Whenever communities, lawmakers or activists question or criticize Walmart for the way it treats workers—the low-pay, the stores’ impact on the communities—the retail giant pulls out a well-worn script with a simple message, “Walmart creates jobs and if there’s one thing this economy needs, it’s more jobs.”   

Setting aside the quality of the jobs for another day, is Walmart telling the truth?

In his speech in Chattanooga, Tenn., yesterday, President Obama rightfully called out for an increase in jobs that pay high wages and offer good benefits, what he called "middle class jobs," and for a focus on creating manufacturing jobs.  While those are laudable goals, Obama chose to give a speech about these topics at the Amazon Chattanooga Fulfillment Center, a location that neither pays those good wages and benefits nor is a place that offers manufacturing jobs.

Several thousand current and retired Mine Workers (UMWA) and their supporters—including striking fast-food workers—rallied this morning outside the St. Louis headquarters of Arch Coal, protesting the company’s move to slash health care benefits for retired and active miners through corporate chicanery and bankruptcy maneuvers.

A number of workers and retirees were arrested as they sat down in non-violent civil disobedience on the front steps of the Arch Coal building.   

Goldman Sachs is making your beer more expensive. Why are they doing it? According to the investment bank, the reason is "economics." According to actual economics, the reason is "profits." The Washington Post explains how it works.

For the millions of mothers who work in restaurants, it's hard enough to balance work with the responsibility of raising your children right. But a recent survey shows that many employers seem to not only not care, but they act as if they are purposefully trying to make things harder for moms. From subminimum wages to lack of career mobility, working mothers face a wide array of challenges that make their lives harder and less rewarding.

A McDonald's worker fainted today at New York City's 181st Street and Broadway location after working in the kitchen without air conditioning for several hours. The woman felt ill and asked to leave but says her boss wouldn't allow her to go home because there was no backup. Tweets and photos (see after the jump) surfaced of the woman leaving with paramedics. Outraged by the working conditions, fellow workers walked off the job in protest. 

Despite the objections of investor advocates, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finalized a rule that will lift a decades-old ban on advertising by hedge funds. The original prohibition on such advertising dated back to Great Depression and protected people from investment scams.

When payday rolls around, more and more workers aren’t getting paper paychecks or direct deposits to their checking accounts, but instead are finding their wages on prepaid cards.

The new trend—especially  prevalent in low-wage industries—saves the employer money,  and means big (and mostly unregulated) profits for the banks and financial institutions that issue the cards. It also eats big chunks of the workers’ pay though a bevy of fees they must pay to access their accounts.

In case you missed it, The New York Times published two articles last weekend that captured the dramatic disparity between workers’ wages and executive pay at large corporations across the country. While median working family incomes fell last year, median CEO and executive compensation skyrocketed and lucrative executive retirement packages continued to expand. These lucrative plans, known as “Golden Parachutes,” have increased despite years of public outcry as companies have chipped away at workers’ pensions and retirement plans. At the same time, a coalition of CEOs and corporations are advocating cuts to earned Social Security and Medicare benefits as they rake in lavish retirement and bonus packages.

What would happen if David and Charles Koch, the conservative billionaire brothers, bought the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and other leading newspapers from the Tribune Co.?

Concerned about the likelihood of the Kochs purchasing some of the largest and most influential newspapers in the nation from the financially troubled Tribune Co., The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America organized a very spirited debate at the National Press Club in Washington on June 26.

“The fear is that the Kochs are motivated to use the newspapers to further their overt conservative agenda. Credible news will suffer. This is of special concern as virtually every city in America, with just a handful of exceptions, is now a one-newspaper town,” Guild President Bernie Lunzer said in a statement at the event, attended by about 60 journalists, Guild members and members of the public.