks that roared into our parking lot.

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BALTIMORE - People who clean Oriole Park at Camden Yards after games have canceled a planned hunger strike. The move follows approval by the Maryland Stadium Authority of a big pay raise for the workers in their next contract.

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Academia has launched yet another argument for government intervention in the labor markets. The main argument for government legislation has traditionally been the protection of the people at the bottom of the pay scale.

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Judging by the streams of fans flowing out of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, you'd swear the game had ended. The driving rains sent even the most loyal Orioles' supporters running to the shelter of their cars, or the cover of the nearest bar.

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Several workers who clean up Oriole Park at Camden Yards said today that they will begin a hunger strike on Sept. 3 in their fight for higher wages.

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Recently, 2.4 million Americans received a raise

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"Maryland has officially become the first state to mandate a living wage for government contracts even though opinion is still divided on whether it will help business."

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It's the first state to join dozens of municipalities in setting pay standards for those who do business with government. Workers in rural areas will get an $8.50-an-hour minimum. Maryland Gov.

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In January, Circuit City employee Bobby Young received a certificate of excellence for his twenty years of loyal service at the company's Roanoke, Virginia store. On March 28th, he received a pink slip.

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The minimum wage, like all attempts at a command economy, is based upon the idea that there is an ideal "fair wage" or "living wage" that can be set by the government, not the market.

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Wal-Mart is making over its image to cater to a more affluent crowd. But behind its increasingly upscale image are the same lowbrow business tactics.

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