The deal would also bring economic pain for workers, according to merger opponents. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has estimated that if the acquisition is completed, roughly 746,000 grocery store workers in over 50 metropolitan areas of the U.S. would see their annual earnings fall by a combined $334 million.
“Workers’ ability to negotiate better pay and working conditions rests on their capacity to switch jobs,” EPI senior economist Ben Zipperer explained in a 2023 memo. “By decreasing the number of outside options available to workers, the merger will limit competition for hiring and retaining employees, and grocery store worker earnings will fall as a result.”
Common Dreams
March 1, 2024
The bureau reported that a total of 458,900 U.S. workers went on 33 major work stoppages last year.
That was an increase of 280% from 2022, when 120,600 workers were involved in 23 stoppages in total, according to the Economic Policy Institute, and was a return to pre-pandemic levels.
Sacramento Bee
March 1, 2024
Indiana House and Senate Republicans are passing new legislation to undo child labor protections. Senate Bill 146 and House Bill 1093 soon will head to Gov. Eric Holcomb for his signature.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the trend reflects a coordinated multi-industry push to expand employer access to low-wage labor and weaken state child labor laws; the aim is to rewrite federal child labor laws and other worker protections for the U.S.
Indy Star
March 1, 2024
However, a study from the pro-union Economic Policy Institute found that employers were charged with violating federal law, by using intimidation or threats, in 41.5% of cases between 2016 and 2017 when a company required a secret election. For organizing campaigns with more than 60 employees, that rate jumped to 54.4% of companies.
Atlanta Journal Constitution
March 1, 2024
Cites EPI data on “Big Three” profits and declining real pay for auto workers before the strike.
“From Hollywood actors and writers, to hotel and hospital workers, even neighborhood baristas, last year’s labor protests were like a dam bursting. From 2021 to 2023 the Big Three automakers made more than $100 billion in profits (according to the Economic Policy Institute), while average auto worker pay has fallen nearly twenty percent from pre-recession levels.”
CBS Sunday Morning
March 1, 2024
Monique Morrissey, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, says that not being financially secure is likely the bigger factor in why we’re seeing more older people work for longer. In 2022, according to the Survey of Consumer Finances, almost 43 percent of people between 55 and 64 didn’t have a retirement savings account. In just the past few years, there has been a spate of viral headlines about older Americans continuing to work difficult jobs out of necessity — like an 82-year-old man working as a Walmart cashier until a GoFundMe raised $100,000, or the 89-year-old man who delivered pizza to pay his bills until he, too, received $20,000 thanks to a fundraising campaign.
“It is really very much a tale of two types of older workers,” says Morrissey. “Half have it good and half have it bad.”
VOX
March 1, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute says the average Minnesota family with an infant and a 4-year-old is spending more than 37% of their income on child care. Some lawmakers are hoping state scholarships are a solution.
FOX 9 KMSP
March 1, 2024
As the Economic Policy Institute notes, “enforcement of this requirement is fraught with problems, and evidence suggests that tipped workers are subject to high rates of wage theft” across the country.
Current Affairs
March 1, 2024
She said according to the Economic Policy Institute, Oklahoma has a 32% gap between what teachers and other professionals with a bachelor’s degree are paid.
Stillwater News Press
March 1, 2024
Living Wage for US was launched in November 2021 to create a “internationally comparable and locally specific” living wage certification program.
Based on data from the Economic Policy Institute, Living Wage for US considers the cost of housing, food, transportation, health insurance, out-of-pocket health care costs and retirement to come up with its living wage rate. Certain benefits, such as health care, retirement or child care, are considered when tailoring a specific rate for each employer seeking certification.
Mountain Xpress
March 1, 2024
Features interview with Nina Mast on child labor.
Free Speech TV
March 1, 2024
Cites EPI’s child care calculator.
Investopedia
February 26, 2024
Snce the Kroger-Albertsons merger was first announced in 2022, consumer advocates, unions and lawmakers have urged the FTC to investigate the proposed deal and take action to protect consumers and the company’s workers.
The deal could cost workers a total of $334 million each year, an average of $450 per employee, according to a May 2023 policy brief by the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning, pro-union think tank.
The Hill
February 26, 2024
The deal would also bring economic pain for workers, according to merger opponents. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) has estimated that if the acquisition is completed, roughly 746,000 grocery store workers in over 50 metropolitan areas of the U.S. would see their annual earnings fall by a combined $334 million.
“Workers’ ability to negotiate better pay and working conditions rests on their capacity to switch jobs,” EPI senior economist Ben Zipperer explained in a 2023 memo. “By decreasing the number of outside options available to workers, the merger will limit competition for hiring and retaining employees, and grocery store worker earnings will fall as a result.”
Common Dreams
February 26, 2024
At least seven other states have introduced similar bills in the past two years, according to Daniel Perez, an analyst who’s been tracking the issue for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which supports the policy. These include California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Maryland bill was unveiled just last month.
“It seems like a groundswell moment,” Perez said.
Huffpost
February 23, 2024
Features interview with Nina Mast on child labor.
Free Speech TV
February 23, 2024
At least seven other states have introduced similar bills in the past two years, according to Daniel Perez, an analyst who’s been tracking the issue for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which supports the policy. These include California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Maryland bill was unveiled just last month.
“It seems like a groundswell moment,” Perez said.
Huffpost
February 23, 2024
Features interview with Nina Mast on child labor.
Free Speech TV
February 23, 2024
At least seven other states have introduced similar bills in the past two years, according to Daniel Perez, an analyst who’s been tracking the issue for the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which supports the policy. These include California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The Maryland bill was unveiled just last month.
“It seems like a groundswell moment,” Perez said.
Huffpost
February 23, 2024
Features interview with Nina Mast on child labor.
Free Speech TV
February 23, 2024
According to the Economic Policy Institute, the number of bus drivers in the country is down 15% from 2019.
KWQC
February 23, 2024
Support has grown across the United States recently for legislation banning race-based discrimination on hair, specifically textures or styles associated with a particular race or national origin. Texas is one of 24 states to have passed a law banning such discrimination, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Texas passed its law in May 2023.
Reuters
February 23, 2024
Access also varies depending on where in the country you live. Due to state laws, nearly 94% of workers in California, Oregon and Washington have paid sick leave according to the Economic Policy Institute, compared with less than two-thirds of workers in the South.
Bloomberg
February 23, 2024
The name is an acronym for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair and it prohibits discrimination against a hair texture or protective hairstyle commonly or historically associated with race. There were 24 states with such laws as of July 2023, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
NBC Washington
February 23, 2024
Fortune
February 23, 2024
It all made for compelling headlines. And those headlines masked a frustrating truth for organizers: Good news notwithstanding, the unionization rate in the U.S. fell once again in 2023.
That’s according to a report released last month by the Washington, D.C.-based Economic Policy Institute, which closely tracks union activity and analyzes data provided by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. As the report’s authors noted, the surge in labor activity last year didn’t produce greater union representation — at least, not yet.
Capital & Main
February 23, 2024
As of July 2023, more than 20 states have enacted legislation to combat race-based discrimination against hair texture and protective hairstyles, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
CNN
February 23, 2024
The Economic Policy Institute analyzed childcare costs by county and found that the average cost of childcare across the state of Georgia, the data was compiled from the statistics published by the U.S. Department of Labor’s National Database of Childcare Prices.
WSB-TV
February 23, 2024