According to the Washington Post, the U.S. Postal Service violated federal law by pressuring managers to approve employees’ requests for time off last year to campaign for Hilary Clinton. While federal workers can use their time to off to campaign or donate to candidates, by directing managers to approve the time off even though they may be understaffed, the Postal Service showed a workplace bias toward Clinton and other Democrats endorsed by the union. Some of these facts came to light at a recent legislative hearing, and the union responded it would submit its own statement to the House Committee to “address the legitimacy and accuracy of some of the data and statements from the investigation and the hearing.”
According to research from Ball State University’s Center for Business and Economic Research, 25% of American jobs are at risk of being outsourced and 50% could be replaced by automation. The research found the most replaceable jobs are often the lowest-paying, and the Americans most at risk of automation earned an average of $38,000 per year. Conversely, there was no clear relationship between income level and jobs most likely to be outsourced. The researchers predicted these job losses would cause “social and political unease.”
According to research from the BBC, only 1/3 of the BBC’s top-paid stars are women and a much smaller fraction are minority. The research showed that the top-paid male TV personalities earn more than the top-paid female TV personalities. While the BBC argues it is more diverse than other broadcasting channels, some Members of Parliament disagree and argue the BBC is still “an old boys network.”
Daily News & Commentary
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March 13
Republican Senators urge changes on OSHA heat standard; OpenAI and building trades announce partnership on data center construction; forced labor investigations could lead to new tariffs
March 12
EPA terminates contract with second-largest union; Florida advances bill restricting public sector unions; Trump administration seeks Supreme Court assistance in TPS termination.
March 11
The partial government shutdown results in TSA agents losing their first full paycheck; the Fifth Circuit upholds the certification of a class of former United Airline workers who were placed on unpaid leave for declining to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons during the pandemic; and an academic group files a lawsuit against the State Department over a policy that revokes and denies visas to noncitizens for their work in fact-checking and content moderation.
March 10
Court rules Kari Lake unlawfully led USAGM, voiding mass layoffs; Florida Senate passes bill tightening union recertification rules; Fifth Circuit revives whistleblower suit against Lockheed Martin.
March 9
6th Circuit rejects Cemex, Board may overrule precedents with two members.
March 8
In today’s news and commentary, a weak jobs report, the NIH decides it will no longer recognize a research fellows’ union, and WNBA contract talks continue to stall as season approaches. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that employers cut 92,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.4 percent. A loss […]