Corporate Greed
Blog Posts
A new
Bloomberg article
notes that the CEOs of the Standard and Poor's 500 corporations make 204 times as much money as their own employees. The article highlights the most extreme disparity in the S&P 500, where former J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson received a total compensation package 1,795 times that of former fashion jewelry saleswoman Rebecca Gonzales in 2011.
Read more and comment »
Payday lenders can trap working people in a never-ending cycle of debt. Big Banks also have gotten into the business by offering “deposit advance” loans. For years, consumer advocates have been calling on regulators to rein in abusive payday loans, which often charge interest at more than 300% per year. These exorbitantly high interest rates drain money from low-income communities.
Read more and comment »
Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM)
issued a statement today, responding to the sale of the iconic Twinkies brand.
In response to Metropoulos & Co. CEO C. Dean Metropoulos' statement to The Wall Street Journal that the company will not hire union workers when reopening four former Hostess Brands bakeries, BCTGM International President David B. Durkee issued the following statement on behalf of all BCTGM members:
Read more and comment »
Wall Street wrecked the economy, and banks are still refusing to work with people who are trying to stay in their homes. The Campaign for a Fair Settlement, along with other partners,
is calling on President Obama
to champion an agenda that would:
1. Hold bankers accountable for their crimes.
2. Keep people in their homes by resetting their mortgages.
Read more and comment »
You don’t often read headlines about environmentalists joining forces with coal miners. Environmentalists want to shut down coal plants that pollute our air and water, while miners understandably fight to keep and defend the jobs that the coal industry provides. Between these two forces, there sometimes appears to be little common ground.
Read more and comment »
The Masters of the Universe on Wall Street would have us believe that they have attained their exorbitant wealth because of superior intellect and work ethic. Yet, time after time, they prove to us through behavior that could generously be described as ethically challenged that, in fact, they have not become Masters of the Universe by being smarter or harder working than the rest of us.
Read more and comment »
As
previously reported
, the Mine Workers (
UMWA
) contend that Patriot Coal was set up by Peabody Energy and Arch Coal purposely to fail in order to dump costs associated with retirees who had worked for the two companies. Now Ben Hatfield, the current CEO of Patriot,
says that he agrees
with UMWA President Cecil Roberts that the creation of Patriot seemed destined to fail. Hatfield was, at the time, CEO of International Coal Group. Patriot recently has filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to shed retiree costs, mostly from Peabody and Arch.
Read more and comment »
Perez's story is one of many documented in
Taken for a Ride: Migrant Workers in the U.S. Fair and Carnival Industry
, a report published by Centro de los Derechos del Migrante Inc. (CDM) and American University Washington College of Law (WCL). Fair and carnival employers bring about 5,000 migrant workers to the United States. Many workers experience similar, if not worse, treatment and working conditions. The report uncovers widespread abuses in the H-2B visa program in the fair and carnival industry, including the following:
Read more and comment »
