Women make up an overwhelming majority of the customer service workers in the U.S. who work for low pay and zero benefits. Why are these jobs so gendered? And how can we be better customers for the women who work them?
Government
“Cover Up”: House Democrats Subpoena Documents That NLRB Refused to Share in Ethics Investigation
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A committee chair is ratcheting up a fight over an investigation into potential conflicts of interests in the NLRB’s repeated efforts to undo an Obama-era rule that expanded liability for corporations like McDonald’s.
Investigative
Temp Workers Fight Back Against Alleged Sexual Harassment and Say They Face Retaliation for Doing So
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The Illinois attorney general announced that he reached a settlement with the company that calls for an independent monitor to protect the workers.
COVID-19
Meatpacking Companies Dismissed Years of Warnings but Now Say Nobody Could Have Prepared for COVID-19
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In documents dating to 2006, government officials predicted that a pandemic would threaten critical businesses and warned them to prepare. Meatpacking companies largely ignored them, and now nearly every one of the predictions has come true.
Investigative
While Covid-19 Upends Supply Chains, Farms That Sell Locally Thrive
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“That is the gift of the local system, that it’s so much more resilient than the big industrial system,” said Margot McMillen, a small-scale organic vegetable and beef farmer in Missouri.
COVID-19
Nobody Accurately Tracks Health Care Workers Lost to COVID-19. So She Stays Up At Night Cataloging the Dead
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Anesthesiologist Claire Rezba started tracking lost health workers almost instinctively. Researchers and industry professionals say the lack of good official data on these deaths is “scandalous” and is putting lives in danger.
Investigative
How the Trump Administration Allowed Aviation Companies to Keep Relief Money That Was Supposed to Go to Workers
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One of the most generous programs of the bailout was meant to help airline industry companies keep their workers on the payroll. Some laid workers off first and then got the money anyway.
COVID-19
The Airline Bailout Loophole: Companies Laid Off Workers, Then Got Money Meant to Prevent Layoffs
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Three companies including Gate Gourmet, a global provider of airline meals, received $338 million in relief money for workers — and laid workers off anyway.
COVID-19
Nike Turned Away a Public Health Official From Its Warehouse Days After a Worker With COVID-19 Died
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The Health Department received a complaint that a Nike warehouse wasn’t being cleaned thoroughly or allowing for social distancing. Its inspector wasn’t allowed inside. Twenty-one workers have tested positive for COVID-19 at Nike’s Memphis locations.
Investigative
Nearing Bankruptcy, Sears Claimed Fast-Food Workers and Baristas as Employees to Keep Tax Breaks
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Politicians who helped draft Sears’ tax deals said they were designed to retain thousands of corporate jobs. Contractors, landscapers and temporary employees who worked in Sears’ buildings were never meant to help the company qualify for tax breaks.
COVID-19
New Website Documents Accountability Track Records of CARES Act Recipients
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The data collected shows that at least 16 of those corporations pay their workers less than the national median household income level. Five pay wages so low they fall below the poverty line for a family of four.