Free Republic

Now is the time for all good capitalists to shop at Whole Foods. Not only will you get great produce, fresh meat, fish and healthy to-go meals, but you'll irritate those who think that President Obama's health-care plan isn't quite progressive enough. John Mackey, co-founder and chief executive of Whole Foods Market -- green missionary and exemplar of corporate compassion -- has riled hard-core reformers by endorsing free-market principles over government-managed health care. Well, knock me over with a wakame frond. (That's seaweed for you tofu-averse.) ...If you're unlucky enough to live in a city without a Whole Foods store,...

CHICAGO, Aug. 6, 2009 – The Army Reserve and National Guard signed partnership agreements with dozens of Chicago and Illinois state employers yesterday to enhance job opportunities for soldiers and veterans. Army Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz applauds Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn after Quinn's remarks at the Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative signing ceremony in Chicago Aug. 5, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Brian Kersey  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “It is our duty to take care of veterans, who have answered the call to duty and bravely defended our country,” said Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. “I salute Helmets...

Businesses with 25 employees or more would be required to offer health insurance or pay $750 a year per full-time worker to the federal government, under health care reform legislation being considered in the Senate. A "play or pay" employer mandate has been looming for months, but Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee finally defined how small a business would need to be in order to be exempted from the requirement. Most business groups oppose requiring employers to provide health care or pay a fee to the government, even if there is an exemption for small...

JUST as the econ omy begins show ing glimmers of a turnaround, here comes President Obama with a "tax-reform" effort that's sure to sock the stock prices and after-tax profits of many of the biggest US employers. Obama's $190 billion business-tax hike will hit Americans whose jobs and pensions depend on these companies doing well, and will increase pressure on already struggling colleges and hospitals. Why? Because millions of individual investors hold the companies' stocks in their portfolios, mutual funds and pension funds, as do many colleges, hospitals, museums and other institutions in their endowments. Among the important employers in...

There's been a whole lotta shootin' going on out there in recent times. Just wondering how many Freepers are employed at Companies that prohibit firearms on the property. I am curious as to how common a practice that is. If you don't mind, please sound off on what your Company's policy is, whether you are the Employer or the Employee. Anything you could add, regarding any incidents of violence, use of firearms in self-defense, etc., at the workplace, would be most appreciated. I plan on using the information I gain as "ammunition" to get my Employer to reverse its policy...

DENVER, March 27, 2009 – Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. signed on to the Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative at a March 20 ceremony here that also drew 11 private-sector employers. Army Reserve Sgt. Gregory S. Ruske, who earned the Silver Star medal for gallantry in Afghanistan, shakes hands with Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. in Denver, March 20, 2009. The two attended a ceremony in which the state of Colorado joined the Army Reserve’s Employer Partnership Initiative. U.S. Army photo by Jack Dempsey  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The governor is the first to commit all state...

WASHINGTON, March 20, 2009 – A program that links Army reservists with civilian employers is going strong -- despite record unemployment and gloomy hiring predictions -- as more employers sign on every month so they can hire qualified reservists. The American Trucking Association and INOVA Health Systems of Northern Virginia broke new ground in April 2008 as the first formal members of the Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative. Within six months, 65 employers had joined, and the program hit a milestone in February with its 200th employer partner. Now Army Reserve officials are laying plans for the University of...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 21, 2009 – Wyoming’s committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve has been busy for 18 months preparing businesses that will be hard-hit by the largest reserve deployment in state history. The state is readying nearly 1,000 troops -- more than half of its Army National Guard soldiers and more than a third of its total Guard force -- for deployment to Iraq and Kuwait in April. The impact has been felt throughout the nation’s least-populous state, and nearly every community is affected, top leaders say. “The effect is pretty much the same everywhere, but...

The future of employment in the U.S. under the Obama Democrats. Five of the top six employers in Chicago are government. CRAIN'S CHICAGO BUSINESS A list of the area's 25 largest employers, ranked by number of Chicago-based full-time employees. Published Jan. 5, 2009. Rank Company No. of full-time local employees as of 9/30/2008: 1 U.S. Government 78,000 2 Chicago Public Schools 43,910 3 City of Chicago 35,570 4 Wal-Mart Stores Inc. 23,453 5 Cook County 22,142 6 State of Illinois 18,124

Thank You Brian for reminding our Representatives that our first priority is to get our economy on track and that isn’t done by eliminating statutes of limitations and eliminating caps on punitive damages besides the act being “UNFAIR”.

OH YEAH -- CHANGE IS COMING! The election of Barack Obama has some employers quaking in their boots. Look into the crystal ball and prepare for dramatic changes in employment law and labor activity from unions to sick leave to ergonomics. Employers can expect to see more new workplace regulations than at any time in the last two decades. The Democrats are teeing up several bills and some issues demand attention immediately. Unions -- One issue looms far above all the others for Alabama Employers -- the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Obama supports the Employee Free Choice Act. This...

The Bush administration in its final weeks will revive a stalled crackdown on U.S. companies that hire illegal immigrants, issuing a new regulation and asking a federal judge to lift a ban on the measure, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced yesterday. If the court agrees, the government could begin mailing notices to 140,000 employers regarding suspect Social Security numbers used by an estimated 8.7 million workers, pressuring businesses to either resolve discrepancies or fire workers within 90 days. -Snip- Bush unveiled the Social Security "no-match" letter initiative in August 2007 after the Senate failed to pass an immigration overhaul...

WASHINGTON — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff plans to announce changes to rules designed to stop businesses from hiring people working in the country illegally. The rules proposed to force employers to fire workers whose names don't match their Social Security numbers....

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2008 – Fifteen employers accepted a Defense Department award last night for their exceptional financial and emotional support of National Guard and Reserve members on their payrolls. Thomas F. Hall, assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs; Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig R. McKinley, director of the Air National Guard; and David S.C. Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, prepare to present the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award at the Employer Support of Guard and Reserve ceremony Sept. 18, 2008, in Washington, D.C. Defens Dept. photo by John J. Kruzel  (Click photo for...

Howard Weyers tried the "carrot" approach by giving his employees incentives and encouragement to quit smoking. But when that didn't work, he resorted to the stick. A big stick. Weyers, owner of a health care benefits administrator in Lansing, Mich., gave his 200 employees an ultimatum in 2004: Quit smoking in 15 months or lose your job. He refused to hire smokers. Ultimately, he extended his smoking ban to employees' spouses and monitored compliance through mandatory random blood testing. Weyers' method, while effective, wouldn't fly in California because the state has laws that prohibit employers from making hiring or firing...

From the New York Times. President Bush has ordered federal contractors to participate in the Department of Homeland Security’s electronic system for verifying the immigration status of their workers, greatly expanding the reach of the administration’s crackdown on employers who hire illegal immigrants. So, with 6 months to go Bush decides to become a nut-cracker on immigration.

President Bush has signed an executive order requiring contractors and others who do business with the federal government to make sure their employees can legally work in the United States. Mr. Bush signed the order Friday and the White House announced the order Monday. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez planned an afternoon news conference to discuss the order and other ways the administration has stepped up its crackdown on illegal immigration. The order says federal departments and agencies must require contractors to use an electronic system to verify that the workers are eligible to work...

Leave it to the Bush administration to throw thousands of law-abiding American workers and companies off a cliff in perilous economic times. That would be the effect of its decision to press ahead with a bad idea: to force businesses to fire employees whose names don’t match the Social Security database. The purge is part of a campaign — along with scattershot workplace raids and the partial border fence — to make a show of tackling the broken immigration system. The plan rests on the assumption that people with Social Security glitches are illegal immigrants using fake identities. Companies that...

http://www.ktrh.com/main.html PLEASE FREEP THIS POLL! Question of the Day Should companies be allowed to require their workers to speak English-only? Yes so far 27.78 % No so far 72.22 %

WASHINGTON - Supreme Court justices questioned Wednesday whether a state should be able to prohibit employers from using state money to influence employees' views on unions in their workplace. The Chamber of Commerce and the Bush administration argue that California is trying to silence employers from weighing in on union organization efforts. They say that position isn't permitted by federal labor law, which allows employers to be involved as long as they don't threaten reprisals. The outcome of the case could affect attempts by other states to restrict use of state money for unionization-related activities. California contends that its law...