Labor unions and their supporters have argued that the decline has hurt workers. Unions are often seen as being critical to advancing workplace rights and protections on behalf of workers. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found in a 2016 report that the decline has even resulted in lower wages for nonunion workers.
Inside Sources
January 22, 2018
The Economic Policy Institute, a progressive think tank, tracked the rate of union membership versus the share of income going to the top 10 percent of workers over the past 100 years. The trends are essentially mirror images of each other: When union membership rose, the richest households saw their share of national income decline. But in the era of falling union membership, the richest have captured an ever-larger slice of the income pie. (Includes union membership v top 10 income chart)
The Washington Post
January 22, 2018
Janelle Jones, an analyst with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, agrees. “These are the results of good previous policy that lead to economic growth,” she told Vox. “The recovery of employment was happening long before Trump got into office.” Still, while black unemployment has certainly fallen, at 6.8 percent, the unemployment rate for black Americans remains higher than that of both the overall population and other racial groups, and is almost double that of whites. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures that Trump cites, overall unemployment is 4.1 percent, while the unemployment rate for whites is 3.7 percent and Hispanics 4.9 percent. (Janelle quoted throughout)
VOX
January 19, 2018
Analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, suggests that women and hispanic workers have the most to lose from the DOL’s tip-pooling rule. The EPI estimates tipped workers would lose $5.8 billion in tips to employers if the rule passes, and nearly 80% of that loss would fall on female staff. (Replica race/ethnicity chart too)
Quartz
January 19, 2018
If you work in the service industry and think you’re going to get all your tip money, think again — especially if you’re a woman. A new report by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank, found that a potential new Trump administration rule that’s being called “tip stealing” could hurt women more than anyone else. “Because women are both more likely to be tipped workers and to earn lower wages, this rule would disproportionately harm them,” the Economic Policy Institute states. (EPI cited throughout)
Bustle
January 19, 2018
Analysts at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) say this proposed rule shifts ownership of tips from employees to employers, without any restrictions on what they can do with the money. “The proposed rule does not require employers to distribute the tips,” EPI reports, “so employers would be no more likely to share tips with back-of-the-house workers than they would to make any other choice about what to do with a business windfall.”
The Post and Courier
January 19, 2018
The Trump administration’s proposed change to tipping would cost workers $5.8 billion a year and overwhelmingly affect women, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute. The public comment period ends in three weeks. As women’s marches take place across the United States this Saturday, time is running out to put in your two cents about a rule proposed by the Trump administration that a new report says could cost female workers $4.6 billion dollars in tips a year. The Department of Labor wants to rescind Obama-era rules that barred employers from seizing their workers’ tips. Researchers at the Economic Policy Institute found that the change could cost tipped workers overall $5.8 billion dollars a year. Study co-author Heidi Shierholz said women would take 80 percent of the hit.’ (whole story)
CBS News Las Vegas
January 19, 2018
Graduate students across the country are fighting for the right to collective bargaining. Hear students from Columbia University tell how they succeeded. Also, listen as Baltimore Teachers Union President Marietta English shares the teachers’ perspective on this month’s big chill at BCPS. (Interview with Marni)
WOLB
January 19, 2018
In December, the Department of Labor proposed a rule that would rescind portions of tip regulations, allowing employers who pay the minimum wage to take workers’ tips. According to Economic Policy Institute research, tipped workers would lose $5.8 billion a year in tips as a result of this rule. Women in tipped jobs would lose $4.6 billion annually. (whole story)
Think Progress
January 18, 2018
As women’s marches take place across the country this Saturday, time is running out to put in your two cents about a rule proposed by the Trump administration that a new report says could cost female workers $4.6 billion in tips a year. The Department of Labor wants to rescind Obama-era rules that barred employers from seizing their workers’ tips. Researchers at the Economic Policy Institute found that the change could cost tipped workers overall $5.8 billion a year. Study co-author Heidi Shierholz says women would take 80 percent of the hit. (whole story)
Public News Service
January 18, 2018