Companies Choose Shared-Work Program Over Layoffs
Instead of laying a few people off during a downturn in business, companies can choose to decrease the hours of all of their employees, and government provided, partial unemployment benefits can help make up for the rest. In Connecticut, more than 500 companies have gone the work-share route. Correspondant Melinda Tuhus has more.
Venezuela: Is the Bolivarian Revolution Working?
Venezuela is undergoing a modern day revolution. Workers, small farmers and the poor consistently vote for socialist President Hugo Chavez. Economically better-off citizens denounce the president as a communist who is destroying the country, but even some on the left criticize Chavez.
Lessons from Latin America
We hear from activists and experts who say the U.S. can learn a lot from social movements in Latin America.
Immigrant Families Behind Bars (encore)
In a special collaboration with Feet in Two Worlds, we hear about an immigrant family torn apart after an immigration raid in Arizona. Also, grassroots efforts help change policies at a detention center in Texas.
Working Beyond Unions
It’s been decades since the U.S. has had a powerful labor movement and recent efforts to revive it have mostly fallen flat. But there is hope for a new labor movement that goes beyond the unions.
The Road to Detroit: US Social Forum 2010
This June, the US Social Forum will be held in Detroit, Michigan. We look at how Domestic Workers got organized at the last US Social Forum and we ask, what can we learn from the fall and rise of one of America’s great industrial cities?
Immigration Reforms:
How a Broken System Breaks Communities
We go to two communities sorting through the aftermath of Bush-era federal immigration raids, and to Los Angeles, where American Apparel became the first test case of the Obama administration’s new approach to workplace hiring violations.
Obamas New Immigration Policy Forces Massive Layoff at American Apparel
Instead of facing huge fines for employing undocumented workers, American Apparel laid of its immigrant workforce. On the surface, this might seem like a more humane approach. In a collaboration with Spot.Us Patrick Burke reports from L.A.; where for the community at large, the result may not be that much different from the Bush-era raids.
Immigrant Families Behind Bars
In a special collaboration with Feet in Two Worlds, we hear about an immigrant family torn apart after an immigration raid in Arizona. Also, grassroots efforts help change policies at a detention center in Texas.
Still Looking for the Union Label
In a special collaboration with “Public Eye Magazine,” correspondent Abby Scher takes a look at the EFCA. We also hear from Amy Dean, a longtime union leader who talks about the future of labor unions and tells us what’s up with all the current infighting.
