• Dispelling the Stereotypes About California’s Low-Wage Workers

    Contrary to common beliefs, many Californians in low-wage jobs are in the later stages of their work lives. They also play a crucial role in taking care of the state’s aging population.

  • California fast-food workers’ minimum wage win stirs up old economic debate

    Business groups claim hard-fought $20 hourly wage victory will cause reduced hours, layoffs and price hikes – critics say otherwiseAs fast-food workers celebrated a pivotal wage increase to $20 an hour in California last week, an old economic debate was awakened by business groups and others claiming the increase will wind up hurting workers through reduced hours and layoffs, hurt customers with price hikes, and harm the franchise owners of fast-food restaurants.Their critics are not so sure....

  • ‘Democratic deficit’: Low wages, high costs and distance make voting difficult for migrant workers

    The government has taken little initiative to collect data on such workers, which could have helped towards drafting a remote voting proposal.

    • WNYC

    The subminimum wage for tipped workers is on the table

    As more cities and states debate abolishing subminimum wages for tipped workers, we’re keeping an eye on Washington, D.C., where the tip credit system is being phased out. Though food service staff shrunk last year, some current servers say their paychecks are much more stable. Plus, corporate defaults climb and the cost of Asian imports falls as the cost of goods from Mexico increases.

  • DeSantis signs worker wage, heat bill

    Tallahassee - Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a controversial bill that will prevent local governments from imposing wage requirements on contractors and requiring heat-exposure protections for workers.

  • The highs and lows of an It-shoe: how Adidas Sambas took over the world

    Rishi Sunak may have rendered them uncool this week, but the trainer has risen to ubiquity in the past few years. So what is it about this fairly simple design that is so widely loved?On the train from Peckham in south London to Dalston in east London the other day, it became hard to ignore: everywhere I looked were Adidas Sambas. White ones. Black ones. Those Wales Bonner ones with the pony fur and leopard print. Little silver ones. Black leather ones with studs.The humble Adidas Samba, once...

    • DW

    Greek journalists launch 24-hour strike over low wages

    Greek radio and television carried no news and internet portals did not update their websites on Wednesday, as journalists staged a mass walkout to protest low salaries against the backdrop of higher living costs.

  • Rising rents eating up low-income worker pay gains

    Low-income households are forking out more than half of their income on rent, analysis shows. Property data firm CoreLogic and ANZ bank found rents at the lower end of the market were rising faster than more premium offerings, with the 25th percentile rent lifting $53 a week in the past 12 months. The Housing Affordability […]

  • Washington state’s economic outlook continues to worsen, report says

    (The Center Square) – Washington remained in the lower half of U.S. states in terms of economic outlook, according to a new report that faults the Evergreen State’s high tax burden and rising labor costs for the state’s No. 37 ranking. That’s a drop of three spots from last year’s No. 34 ranking. The American Legislative Exchange Council released the 17th edition of its “Rich States, Poor States” report Tuesday. The report ranks states based on “economic outlook”...

    • SFGate

    Meta’s cafeteria workers protest over wages at San Francisco office

    Dozens of workers who make and serve food for Meta employees picketed the tech giant’s San Francisco office on Thursday, part of a push for a new union contract with culinary service provider Flagship. Cooks, servers and dishwashers wielded noisemakers and signs with messages like, “One job should be enough,” outside Meta’s office at 250 Howard Street in SoMa. Though the workers receive considerably less attention than Instagram and Facebook executives, they provide a mainstay perk for...

  • Letters to the Editor: California shouldn't bestow higher minimum wages on select workers

    To the editor: Reasonable minimum-wage laws are an appropriate and necessary facet of life in modern society. ("Fast-food wage hike puts Democrats on defense as Californians worry about cost of living," April 3) Higher than standard minimum wages for specific jobs and industries, however, should be viewed with suspicion, especially when they can be tied to the outsize influence that certain powerful labor unions, such as the Service Employees International Union, enjoy in the California...

  • California's $20 minimum wage is official. Now some fast-food workers say their hours are being cut

    Laura Reyes was in the middle of her shift as a cook at Burger King in San Jose, when she started feeling a sharp pain in her abdomen and lower back. As the day went on, Reyes started bleeding, and the pain became so severe that she felt like she might die. She had asked more than once if she could leave work, but her managers would not allow it. “I was really worried,” she told Fast Company through a translator. “In that moment, I didn’t know I was pregnant.” Reyes later found out that it...