Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed a tax incentive for small businesses that add workers, even as Congress struggles to figure out how such an idea would work. Lawmakers have been working for several months to develop a tax credit for businesses that hire workers, but they have been unable to figure out how to do it in a way that won't be abused. Neither Obama nor his top advisers offered details Tuesday. They didn't say how big the tax break would be nor how it would be administered. Obama pledged to work on the issue with...

Two more workers died overnight after a bridge under construction in the Pyrenees principality of Andorra collapsed, bringing the death toll to five, the government said Sunday. Six other workers were recovering in hospital after the concrete structure of the road bridge gave way around midday Saturday near the Dos Valires tunnel in the Massana valley in northwest Andorra. Emergency teams worked throughout the night to rescue a man who was trapped up to the waist in rubble, but he died shortly after being pulled from the debris in the early hours on Sunday, according to a government spokesman. The...

Col. Larry Phelps, the 15th Sustainment Brigade commander, gives a coin to pump foreman Abdullah Ahmed from the Qayyarah pump house during a luncheon in the pump house workers' honor in the dining facility of COL Q-West, Nov. 3. Photo by Sgt. Matthew Cooley, 15th Sustainment Brigade. COL Q-WEST — A group of Iraqis working at the Qayyarah water pump house were thanked while attending a luncheon in their honor at the dining facility here, Nov. 2. Col. Larry Phelps, the 15th Sustainment Brigade commander and Greenville, Ala., native, presented a plaque to the workers and said that it was...

Senator Marlin Stutzman has placed his name on the ballot for the race against Evan Bayh. Mr Stutzman is a Republican Senator from Howe, IN.

Health care workers in New York will no longer be forced to get the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, CBS 2 has learned. A state Supreme Court judge issued a restraining order Friday against the state from enforcing the controversial mandatory vaccination. The order came as the Public Employees Federation sued to reverse a policy requiring vaccination against the seasonal and swine flu viruses, arguing that state Health Commissioner Richard Daines overstepped his authority. Three parties – the Public Employees Federaion, New York State United Teachers, and an attorney representing four Albany nurses – challenged the order and for now the...

New Study Evaluates Surgical Masks Vs. N95 Respirators For Preventing Influenza Among Health Care Workers Surgical masks appear to be no worse than, and nearly as effective as N95 respirators in preventing influenza in health care workers, according to a study released early online today by JAMA. The study was posted online ahead of print because of its public health implications. It will be published in the November 4 issue of JAMA. Influenza is the most important cause of medically attended acute respiratory illness worldwide and the authors write there is heightened concern this year because of the influenza pandemic...

The head of the Census Bureau said Tuesday that the number of convicted criminals who were hired to check home addresses this summer is probably fewer than the 200 estimated by the Government Accountability Office. Robert Groves said the bureau is trying to determine whether it is feasible to require a second security check on job candidates whose fingerprints cannot be read the first time they are run through the FBI database. The bureau is spending $100 million this year checking fingerprints, the first time it has done so for temporary workers. Last week, the GAO said it estimated that...

At 10% Unemployment America Still Doesn't Have Enough Workers Joe WeisenthalOct. 12, 2009, 1:10 PM Here's a little paradox for you. Even with unemployment officially sitting around 10%, studies continue to suggest that America is deficient when it comes to having a skilled workforce. A new survey by the Business Roundtable finds that many businesses say they can't get as skilled-enough workforce for what they need. Remember, we're in the middle of period where there's a record number of jobseekers for every listing. But of course, it's really not much a paradox at all. After years and years of a...

New York (CBS) -- The first doses of the H1N1 vaccine are expected to be released this week. While that is bringing relief to some Americans, it's also helping to ignite a controversy for one group, as CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston reports. Outside New York 's capitol building, health care workers - shouting "Give me liberty!" - vowed to fight an unprecedented order from state health officials: a requirement for every health care worker to get seasonal and H1N1 flu shots or face the possibility of being fired.

Saying They Should Be Given A Choice, Employees Rally In Albany, Around State, Chant "No Forced Shots!" Protesters Hold Signs That Read: "The State Doesn't Own My Body'" They're upset over an ultimatum from the health department. Workers are being told to either get the swine flu vaccine or lose their jobs. New York is the first state in the country to mandate flu vaccinations for its health care workers. The first doses of swine flu vaccine will be available beginning next week. Much of it is reserved for state health care workers, but there is growing opposition to required...

Well, well, even the government workers are now starting to wake up to the REALITY of the threat of BIG GOVERNMENT. Well now … if these workers won’t get a government mandated flu shot … imagine how they will react when the government mandates insurance. Not exactly a Tea Party protest … but the message is clear. Even government workers don’t like government intrusion.

Despite a planned rally in Albany Tuesday to protest a state regulation requiring health care workers be vaccinated against influenza — both seasonal and swine flu — New York’s top public health official predicts dissenters will ultimately extinguish their anger and roll up their sleeves.

Despite a planned rally in Albany Tuesday to protest a state regulation requiring health care workers be vaccinated against influenza — both seasonal and swine flu — New York’s top public health official predicts dissenters will ultimately extinguish their anger and roll up their sleeves. http://www.newsday.com/long-island/mandatory-flu-vaccination-splits-workers-1.1481242?print=true

In the last few years, many alarms about the bankruptcy of the Social Security program have been sounded. Some people have calculated and published dates when it will be insolvent. Part of the problem has been shown that the number of people contributing to the program is shrinking and the number of people drawing from the program is increasing. The situation seems to be most critical as the baby boomers retire and begin drawing benefits from the program. There must be some reasons for this imbalance. One reason for this imbalance, according to some hearsay reports, is that the federal...

Can someone tell me the source of Rush's monologue today

CINCINNATI (AP) - The Cincinnati Bengals are suing 31 former players who filed workers compensation claims against the team in California. Unlike most other states, California allows for insurance payments to workers who can show they suffered trauma that compounded over a period of time.

The latest issue of the American labour weekly, Appeal to Reason, received in Europe reports that its circulation has increased to 984,000 copies. The letters and demands coming in—writes the editor (No. 875, September 7, new style)—indicate beyond doubt that we shall exceed one million copies in the next few weeks. This figure—a million copies of a socialist weekly which American courts harass and persecute shamelessly and which is growing and gaining strength under the fire of persecution—-shows more clearly than long arguments the kind of revolution that is approaching in America. Not long ago the sycophantic Novoye Vremya, a...

Boy, and we thought the huge retirement dollars going to public sector workers in California was crazy. But fat, guaranteed retirement checks are just the tip of the iceberg, really, when it comes to sucking money from the taxpayers. Bob Norman at the Broward Palm Beach New Times points out how public sector workers can work for the city and collect a retirement check simultaneously: Recently I did a post about BSO Lt. Col. Ricky Frey making nearly $320,000 off of a popular state retirement scam for government officials that basically allows triple dipping and opulent take-home pay at the...

Video Description - Quote: whitehouse July 13, 2009 Christina Romer, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, answers your questions from Facebook and the White House website about the future of the labor market. The Council of Economic Advisers earlier released a report, Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow, which outlines how the U.S. labor market is expected to grow and change over the next few years. July 13, 2009 (Public Domain) Category: News & Politics Tags: President Barack Obama White House Christina Romer Labor market Jobs

COLUMBUS — Ohio’s unemployment rate jumped to 11.1 percent in June, up from 10.8 percent in May and the first time in nearly 26 years that the rate has topped 11 percent. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services released the rate on Friday, July 17. “Ohio’s labor market continued to weaken in June,” Douglas Lumpkin, ODJFS director, said in a press release. “Significant job losses in both the goods-producing and service-providing industries led to an increase in the unemployment rate to 11 .1 percent. The state’s nonfarm wage and salary employment decreased 33,000 over the month, from 5,133,200...

Need a seminary graduate with ministerial experience who is eager to serve as senior pastor of a church with 1,000 members or more? No problem. A posting for such a position can draw anywhere from 50 to 200 applicants, said Don Goehner, president of the Goehner Group, a California-based consulting firm for Christian organizations. But need a senior pastor with the right combination of preaching talent, administrative expertise, and people skills to succeed? Despite a surplus of job seekers posting resumes on websites such as ChurchStaffing.com, finding such a pastor can be extremely difficult, said Goehner, whose firm recently searched...

* New flu virus not connected to H1N1 outbreak * Hogs transmitted virus to workers SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, July 7 (Reuters) - Two farm workers in Western Canada have become infected with a new flu virus, health officials said on Tuesday, stressing the strain was not related to the H1N1 pandemic. The two workers, both employees at a hog barn operation in the province of Saskatchewan, have fully recovered. A third case is under investigation. The new virus contains genes from a seasonal human H1N1 flu strain and a flu virus common in the swine population called triple reassortant H3N2, said...

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. -- A Florida city has written common sense into its employee dress code: Wear underwear to work. The Brooksville city council recently approved a revised dress code as part of its effort to update existing policies. The revision instructs employees to observe "strict personal hygiene," including the use of deodorant. It lists "the observable lack of undergarments and exposed undergarments" as "unacceptable attire." It also prohibits clothing with foul language or messages promoting drug use, "sexually provocative" garments, halter tops and piercings anywhere except the ears. Repeat offenders can be fired. The city council approved the dress code...

In a major legal win for immigrant workers, thousands of California construction workers will start receiving checks April 15 to compensate for unpaid wages and other alleged labor violations committed during California's housing boom. The $8.5 million legal settlement benefits nearly 3,100 former and current workers for several companies that built houses in Southern California, the Central Valley, Central Coast and San Francisco East Bay. A few workers initiated the complaint in 2006 after approaching a Spanish-speaking attorney, but lawyers say the case grew into one of the biggest class-action lawsuits in California involving mostly Latino construction laborers, including some...

DETROIT (AP) -- Many assembly line autoworkers reacted with skepticism and anger Monday to the Obama administration's tough tactics, which stoked long-simmering feelings that the people who put the country on wheels get treated differently than the wizards of Wall Street.

The dynamics of the farm labor population have changed since César Chávez and others began organizing workers in California's fields. In the early 1960s, a guest-worker program that had imported workers from Mexico since the days of World War II was drawing to a close. Those who were left picking crops were largely legal residents or U.S. citizens of Mexican and Filipino descent, along with working-class white and black Americans. “Back then, probably 80 percent were documented, and about 20 percent were undocumented. Today it would be just the reverse,” said Arturo Rodriguez, president of United Farm Workers, the nation's...

Contrary to union leaders’ expectations, the vast majority of workers have no interest in joining a union. A Rasmussen Reports survey finds 81 percent of non-union workers do not want union representation. That compares to just 9 percent of workers who say they do want to join a union. Even among workers whose employers are laying off employees, interest in joining a union is low: Only 9 percent want to be members of a union. The results were based on surveys of 1,000 adults conducted March 13-14. The Rasmussen findings come as proponents of Big Labor prepare to introduce “card...

Paid Parental Leave Urge Senators to Support This First StepAsk your senators to support upcoming legislation to guarantee federal workers four weeks of paid parental leave for a new child, as a first step toward universal paid leave.Action Needed:Providing paid leave to parents is only fair to working families who need to both care for a new family member as well as maintain an income. Most industrialized nations have provided paid parental leave for decades.Paid parental leave for 2.7 million federal workers can be the model that we can work to achieve for the rest of the country. This important...

GM workers just don't get it(video)GM is facing almost sure bankruptcy. UAW members fail to accept any responsibility. They feel they have given "concession after concession" over the last twenty years. This flies in the face of a current contract worth over $70 thousand a year per employee. They feel they have given up everything they can in spite of refusing to take a base wage pay cut during the recent negotiations. The truth is the UAW failed to give any serious concessions in the recent bailout negotiations. They actually blame their fellow Americans for not buying their overpriced, poorly...

I probably should have just listened to Paul Harvey. Though it wasn’t actually Paul Harvey. It was Ron Chapman. And that’s probably the problem. I understand Ron Chapman is a radio legend somewhere, but I don’t live there. So, to me, he’s just an insufferable bore. But I should have been listening anyway. Instead I got an idea. An idea that had been kind of simmering in my head for a week or so. I was trying to think of a way to show that I wasn’t happy. That I was tired of bailouts. That I didn’t want to pay...

The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 prohibits employers from offering workers paid time off as compensation for their overtime work. However, government and other public sector workers have long been privilege to this flexibility. Rep. Cathy McMorris has introduced the Family-Friendly Workplace Act so workers can find a balance between work and family

State law requires individuals (not corporations, LLCs or partnerships) who work as independent contractors in the building construction industry to obtain from the Department of Labor and Industry an Independent Contractor Exemption Certificate (ICEC). For purposes of the state workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, wage and hour, occupational safety and health laws, and state and federal tax withholding, individuals doing residential and commercial construction work without an ICEC will be considered employees of the contractor for whom they are working. These businesses are characterized as contracting, performing work and receiving compensation from another contractor. The ICEC is only required for independent...

While everyone is distracted with the Pelosi Reid Obama artery–choking, cardiac arrest, Pork Barrel Spending Bill, congress is sneaking-ly trying to pass the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. Left-wing environmentalists are behind this bill to purposely undercut current progress toward affordable domestic energy. Essentially they will be stealing 300 million barrels of proven oil and 8.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas from any future use.

Senate approves restriction on foreign hires The Senate voted Friday to restrict the hiring of foreign workers by banks that are receiving government bailout funds while undergoing vast layoffs. The legislation by Sens. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, and Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, would require the banks to seek American workers before turning to foreign nationals when they're hiring. It aims to prevent replacement of Americans by foreigners working under the H-1B visa program, which allows employers to bring in workers for high-skilled and advanced-degree jobs. The measure has a two-year life and if signed into law would apply to the...

“We know from polling that 77 percent of Republicans, 82 Percent of Democrats believe in protecting private ballots,” …. “The difference is, are these federal Senators and Representatives going to stand-up for workers rights in their state, or will they simply be pandering to the unions that gave over $600 million to the left this past cycle.”

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama, commencing face to face consultations with congressional leaders Monday, is embracing an unexpectedly large tax cut of up to $300 billion. Obama said the country faces an "extraordinary economic challenge." Besides $500 tax cuts for most workers and $1,000 for couples, the Obama proposal includes more than $100 billion for businesses, an Obama transition official said. The total value of the tax cuts would be significantly higher than had been signaled earlier.

Farm worker advocates and opponents of illegal immigration are blasting one of President George W. Bush's "midnight regulations" that will make it easier for agricultural employers to hire foreign workers. They say the changes undermine worker protections, exploit immigrants and set wage levels so low that domestic workers cannot compete with foreign workers for jobs. The regulation,which makes changes in the U.S. Labor Department's H-2A Temporary Agriculture Worker Program, allows agricultural employers to hire temporary foreign workers if not enough domestic workers are able or willing to fill farm jobs. The changes also promise to reduce paperwork and make processing...

Farmers would have an easier and cheaper time securing foreign guest workers under pending Bush administration rules. The controversial changes to the so-called H-2A guest-worker program could cut wages and speed worker recruitment. They also would relax requirements for providing foreign workers with housing and transportation. "The Department of Labor is going to weaken oversight and enforcement," Bruce Goldstein, the executive director of the Farmworker Justice Fund, charged Wednesday. A Labor Department spokesman said Wednesday night that the final rules would be made public Thursday and published in the Federal Register on Dec. 18, which means they'd take effect two...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2008 – The Defense Department has launched a year-long pilot program to recruit about 1,000 non-U.S. citizen health care workers and language and cultural specialists for service in America’s military, a senior DoD official said here today. The new program targets people who don’t have “green cards” but do have visas and work permits. Those the military hopes to attract legally live and work in the United States and have capabilities highly valued by the military, Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy, told Pentagon Channel and American Forces Press Service reporters. “These are...

This is old but........We need a chuckle today! Video: Pelosi hired illegal immigrants for Napa Valley vineyard...

Indianapolis - Lines were long and tempers flared Wednesday not to vote but to get paid for canvassing for Barack Obama. Several hundred people are still waiting to get their pay for last-minute campaigning. Police were called to the Obama campaign office on North Meridian Street downtown to control the crowd. The line was long and the crowd was angry at times. "I want my money today! It's my money. I want it right now!" yelled one former campaign worker. A former spokesman for the Obama campaign said 375 people were hired as part of the Vote Corps program and...

The Alliance for Worker Freedom is dedicated to combating anti-worker legislation and promoting free and open labor markets. Their researchers and policy analysts have compiled a matrix that compares the two candidates.

Corporate India is in shock after a mob of workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who sacked them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi. Lalit Kishore Choudhary, 47, the head of the Indian operations of Graziano Transmissioni, a manufacturer of car parts that has its headquarters in Italy, died of severe head wounds on Monday after being attacked by scores of laid-off employees, police said. The incident, in Greater Noida, followed a long-running dispute between the factory’s management and workers demanding better pay and permanent contracts. It is understood that Mr Choudhary, who was married with one...

Corporate India is in shock after a mob of sacked workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who had dismissed them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi. Lalit Kishore Choudhary, 47, the head of the Indian operations of Graziano Transmissioni, an Italian-headquartered manufacturer of car parts, died of severe head wounds on Monday afternoon after being attacked by scores of laid-off employees, police said.

The chief executive of a company in Greater Noida, just outside Delhi, was on Monday beaten to death by a group of dismissed employees inside the office premises after a meeting called to resolve dispute between them and the management failed. L K Chaudhury, the CEO and managing director of Italian electronics company Gradiano, in Udyog Vihar, Greater Noida, was beaten to death by the agitating workers, senior superintendent of police (Noida) R K Chaturvedi said. Chaudhury was rushed to Kailash hospital where he was declared brought dead. About 34 people, all from the company's management, were injured in the...

OMAHA, Neb. — Officials at a meatpacking plant in Grand Island fired at least 86 workers Friday after they walked off the job amid a dispute over prayers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the company said. However, a Muslim leader and one of the fired workers disputed the plant's numbers, saying 150 people had lost their jobs at the JBS Swift & Co. facility, which employs about 2,500 people, not including management. About a fifth of them are Muslim. JBS Swift spokeswoman Tamara Smid, who confirmed 86 firings late Friday, said the action was taken against employees who...

Or 20 reasons why Pelosi and gang need to be “booted”.

DULLES, Va. - Forty-two men in the U.S. illegally have been rounded up and arrested at Dulles International Airport. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested the illegal aliens Wednesday morning on airport grounds at a checkpoint established to verify the identity and immigration status of workers entering a service gate. Most of the men were working construction projects at the airport. Mark McGraw, special agent in charge of ICE's Washington field office, says it's important Homeland Security knows who enters sensitive areas like airports, military bases and power plants. "This operation illustrates ICE's ongoing efforts in partnership with federal...

JAKARTA - A new report on the abuse of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia cites the case of an Indonesian woman, Nour Miyati, who had her fingers and toes amputated as a result of being starved and beaten on a daily basis. Her case, tried in a Riyadh court, was later dropped. The case, according to the report released yesterday in Jakarta by Human Rights Watch, is hardly unique: the study found that thousands of domestic workers in Saudi Arabia each year face similar abuses, including lashings, unpaid wages, forced labor, and slavery-like conditions. "In the best cases, migrant women...

SAN DIEGO - An apparent blast rocked a Hilton hotel under construction today and a fire official said a dozen workers were injured. Two of the injured were in critical condition, eight had serious injuries and two had minor injuries, said fire spokesman Maurice Luque. Injuries ranged from burns to impacts of flying debris, he said. However, the building did not burn, he said. About four lower floors of the waterfront skyscraper near the San Diego Convention Center showed serious damage and debris littered a driveway beneath the area.