There is certainly truth to the idea that there may be something wrong with the fact that 26 of the world’s richest men have more combined wealth than the poorest 3.8 billion people. Likewise, according to a report from the Economic Policy Institute, the average CEO pay is about 280 times the nearly $58,000 annual average pay of the typical American worker. In 1965, according to the same report, the income disparity ratio was 20.2 times.
Business Mirror
January 23, 2020
A March 2019 report from the Economic Policy Institute says that “evidence suggests that the presence of Airbnb raises local housing costs” in American cities. With more tourists staying there, the very essence of a neighborhood may be lost, says Justin Francis, chief executive of Responsible Travel, an activist travel company. Local services such as a dentist’s office or a small grocery store move out and are replaced by businesses serving tourists.
The Washington Post
January 23, 2020
“The lack of an increase in union membership points to the fact that there are still so many barriers to organizing,” said Heidi Shierholz, the director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute. “When people try to organize at their workplace there is just a relentless, fierce opposition on the part of employers.”
The Washington Post
January 23, 2020
“The meaningful decline in the union membership rate among local government workers (from 40.3% to 39.4%) might suggest Janus is having its intended effect,” said Economic Policy Institute labor analyst Heidi Shierholz, a former Labor Department economist during the Obama administration. Other data, such as state worker unionization, shows a slight uptick to 29.4%, up from 28.6% last year, she noted, suggesting that the ruling spurred unions to put renewed effort into organizing.
Washington Examiner
January 23, 2020
Conseguir el derecho a pertenecer o formar un sindicato se ha complicado para muchos trabajadores que se emplean en grandes firmas. Algunas asociaciones tratan de cubrir el espacio pero no tienen capacidad para convocar una negociación de contrato o presionar con la misma eficacia por una mejora de las condiciones laborales. Economistas del Economic Policy Institute ligan la caída de la afiliación sindical a un mayor aumento en la desigualdades económicas que se viven.
El Diario
January 23, 2020
“Despite this attack on unions, we’ve seen a surge of strikes in the last two years, showing that workers understand the importance of joining together with their coworkers to demand better wages and working conditions,” Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the liberal Economic Policy Institute think tank, said in a statement Wednesday.
U.S. News
January 23, 2020
In a paper analyzing the BLS numbers, Heidi Shierholz, senior economist for the Washington-based Economic Policy Institute, a labor think tank, suggested that “the erosion of union coverage is not because workers don’t want unions anymore — survey data show a higher share of nonunion workers today say they would vote for a union than was the case 40 years ago,” she wrote.
Rather, she contended, the drop is the result of “fierce corporate opposition” and weak federal penalties for intimidating and firing pro-union employees. “It is now standard for employers to hire union avoidance consultants to coordinate intense anti-union campaigns,” she added, citing an EPI study estimating corporate spending of $340 million per year on union avoidance.
Los Angeles Times
January 23, 2020
What they’re saying: “The share of workers covered by a union contract is well less than half of what it was 40 years ago — caused in large part by fierce corporate opposition spending millions of dollars on anti-union campaigns and lobbying the government to weaken labor laws,” Heidi Shierholz, director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, writes in a note.
- “Despite this attack on unions, we’ve seen a surge of strikes in the last two years, showing that workers understand the importance of joining together with their coworkers to demand better wages and working conditions.”
Axios
January 23, 2020
Black children and teens are more likely to experience poverty and toxic stress associated with being financially unstable, according to the Economic Policy Institute. This creates an unavoidable childhood trauma that physically, mentally and emotionally harms these children as they grow into teenagers and young adults.
IDS Money
January 22, 2020
“The Trump administration rule is very, very weak,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute. “It is palatable to people who don’t want workers to have overtime protections.”
Estrella Independent
January 22, 2020