Steph's blog

Striking warehouse workers from Shaw’s Supermarkets stepped up their campaign yesterday with an action at State Street Bank, the third largest shareholder of Supervalu, Shaw’s parent company. The 310 warehouse workers have been on strike since March 7 after the company demanded major concessions in contract negotiations, including drastic wage and benefit cuts.

The workers, members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 791, began a 60-mile march on May 23 from their warehouse in Methuen, Mass., to a rally at the state House in Boston.

A new coalition of labor and community organizations is fighting for equitable development in the Bronx.

In NYC, development all too often means displacement, as new construction projects push out residents and local businesses to create luxury condos or shopping centers that pay poverty wages.

While it might be surprising to some that sweatshops still exist in the USA in 2009, low-income immigrant workers around the country are all too familiar with the grim reality of long hours, illegally low pay, and abuse from management. While Brandworkers’ Focus on the Food Chain initiative challenges sweatshop conditions in the food industry, our friends at the Ain't I a Woman?! campaign are taking on the garment industry.

While the federal minimum wage increased to $7.25 per hour last week, the minimum wage for tipped employees remains the same. Since 1991, the minimum hourly wage for tipped work has been just $2.13.