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Showing posts with the label conditions

Farmworkers lead 5-day march to pressure companies on wages, work conditions

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Farmworkers were leading a five-day, 45-mile (72-kilometer) trek on foot this week from one of the poorest communities in Florida to a mansion-lined, oceanfront town that is one of the richest in an effort to pressure retailers to leverage their purchasing power for better worker pay and working conditions. The farm worker s said they were march ing to highlight the Fair Food Program, which has enlisted companies like McDonald’s, Walmart, Taco Bell and Whole Foods to use their clout with growers to ensure better working conditions and wages for farm worker s. They hoped to use the march to pressure other companies , like Publix, Wendy’s and Kroger, to join the program that started in 2011. The march began Tuesday from the farming community of Pahokee, one of the poorest in Florida, where the median household income is around $30,000. The march’s launching point was a camp where farmworkers were coerced into working for barely any pay by a labor contractor who was convicted and sen...

Thousands of workers at 15 U.S. airports plan rallies and strikes in support of better working conditions

Airport workers across the country are rallying and walking off the job Thursday to draw attention to their current working conditions and legislation that could improve them. Workers at 15 U.S. airports, including ones in Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City and Phoenix, plan to participate in on-site rallies. Formal strikes — which could disrupt operations — are planned at Boston's Logan International Airport, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and the Newark Liberty International Airport. The actions are expected to take place throughout the day and will see cabin cleaners, baggage handlers, janitors, security guards, wheelchair attendants and others participate. “Airport workers like me and working people all across the economy are fed up,” Verna Montalvo, a cabin cleaner at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, said in a statement provided by the Service Employees International Union, which is planning the action. The rallies are in support of the Good Job...