Articles tagged: labor
‘Heroes’ No More: Grocers Are Already Clawing Back COVID-19 Worker Benefits
Kroger revoked its “Hero Pay” in May, while public health experts warn of COVID-19 surges as Texas reopens.
Appreciation Pay, Proud Pay, Service Pay. The kaleidoscope of PR names all amount to one thing: a small raise for the poorly paid food retail workers who risk t...Read More
‘We Don’t Exist’: Texas Domestic Workers Fight for Inclusion in Labor Laws
Domestic workers already lacked contracts, wage protections, and health care benefits. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
‘We Don’t Exist’: Texas Domestic Workers Fight for Inclusion in Labor Laws Domestic workers already lacked contracts, wage protections, and health care be...Read More
Will Grocery Workers Still Be ‘Heroes’ When COVID-19 Subsides?
In Texas, grocery employees labor for low wages and few benefits. Now they’re part of a nationwide struggle in which workers are fighting for their lives.
For Joshua Cano, every cough “sounded like a gunshot.” Twenty-four years old, Cano works as a vitamin clerk at a Sprouts grocery store in the Texas border c...Read More
State Employees Criticize Texas’ Uneven Approach to Worker Safety Amid COVID-19
A slow, patchwork response to COVID-19 has jeopardized worker safety for some of Texas’ lowest-paid public employees.
Last week, an El Paso TV station broke the news: A longtime worker at the city’s state-run psychiatric center had died after being diagnosed with COVID-19. It...Read More
Construction Workers Labor on, Vulnerable and ‘Essential’
While white collar professionals work remotely, and laid-off service workers seek unemployment, construction laborers are still reporting to job sites.
On Wednesday morning, as America’s COVID-19 death count neared 5,000 and workers flooded state agencies with a record-shattering deluge of unemployment claims...Read More
The COVID-19 Crisis Points the Way Toward a Better Texas
Once the virus passes, there's no reason to let the powerful return peacefully to business as usual.
The time has come for progressives to exploit a crisis for political gain. As the novel coronavirus sweeps across America, it isn’t tanking an otherwise...Read More
With Paid Leave Policies, Texas Cities Tried to Prepare for Coronavirus
Too many Texas workers can’t stay home when they’re sick. Two years ago, a movement tried to change that.
As the coronavirus spread across the nation late last week, U.S. Senator John Cornyn had some simple advice: “If you’re sick, stay home.” Easy, right? T...Read More
Off the Texas Gulf Coast, Tugboat Crews Are Stuck on Their Boats Without Pay
Bouchard Transportation, a massive shipping firm, hasn’t paid docking fees or worker salaries, leading to a rare quandary in U.S. waters.
They haven’t drawn a paycheck in months. Some haven’t set foot on dry land since January. But at least 10 crew members stuck aboard three tugboats near the ...Read More
In Amarillo, Copper Workers’ Strike Enters Fourth Month with No End in Sight
Laborers in the Republican-dominated Texas Panhandle find themselves in a protracted fight with one of the world’s largest copper producers.
It’s a February evening in the Texas Panhandle, and it’s cold as hell. Five men stand on the shoulder of Highway 136 northeast of Amarillo, huddled around a...Read More