Media clips
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President Donald Trump’s war on workers has spawned a number of disastrous policy moves, from cuts to federal employees’ pay increases to directives making it harder for workers to unionize. But one of the “nastiest” policy shifts Trump is pursuing is a rule that would allow companies to steal their employees’ tips—which, according to a new report, would cost workers $5.8 billion a year. Published by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) on Wednesday, the analysis also details the disproportionate impact the proposed rule would have on women, whose tips would account for nearly 80 percent—$4.6 billion—of the total stolen by employers. (whole story)
Common Dreams January 18, 2018 -
A new analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a nonprofit think tank, estimates American workers could lose up to $5.8 billion in tips if the proposal is finalized; moreover, they estimate that women would be impacted the most. According to the report, 80 percent of tipped jobs — ranging from restaurant workers to bartenders to hair stylists — employ women, and if implemented, this cohort of women could lose $4.6 billion in tips. “Because women are both more likely to be tipped workers and to earn lower wages, this rule would disproportionately harm them,” the report states. (whole story)
Salon January 18, 2018 -
Two of the Trump administration’s favorite pastimes are screwing over women and workers, from dialing back Title IX’s application in campus sexual assault cases and attempting to defund Planned Parenthood, to championing right-to-work legislation that would severely hamper labor unions and ditching an Obama-era regulation that ensures employees are compensated fairly for their overtime hours. A new rule under consideration by the Department of Labor would harm both women and workers. According to the Economic Policy Institute, a new proposal that management be allowed to keep employees’ tips would cost women workers $4.6 billion annually, or approximately 80 percent of the $5.8 billion it would cost the industry overall. That $5.8 billion represents 16.1 percent of the estimated $36.4 billion tipped workers earn each year. (whole story)
AlterNet January 18, 2018 -
Trump’s war against workers continues. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the Department of Labor has proposed a rule that would allow employers to take employee tips, and does not require them to redistribute the funds. The biggest losers, EPI calculates, would be women: In other words, nearly 80 percent of the tips that would be taken by employers as a result of this rule would come out of the pockets of women and their families. (The specific share, calculated from unrounded numbers, is 78.7 percent.) Because women are both more likely to be tipped workers and to earn lower wages, this rule would disproportionately harm them. No word yet on how Ivanka Trump, who has presented herself as a prominent defender of working women, has taken this news. But the Department of Labor’s latest bit of rule-making isn’t an isolated incident. The administration wants to adjust the salary threshold for an Obama-era overtime rule; if it succeeds in raising the threshold, lower-wage workers will find themselves in possession of shrinking bank accounts. Trump also used his executive authority to roll back a number of regulations that would have protected worker safety. As his son Eric reminded us Wednesday morning, green is the only color Trump sees.
The New Republic January 18, 2018 -
The Trump administration plan to let bosses steal their workers’ tips would cost tipped workers $5.8 billion—and most of that would be taken from women. According to an analysis from the Economic Policy Institute, $4.6 billion of that $5.8 billion in tip theft would hit women.
Daily Kos January 18, 2018 -
It’s still possible that robots contributed to a long-term economic decline that made Midwesterners more vulnerable to the scourge of opiates and the lure of xenophobia. But here, too, there is cause for skepticism. Edsall’s thesis relies on research by economists Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo that links robots to job losses and wage declines. But as Lawrence Mishel and Josh Bivens of the Economic Policy Institute have shown, the paper’s conclusions are far more ambiguous than many journalists have been reporting.
Bloomberg January 17, 2018 -
But even before the change in administrations, things didn’t look good for employee class actions. Companies are increasingly asking workers to surrender their right to pursue workplace claims in court as a prerequisite for employment, and have been successful in defending that tactic. More than half of non-union private-sector employers make their workers sign mandatory arbitration agreements, according to a report last year from the Economic Policy Institute.
Bloomberg January 16, 2018 -
For example, legislative efforts to eliminate nondisclosure provisions in harassment settlements must also address arbitration, an out-of-court process where proceedings are kept out of the public eye and settlements are almost always confidential. A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute found that more than half of nonunion private-sector employees in the United States are currently subject to mandatory arbitration in disputes with their employers. Among large employers, the proportion is even higher. Between arbitration and pre-suit settlements, only a small fraction of workplace harassment claims are ever filed in court.
The Nation January 16, 2018 -
“Corporations will almost surely be paying quite a bit less than that,” said Josh Bivens, research director at the Economic Policy Institute. “Today’s statutory rate is 35 percent, but loopholes have left the effective rate — the rate they actually pay after their accountants get involved — at closer to 20 percent. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act slashed the statutory rate but did very little to close loopholes, so, the effective rate will be surely much lower than the new statutory rate.” (Josh quoted throughout)
Marketplace January 16, 2018 -
Gorsuch has a history of favoring employers over employees in legal disputes. As a lower court judge, he supported Hobby Lobby’s right not to cover certain forms of contraception for its workers. In a case involving a truck driver who abandoned a broken-down trailer in subzero temperatures when he started losing feeling in his limbs, Gorsuch sided with the company’s decision to fire the man in a dissent Senator Al Franken grilled him on during his confirmation hearings. Understandably, his appointment has labor concerned. “I’m worried about his entire slant against employee rights,” said Marni von Wilpert, associate labor counsel with the Economic Policy Institute, a pro-labor think-tank.
Vice News January 16, 2018