Saturday, January 9, 2010

Kane County Coroner's staff votes to unionize

“Basically, from my understanding, it came about because of all of the labor unions receiving a 4 percent increase in pay every year," West said. "And the non-union people are having their jobs threatened."

In November, non-union members of the Kane County Sheriff's Department received last-minute furloughs to help reduce the department's 2009 spending.

Click on the following for more details:  Coroner's staff votes to unionize :: Beacon News :: Local News

Local legislators get earful from Kane leaders on video gambling

heard licenses would start to be issued in January. If there had been more information on how licenses would be administered and regulated, she would have been inclined to vote against the ban.

Holmes also told the group, "Find me a community that doesn't already have video gambling going on," making the case that government should at least regulate it and make some money from it.

Click on the following for more details:  Daily Herald | Local legislators get earful from Kane leaders on video gambling

Economy 101: Dropouts hold down unemployment rate

Since May, the labor force has dropped to 153.1 million from nearly 155 million, a 1.2 percent decline. More than 660,000 people exited in December, the most in any single month in 14 years.

Had all those people remained in the work force and hunted for jobs, the December unemployment rate would have been 11 percent instead.

Cliock on the following for more details:  Economy 101: Dropouts hold down unemployment rate - Freeport, IL - The Journal-Standard

Documents Show Officials Covered Up Deaths in Immigrant Deaths

The documents, obtained over recent months by The Times and the American Civil Liberties Union under the Freedom of Information Act, concern most of the 107 deaths in detention counted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement since October 2003, after the agency was created within the Department of Homeland Security.

Click on the following for more details:  Documents Show Officials Covered Up Deaths in Immigrant Deaths - NYTimes.com

Thousands of European workers rally against sale of GM's Opel

GM agreed to sell its Germany-based Opel unit, which employs 55,000 workers in Europe, to Magna International, a Canadian auto-parts company, and Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia.

Politicians in Belgium allege the Antwerp plant is more profitable than a German counterpart that has been spared, and are seeking an investigation if Germany sweetened the Magna deal in exchange for a promise to protect German jobs….The European Union's competition committee is now looking into Germany's role in the deal to determine if Berlin's lobbying broke EU antitrust regulations

Thousands of European workers rally against sale of GM's Opel / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

Number of long-term unemployed hits highest rate since 1948

 Forty percent of all unemployed Americans, at least 6 million, have been out of work more than six months. Many are so discouraged they have lost hope that a job exists for them

now takes 20.5 weeks to find a new job – double the amount of time in the 1982-83 recession

This is really more about structural unemployment.”Entire industries have been hobbled, such as construction, some elements of financial services, and the auto industry.

the nation needs to beef up its retraining and community college efforts,

Click on the following for more detailsNumber of long-term unemployed hits highest rate since 1948 / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com