#Migrant workers face disproportionate risk, compared to general population. According to Amy Liebman, chief program officer Migrant Clinicians Network, these workers make up the bulk of the agricultural and food processing industries. They also are more likely to lack affordable access to health care, and may hesitate to report symptoms if it means not working.
"Workers at the first Apple store in the US to have unionized, in Towson, Maryland, have voted to authorize a strike as progress in bargaining for a first contract has stagnated.
More evidence of greedflation & the maintenance & boosting of profits, as a driver of inflation.
But, the Q is whether the sado-monetarists care about such evidence or are happy to continue with the ideologically driven economic modelling that asserts greedy workers as the ket cause of inflation?
Oh we know the answer, the BoE will be quoting three month wage rise data not profits' trends across years, because that doesn't support disciplining the workforce.
Team Starmer & the unions have come away from their summit today all suggesting that they have reached a deal on the New Deal for Working People, which the unions assert has seen a recommitment to its original shape & goals.
From cynics corner this looks like both sides deciding this argument can wait until after the election & for now it will pay to be seen not to be squabbling...
So, if/once labour gain power, the debate on workers rights will quickly flare up (again)
So, Tesco's boss has just seen his wages for the year gone, nearly double to around £10m....
As you might get the unions are not pleased, especially when society wide wage growth is under 6% in nominal terms and essentially still flat-lining in real terms.
The Sado-monetarists of Threadneedle St. will be saying, 'aha but CEOs are a small group who work hard & don't impact inflation'; in other words: one (economic) law for us & our mates, another for you lot!
The BoE will be (I should think) suggesting interest rates should not go down yet, after ONS reported wage rises remained at 5.7% over the last 3 months.
But, a focus on nominal wages is misleading; it takes no account of inflation adjusted real wages, that continue to lag behind pre-austerity levels & so by only focussing on recent months underplays (obscures) that wages are catching up previous loses....
So prepare for a longer wait for interest rates to drop
One way of understanding the drifting apart of Europe & North America on hours worked is that the Europeans have made a choice to work less (even if it means overall less economic activity);
Or, that in America, due to private health care & inequality, workers cannot afford to work less (even if they want to)...
or, you can take the view that European economies are in decline due to a loss of incentives (so taxes must be reduced?)
take your pick... but of course it may be all three
The move back to the office is certainly underway, with working from home being de-normalised & back to an exception (if now more frequent).
But what is the impact on those who for health or mobility reasons are only able to work from home.
In many ways WFH was (accidentally?) a boon for 'disabled' employment, allowing many to access jobs that would have been difficult if attendance at office was required.
How will their opportunities fare in the move away from WFH?
Quebec's labour tribunal has given union accreditation to workers at an Amazon warehouse in Laval, Que., a first in Canada.
Workers at the DXT4 warehouse, located in Laval, a suburb north of Montreal, had been working toward unionizing with the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) for two years.
Migrant care workers are being betrayed by the tied-visa system that bought them to the UK... when sponsors are striped of their license, it tis the care workers who are effectively punished - forcing them into a precarious race for alternate employment.
This is just one part of a national political hypocrisy on 'economic migration'... we want/need workers to fill posts, but some just want to punish them for coming here;
Workers say they like their jobs slightly more… but everything about them less
Millie Giles, David Crowther
5/9/24
"...Although some subcategories like commuting saw satisfaction drop off by a negligible amount, several fell far more sharply. Indeed, while workers were much less jazzed about the bonus plan (-7.6%), wages (-5%), and health plan (-7%) offered to them by their employers compared with a year ago, none of these factors seemed to play a hand in overall job satisfaction, which nudged slightly higher (+0.4%). Why?.."
Having worked (many years ago) for an employer who saw 100% commitment to the 'project' as indicating a readiness to work on any day at any time as required by the 'project'... & having had so many students aspiring to find 'meaningful' work - a perfectly reasonable aspiration, let me note - I fully endorse this warning about how meaningful work can extract an unhealthy personal cost.
I've experienced it myself, and have seen ex-students get trapped similarly.
P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite received a £183k bonus to top up his salary of £325k in 2023 to over half a million... after laying off 800 sailors with no notice or consultation & replacing them with lower paid (£2.90 an hour) foreign workers.
He then told the HoC today that of course he couldn't live on such a low wage... then why does think anyone else should?!!!
The rank hypocrisy of it is staggering; Mick Lynch is right, he should be in jail!
When I was assembling my last book (Corporations: A research agenda), I became quite interested in Mondragon in Spain as an alternative way of organising businesses (and featured them in the book).
Somehow I missed this recent profile on the Spanish Cooperative conglomerate. It make for an interesting read when we are told there is no other way of running firms in capitalism.... because clearly there is!
If you take the BoE at its word (to be frank I wouldn't) then increases in wages are a significant aspect of the UK's recent inflation problem... countering that many (including me) have noted that workers real wages have yet to regain the level from over a decade ago.
However, that's not all workers: new solicitors have seen their entry-level wages rise by around 50% in the last five years.... now reaching around £150k for 'magic circle' elite law firms...
As Uber heads towards it licence renewal in London (its current 30 month licence expires in Sept), black cab drivers have launched a (renewed) legal challenge to the orginal TfL licence which they claim was unlawful & illegally reduced their income.
Its not a new case/claim but its revival at this time suggests Uber's attempt to co-opt cabbies has largely failed (with only low hundreds joining Uber's black cab scheme).
Once again gig economy practices will be tested in court - good!
Well, well, well, one of the 'clarifications' offered to businesses by Labour's watering down of its New Deal for Workers, is to allow zero-hours contract to continue (despite a commitment to ban them completely) of workers choose them;
cue, off-line (verbal) pressure & 'incentives;' to adopt zero hours contracts 'voluntarily'...
Clueless about employers methods!
If Keir Starmer was trying to build trust in an incoming Labour Govt.,its not workers' trust that he is interested in.