Jobs and Labor

Palm Beach Ironworkers vs Spawn of Cheney, Round Two

When Palm Beach County two years ago awarded a subsidiary of Kellogg Brown & Root a share of a $668 million contract to build a new waste treatment facility, the company's anti-union ways were no secret. But KBR's was the cheapest of three competing proposals, so commissioners gave the firm the ... More >>

Act Now

Rick Scott's Unemployment Compensation Laws Aren't Working

Of course Florida is the hardest place to get unemployment benefits. Because that's how we roll!The U.S. Labor Department is investigating complaints from unemployed Floridians that Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature's labyrinthine gauntlet to receive unemployment compensation is one giant compl ... More >>

Bankrupt Twinkie Manufacturer Warns of Hundreds of Florida Layoffs

Hostess Brands, the makers of Twinkies, Ho Hos, and Ding Dongs that declared bankruptcy in January, has filed paperwork with the state warning of at least 479 potential layoffs all over the state.And it's not just a Florida thing -- reports of layoff warnings are coming out all over the country ... More >>

Florida Unemployment Rate Finally Decreases Back to May Level

stuffunemployedpeoplelike.com​Florida's unemployment rate decreased .1 percent to 10.6 percent in the month of September after three months of no change, putting the state back to the same rate it was at in May.According to the numbers released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the n ... More >>

Rick Scott and Private Prisons Engaging in "Pay to Play" Politics, Teamsters Complaint Alleges

​Florida politicians received nearly $1 million in campaign contributions from two private prison corporations last election cycle -- GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America -- and an ethics complaint filed by the Teamsters union yesterday claims $30,000 of those contributions that went t ... More >>

Labor Pains: Nova Southeastern Unlawfully Suppressed Union, NLRB Determines

Nova's custodial workers tried to organize. ​More than four years after Nova Southeastern University got flak for union busting, the National Labor Relations Board has recently sided with a group of former custodial workers who were harassed by the college's higher-ups when they tried to organize. ... More >>

Allen West, AKA Harriet Tubman, Sent His Own Brother to "Plantation Overseer" Maxine Waters

Harriet Tubman​As you may remember, Rep. Allen West -- the self-proclaimed "modern-day Harriet Tubman" -- said the other day that he was starting his own "underground railroad" to get black people away from the "21st-century plantation."Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, whom West had identified as a ... More >>

Lawsuit Pits Jewish Nursing Home Against Seventh-Day Adventist

adventistinfo.org.ukCan you sue your employer for not respecting the Black Sabbath?​The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a lawsuit against a Jewish nursing home in Boca Raton for allegedly attempting to force a Seventh-day Adventist to work on the Sabbath.The EEOC says it has ... More >>

Losing Battle: Fort Lauderdale's Most Elite School -- Pine Crest -- Reels From 99 Days of Ill-Fated Leadership

A Tour of Gov. Rick Scott's Dirtiest Deeds

Rick Scott's Flak Provides "Proof" of Job Creation

bc.edu​Gov. Rick Scott keeps talking about how he's creating jobs left and right, but the evidence has been a little hard to come across.Good thing we came across a tweet from the governor's Twitter account that claimed his office has proof he's been getting Florida back to work:"Passed this s ... More >>

Florida Teachers Union Hops on the "Sue Rick Scott" Train

menwithfoilhats.com​In the fourth recent lawsuit targeted at policies of Gov. Rick Scott, the Florida Education Association is now suing over a 3 percent pay cut to the salaries of teachers and other school workers.According to a news release from the union, the lawsuit was entered today in circui ... More >>

Broward Teachers Union Protesting Tonight Over 1,400 Teacher Firings, Budget Spending

​The K.C. Wright Building in downtown Fort Lauderdale will play home to a lot of angry teachers tonight.Broward Teachers Union communications director John Ristow tells New Times that tonight's protest -- geared toward teacher layoffs and alleged budget mismanagement by the Broward School Board -- ... More >>

Florida Public School Teachers' Salaries Among Lowest In The Nation

​Yesterday the Sun-Sentinel ran a story about how some painters and grass cutters who work for the Broward County School District make more money than highly educated teachers with decades of experience. Well, it may get worse. The Florida Center for Fiscal and Economic Policy released its State o ... More >>

No-Bid Contract for Pines Outsourcing Goes to Favored Contractor

Courtesy of Greensource Power Systems Inc.Shawn Hiester's companies have already earned millions from Pines.​The founder of the private firm set to receive a controversial, no-bid outsourcing contract in the City of Pembroke Pines has a long history of raking in millions of dollars in business fro ... More >>

Is This What Rock Bottom Looks Like?

Graph: CalculatedRiskblog.com​Let me try to put a positive spin on a super-depressing graph. From the blog Calculated Risk, the graph above shows the high and low unemployment rates from each state since 1976, along with a red line for the current jobless rate. Yes, we're living in the most depres ... More >>

Palm Beach Post Ad Highlights Plight of its Own Axed Employees

​In its bizarre, ongoing effort to depress people into buying the daily newspaper, the Palm Beach Post has been running a series of ads about the economy.One ad highlighted job anxiety, unintentionally drawing attention to the more than 300 jobs lost at the Post in the past couple of years.The lat ... More >>

On the Bread Line at the Norton: A Journalist's Story

Photo by Christopher KubrickIs this line ever gonna move?​The Art After Dark event at the Norton Museum of Art last night had many highlights: free chocolate martinis, a tour of the New York, New York: The 20th Century exhibit, lovely guitar strumming by Miami troubadour Jesse Jackson.But perhaps ... More >>

Cheers to the New Bulldog Blog in Town

Flickr user: sabianmaggyThere's a new bulldog in town.​After 30 years in the South Florida news business, Dan Christensen isn't about to let one small layoff stop him from mining the bottomless pit of Broward County corruption.The veteran Daily Business Review and Miami Herald reporter has launche ... More >>

As Layoffs Loom, Broward Librarians Turn on One Another

Flickr: circulatingLayoffs make it hard to hold your tongue, even for otherwise mousy librarians.​Broward County Library staff is bracing for a round of layoffs next month, and in the meantime anxiety and suspicion is spreading through the ranks. Who among them deserves to be spared? And who deser ... More >>

Fired WPLG Anchor Explains "Career Suicide" in The Daily Beast

Charles Perez, the WPLG anchor who has filed a discrimination suit against the South Florida ABC affiliate, wrote in a Sunday column in The Daily Beast that the station believed "my profile as a gay man, especially if I were to have kids and, God forbid, get married, would render me less promotable ... More >>

On Front Lines of Poverty War, Conflict Between Broward Agencies

With Florida experiencing record unemployment rates, it's critical that the nonprofit agencies helping low-income people find jobs get along with one another. But the stress has begun to fray relations between at least two Broward County agencies with an important role in that mission.Positive Image ... More >>

Life Orientation

The Sentinel And The Damage Done

Names are starting to stream in from the lastest layoffs at the Sun-Sentinel. As always, I'm going to compile them as they come in. This has caused a small bit of controversy in the past, but it's done in the name of honoring those who are leaving and informing the public of exactly what it's losing ... More >>

UPDATED: Bloody Greed: District Drops Community Blood Centers

The South Broward Drainage District voted yesterday to drop its blood drive and look for a new blood company. Why? Because board members were fed up with the outrageous salaries being paid to top officer at the "non-profit," monopolistic, and heavily political Community Blood Centers ... More >>

Salary Freeze At Tribune Co., Sun-Sentinel

The Tribune Co., whose 10 newspapers include the Sun-Sentinel, Orlando Sentinel, Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, and Los Angeles Times, yesterday announced a salary freeze for 2009. It affects all non-union employees (for the small percentage of union employees, "the issue will b ... More >>

Best Of Readers' Poll 2009: Best Journalist

History has proven it time and again: The pen is mightier than the sword, the gun, the mayor's dais, and even Satan himself. In a year when hundreds of local journalists lost their jobs, those who survived the newsroom slaughter found twice as much work on their plates. Now's the chance to give it u ... More >>

¿Que Pasa, M.I.A.? My Excuses For Being Late

Not too long ago, as impossible as it looks, sounds and seems, I held a day job. It was a mundane era of wearing socks, shaving, and having far fewer groupies. Sometimes, I needed to call this day job of mine and tell them I was not feeling so good. Every time I called in sick, I felt a sense of dou ... More >>

Are More Layoffs, Cutbacks Coming To Sun-Sentinel?

I've been so busy juggling about six hellacious stories that I've been neglecting the roots of this blog -- coverage of the local media. I think another reason is that it's just too damn depressing and it seems like Groundhog Day. More corporate idiocy and more layoffs all the time.  . Re ... More >>

The Fourth Estate Sale

Decimated by corporate overlords, the only hope for our local newspapers may be the auction block.

Bad News For Ex-Sun Sentinel Employees?

Look, I don't know exactly what this means, but I'm blatantly parroting a Tribune-related post from LA Observed that ran on the other side of the continent. LA-O found this passage in Tribune's bankruptcy filings: How are severance payments affected? All ongoing severance paym ... More >>

November 4 Election Predictions

Bill Scherer Gearing Up For Electoral Rampage

E&P Calls Out Sun-Sentinel

Latest On PB Post Layoffs

Work is For the Dogs

Wish I Was in Dixie

Dania Beach still struggles to find racial harmony

Sentinel Down With Its Peeps

Best Director

Michael Hall for The Loman Family Picnic at Caldwell Theatre Company

Best Thing About the Panthers Lockout

Triage

Late-night Confession

What exactly did the mayor say to the commissioner at City Hall?

Best Local Website

Broward County Property Appraiser's Office

Welcome to KKKMart

A new lawsuit alleges that Boca Raton's Stein Mart was in fact a hotbed of racism

All Work and No Pay

For two years single mothers have tried hard to switch from welfare to workfare. But the WAGES program keeps getting in the way.

Best Restaurant When Someone Else is Paying

Toni Bishop's Restaurant & Jazz Club

The Huizenga Hair Club For Litigants

Fired from a posh Boca beach club for her buzz cut, champion lifeguard Christine Leduc-McCrady is suing the owner, Huizenga Holdings

Undercurrents

Letters

A Million-Dollar Blunder

That would be Fort Lauderdale's decision to tear down Frank Ptito's house -- and guess who's paying?