Crashing Davos
Jeff Faux | TomPaine.com
The world's rich and powerful are heading this week to their annual meeting in the plush mountain resort of Davos, Switzerland. There may be some bad new ahead for Davos. After a quarter of a century, the world is beginning to resist policies that have shifted wealth and power away from people who work for a living to those who invest. Perhaps more important, Davos' chief champion--the U.S. governing class--is in trouble. The erosion of the American social contract--already being reflected in stagnant wages, financial insecurity and [a] collapsing health care system--could soon force the governing class to pay more attention to Bloomington, Ill., than to  Baghdad, Iraq. The question is, as always, who sets the rules and in whose interests? Read the full story. |
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More stories for January 27, 2006:
Workplace culture clash
Discrimination suit ordered back to Circuit Court for trial
Toussaint rejects the M.T.A.'s latest contract proposal
Sign or stigma? You decide
Job growth seen cooling in major metro areas
Thursday's most popular story:
Vanquishing the American Dream
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| | | Workplace culture clash
Tory Johnson | ABC News
Much like gender, race, ethnicity and sexuality, a generational identity distinguishes each of us. Because four generations are now working together, companies are starting to amend their diversity training practices to include generational differences for the purposes of creating a more inclusive, tolerant workplace. Here's an overview of the generations, and their workplace values and attitudes. Since we're now seeing all these diverse ages and approaches in the same office, both employers and workers must handle these fundamental differences. Read the full story. | | | | Discrimination suit ordered back to Circuit Court for trial
Curtis Lum | Honolulu Advertiser
The Hawai'i Supreme Court has ordered that a discrimination lawsuit be sent back to Circuit Court for a new trial in a ruling that puts in question the authority of a state commission that investigates complaints of discriminatory practices. In the ruling, the justices said that [the employer's] constitutional right to have a jury determine damages was violated by the lower court. The Supreme Court said an employer who appeals a final order by the commission is entitled to a jury trial. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Simeon Acoba said, "It makes it pointless to do a hearing before the Civil Rights Commission. No employee would ever do that because if you win you have to start all over. But if you lose, you can't do that." Read the full story. | | | | Toussaint rejects the M.T.A.'s latest contract proposal
Sewell Chan | New York Times
The leader of the New York City transit workers' union last night rejected the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's latest contract proposal--one that is harsher than the settlement his members rejected last week--but said he still hoped to arrive at a new settlement rather than submit to binding arbitration, as the authority has urged. "We're not talking about a new strike," said Roger Toussaint, president of Local 100 of the Transport Workers Union. "We're saying that we want a negotiated settlement, not one imposed through arbitration." Mr. Toussaint acknowledged that the strike of Dec. 20-22, and the narrow rejection last week of the settlement he reached with the authority, may have cost the union public support. Read the full story. | | | | Sign or stigma? You decide
Jennifer Byrne | Philadelphia Inquirer
The Dog, at the end of this month, will unseat the Rooster as the [Chinese] zodiac animal of 2006. Chinese tradition portends bad luck for people in the year of their zodiac animal. Some Chinese companies have started passing over Dog job candidates to "ward off the bad luck associated with their sign." I would have to say job discrimination based on astrological sign certainly qualifies as bad luck. Apparently Chinese hiring practices are overdue for a revamping anyway. Until 2004, women applying for government jobs in Hunan province were required to show they had symmetrically shaped breasts. This led to an understandable uproar and was squashed, but it shed light on the need for greater protection against workplace discrimination. Read the full story. | | | | Job growth seen cooling in major metro areas
Reuters | MSNBC.com
A new study forecast that "gross metro product"--the economic output of the nation's 361 metropolitan statistical areas--will grow 3.3% this year compared to 3.7% in 2005. The study found that by the end of 2005, 244 of the 361 metropolitan areas had regained all of their job losses since 2000, just before the most recent recession hit. While cities may be making up job numbers, the positions are not necessarily paying as much as those lost. The study found that the average annual wage of the top 10 job-losing sectors in 2001-2003 was $43,629, but wages averaged only $34,378 in the top 10 job-gaining sectors in the 2003-2005 period. Read the full story. |
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