The workers
suing McDonald's for racist harassment and firings speak out in the video above;
meanwhile:
McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson, one of just seven African-American chief executives among the Fortune 500 companies, is stepping down less than three years after rising to the top job.
Thompson’s exit is being widely blamed on the company’s weak financial performance under his stewardship. But McDonald’s next CEO will also face numerous public relations problems, widespread labor unrest, and legal threats to its business model.
Here's to workers continuing to give the next CEO hell right up until McDonald's changes its terrible labor practices.
Continue reading below the fold for more of the week's labor and education news.
A fair day's wage
- Judge rules truck drivers at one company at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are employees, not independent contractors, and seven drivers are getting $2 million in damages between them. That should strike a blow at wage theft in this abusive industry.
- Another way for California to lead the way?
While football fans are getting ready for the Super Bowl this weekend, California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) has turned her attention to the women on the sidelines. Gonzalez, a former cheerleader and labor leader, introduced a bill today that would require California's professional sports teams to classify cheerleaders as employees, thus forcing teams to provide minimum wage, paid overtime, and workers compensation.
- Tacoma, Washington, has become the latest city to pass paid sick leave.
- A group of economists calls on the Labor Department to expand overtime protections to a salary threshold around $50,000.
- Here's a way to think about Marshawn Lynch:
Lynch may be alone in his actions at the moment, but it seems fairly clear that in following the letter of the NFL's law — showing up to the press conference, and verbalizing an answer to a question — he's demonstrating that he, not Roger Goodell or anyone else, controls the conditions of his labor.
- Nurses at Kaiser Permanente in California have a new contract, one for which they fought hard.
- This is scary:
A lawsuit brought on behalf of American Airlines mechanics by Transport Workers Union Local 591 claims that supervisors pressured mechanics to release planes before they were safe to fly. The lawsuit also claims that the airline threatened union officials with termination and arrest when they raised objections.
- No, cutting the duration of unemployment benefits did not lead to faster job growth in 2014.
- The fast food industry could raise wages to $15 without cutting jobs or other disaster.
- Yet another woman comes forward with a story of pregnancy discrimination. Jamie Cole was forced onto unpaid leave when her employer wouldn't let her work with any kind of lifting restriction, even though her job didn't involve much lifting. The Supreme Court is currently considering a similar case.
Education