Campaign Action
● Now that Sarah Huckabee Sanders is in a position to sign laws, as Arkansas governor she signed a measure loosening child labor protections. Specifically, children under 16 won’t have to get parental permission or an employment certificate from the state Division of Labor, basically making it easier for employers to exploit kids without any adult oversight. But don’t worry! According to a spokesperson, “All child labor laws that actually protect children still apply and we expect businesses to comply just as they are required to do now.”
● And it’s a trend. Ohio is also considering loosening child labor laws.
● Sen. Elizabeth Warren forcefully challenged Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over the likely effects of the Fed’s current policy of raising unemployment to combat inflation:
Senator Warren: There’s been 12 times that we’ve seen a one-point increase in the unemployment rate in a year — that's exactly what your Fed report has put out as the projection. And the plan based on how you're going to keep raising these interest rates. How many times did the economy fail to fall into a recession after doing that out of 12 times?
ChaIr Powell: I think the number is zero.
Senator Warren: I think the number is zero, that's exactly right. So, then the question becomes, we have two million people out of work. Can you stop it at two million people?
● Striking graduate student workers at Temple University have announced a tentative agreement that they say includes significant advances on their four core demands.
● In Connecticut:
A labor arbitrator has ordered $45.4 million in bonuses for 36,000 essential state employees, about $1,200 per worker, to recognize the risks they faced staffing essential services, with no vaccine protection, during the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.
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