Subject: Jobs and Labor

• The Blackboard Jungle

  November 7, 1996

• Will Obama’s Win Mean Big Gains for Nashville’s Unions?

  It was one of the least talked about issues of the election. It also may be one of the most transformative. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce considered it so dangerous it spent $30 million at the end of the campaign to stop Barack Obama. But within the next year, it will likely be coming to a workplace near you. It’s called the card check system, and it may prove to be the rebirth of the American union movement, dramatically changing the way organizing drives are conducted. Under current rule

  November 21, 2008

• Another Lawsuit for the Tangredis

  The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit in Nashville against M. Tangredi Restaurants Inc. for failing to produce wage and payroll records prior to June 2008, according to story in nashvillepost.comThe suit alleges that an employee of the labor department's Wage and Hour division conferred with Michael Tangredi on July 18 as part of an investigation begun June 5. Following a month of unanswered requests for payroll records dating back to June 2006, the department filed suit. The labor depart

  December 15, 2008

• Tennessean Employees Will Get an Unpaid Week Off

  More bad news from Gannett, the country's largest newspaper company and owner of The Tennessean: Its 40,000 U.S. workers will have to take an unpaid week off this quarter.While it may come as good news to those who can afford it, not so for the long-term picture. Gannett has already been hit with thousands of layoffs, and the bad news keeps coming every week. Though unpaid vacations are better than further layoffs, this doesn't speak well for future job security at The Tennessean--or for readers

  January 14, 2009

• WTF? Cutthroat Democrats Preach Bipartisanship

  Believe it or not, Democrats may have come up with a winning way to explain their cutthroat, backroom deal that shocked the Capitol last week. On Bob Mueller's Sunday show, state Rep. Brenda Gilmore delivered the message well: "What happened was absolutely what Tennessee needs," she said at her first opportunity to speak. "We need more moderate leadership at a time when we're almost a billion dollars in deficit. We need someone who can bring Republicans and Democrats together so we won't be bi

  January 19, 2009

• A power shift within Nashville's musicians union signals changing times on Music Row

  March 19, 2009

• Governor Delivers News Flash in 'State of State' Address: 'We're in a Serious Recession'

  Gov. Phil Bredesen promised to soothe the state's political irritations with his "State of the State" speech tonight, and he did say this: I recognize the unusual nature of recent political events, and the strong emotions that surround them, and ask that we put them aside for the next few months so that we can look, not inward to the political intrigues of the Capitol, but outward to the needs of our citizens in these difficult times. But he also made a point of congratulating House Speaker K

  February 9, 2009

• Unions Rally Against Corker Outside State Capitol

  Union members are showing their love for Bob Corker by collecting Valentines for the senator. Here's the message: Why do you want the people in your state and country to live in poverty? You vote against raising the minimum wage. You are opposed to a national health care system, even though we are the only industrialized country that doesn't have one. Are you opposed to people in Tennessee having a live wage and a middle-class lifestyle? Tennessee the 16th poorest state in the country. Do you w

  February 12, 2009

• Governor Killing Our Buzz Over Stimulus Money

  The federal stimulus is headed our way, so why isn't the governor excited? A world-class buzz killer, he's taking every opportunity to point out that all that cash will vanish in two years. So it's only prudent, he says, to cut the state budget by roughly $1 billion anyway. The difference is, now we can do it kind of gradually. This is really good news for two or three thousand state workers, who would have been fired en masse without the stimulus. Under the House version of the bill, all layof

  February 16, 2009

• Governor Rides Town Car to Fitness Event

  Gov. Phil Bredesen took his Lincoln Town Car across the street to the Bicentennial Mall today for a media event to urge state employees to exercise more often. Pith in the Wind, always on the lookout for hypocrisy, spotted Bredesen's sleek black Town Car warming up outside the Capitol before the event. It's something less than a quarter-mile from his office to the mall. But sure enough, the governor hopped in the car for the short ride. He arrived all toasty warm. Roughly 100 bundled-up state em

  March 2, 2009

• Governor's Budget Talking Points

  Gov. Phil Bredesen just finished previewing tonight's budget address for the media. He will lay out a four-year spending blueprint that he says will shrink state government outside of education expenditures by 12 percent. More news on the budget: Thanks to the federal stimulus cash, only 80 state workers will lose their jobs. Bredesen listed these talking points for tonight's speech:

  March 23, 2009

• Salary Cap Sayz: Vince Young Gone by Next Season

  Decoding the NFL salary cap usually requires a room full of PhD's, two abacuses (abaci?) and one santaria candle. Much thanks then to ESPN.com blogger Paul Kuharsky, who crunched the numbers and found near-irrefutable proof that Vince Young will no longer be a Titan after the 2009 season.Barring a scenario where he replaced an injured Kerry Collins and had an MVP season or won a Super Bowl as the starter -- and maybe even in the context of such unlikely events -- it's unfathomable that Young wil

  April 9, 2009

• Confederacy of Dunces

  May 8, 2008

• Gag Rule

  There’s no time for free speech when you’re on the clock

  August 23, 2007

• Words of the Week

  July 26, 2007

• Age-Bias Case Closed

  Government dodges upcoming trial in discrimination lawsuit, agrees to pay former federal prosecutor more than $330,000

  July 19, 2007

• Christers at the Gate

  Church of Christ members aim for electoral top

  June 14, 2007

• Age-Bias Case Moves Closer to Trial

  Judge finds actions of former U.S. Attorney Jim Vines and his management team “suspect,” refuses to dismiss age-discrimination lawsuit filed by former prosecutor

  April 19, 2007

• Sainthood Eludes This Thomas

  August 12, 2004

• Running Roughshod

  The Teamsters have begun negotiating on behalf of Nashville police. Is all hell about to break loose?

  March 30, 2006

• The Busted Teachers Union

  October 6, 2005

• Labor Pains at Meharry

  Between faculty fights and union disputes, the prognosis for the med school's work climate looks poor

  July 21, 2005

• The Job of Mayor Deserves More Pay

  May 15, 2003

• While They Were Sleeping...

  The mayor appoints a gay and lesbian to the Human Relations Commission

  June 26, 2003

• Mayor vs. Gay Protection Bill

  February 6, 2003

• All About Shame

  Anti-bias proponents can look forward to very little punitive power, but they might get a bully pulpit

  January 23, 2003

• Pauper Pay

  State workers fall even further behind as Metro widens earning disparity

  August 9, 2001

• The Fabricator

  October 12, 2000

• Running on Empty

  Purcell orders cuts, but Metro officials don't see the fat

  March 2, 2000

• Power Grab

  Much ado about nothing

  January 20, 2000

• Fiscal Forgiveness

  Labor expected to be patient over pay hikes

  November 25, 1999

• Labored Politicking

  June 10, 1999

• Broken Records

  February 11, 1999

• True Colors

  July 30, 1998

• The Birth and death of a salesman

  October 23, 1997

• Political Notes

  June 5, 1997

• Easy money

  May 29, 1997

• Political Notes

  January 16, 1997

• Getting Away

  May 16, 1996

• Bottoming Out

  April 25, 1996

• Congressman Steve Cohen's Fight Against NBA Slavery Possibly Illegal, Definitely Hyperbolic

  Last week, Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen made a play for media attention by calling the NBA's minimum-age requirement a "vestige of slavery." Pete took Cohen to task, properly pointing out that his grandstanding flew in the face of logic considering the rule was negotiated into contract by the NBA's largely black union. But lost amid Cohen's uncomfortable choice of analogy is the fact that many people agree with him. As pointed out by sports blog Deadspin, the rule requiring NBA players to sp

  June 10, 2009

• Layoffs Coming to Gannett, Tennessean?

  Tanking in the newspaper biz isn't news. In fact, it's become a pastime in my former stomping grounds, South Florida.But Gannett, creator of the McNewspaper, may look to do some trimming soon. According to Gannett Blog, authored by a former USA Today editor and reporter, sources say 4,500 layoffs are coming down the pike at Gannett newspapers July 8. This time the lowly beat reporter won't be the only pink-slip recipient. Middle management is on the chopping block, too. To wit:On June 4, a sourc

  June 30, 2009

• Why Gay Rights Might Actually Work in Metro This Year

  OK everyone, let's all climb into the Way Back machine. The year is 2003. Former Scene publisher and current SouthComm honcho Chris Ferrell is ending his second at-large term in Metro council. As a swan song, the former grand marshal of Nashville's gay pride parade introduces a bill to protect Davidson County residents from discrimination based on who they choose to hold hands with. The bill sails through Council's first two readings. But then a handful of pissed-off constituents and religious

  July 8, 2009

• Dept. of Meaningless Stats: Metro Government Totally Cool With the Gays

  From today's City Paper: There have been eight documented claims of discrimination based on sexual orientation since 2005 and none of them came from Metro employees, according to data from the Metro Human Relations Commission. Currently, a bill filed by at-large Councilwoman Megan Barry and co-sponsored by nine other Council members would make it unlawful to discriminate against a Metro worker based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. One of the primary reasons why a Council nondi

  July 21, 2009

• Health Care Reform Advocates Target Alexander with TV Ad

  The liberal group Health Care for America Now and the AFSCME labor union are airing a new TV ad, beginning today, that targets Sen. Lamar Alexander as well as Reps. Dave Camp (R-MI), Eric Cantor (R-VA), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Dave Reichert (R-WA), Mark Souder (R-OH), and Pat Tiberi (R-OH).

  July 23, 2009

• Health Care Reform Supporters Take Over Tea Party Rally

  Service Employees International Union members are claiming they commandeered a Tea Party rally outside Bart Gordon's Murfreesboro office and turned it into a health care reform rally. Seven teabaggers were overwhelmed by more than 60 health care reform supporters who converged on the downtown square. "They didn't know what hit them. Rutherford County is ground zero for conservative politics in Tennessee and we went right into their house and took over their event."

  July 28, 2009

• Gibbons Lobbies to Become Haslam's Safety Commissioner

  A press release from GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Gibbons: "There has been a political culture within the Highway Patrol for far too long, and the result is a loss of public confidence and trust," said Gibbons. "As the chief law enforcement officer in the state's largest jurisdiction, I know firsthand the importance of professionalism among law enforcement agencies. As governor, I will be committed to restoring the Tennessee Highway Patrol to the level of professionalism that both the publ

  July 28, 2009

• Will Christian Right Defeat Gay Discrimination Ban?

  Megan Barry​Despite hissy fits by evangelicals and homophobes, the Metro Council is on track to join the 21st century by adopting an ordinance to ban workplace discrimination against gay and lesbian city employees. At least that's the view of the bill's supporters, who insist they've corralled enough votes to fend off even the Christian right's fear-mongering."The opponents are serious and they shouldn't be underestimated, but things look promising," says Chris Sanders of the Tennessee Equalit

  August 12, 2009

• With NFL free agents roaming and a possible work stoppage looming, here's a business playbook to help Titans fans follow all the nonstop financial action this off-season

  March 11, 2010

• With March Madness here, don't make a big production out of loss of workplace productivity

  March 18, 2010