Economically speaking, California was gifted with some winning trend lines in 2025. But there were also numerous lumps of coal within the state's business patterns that are better not seen again. This is not just a Golden State malaise. National economics don't look so hot either. And numerous unorthodox policies in the Trump administration's first year have not paid off, so far.
"A few months ago at the bargaining table, we said we can't let this drag on into another year," Robbins said. "We're close to an agreement, but we're still pretty far apart on a lot of important issues." The union (NSLU) told New Seasons they needed to come to a tentative agreement on a historic first contract by the time they held their monthly membership meeting on December 4, so union members could review the agreement prior to the end of the year.
Convincing workers to spend their days welding at a shipyard, when they could earn a similar amount of money working behind the counter of an air-conditioned Buc-ee's, is one of the biggest obstacles to reviving the country's lagging $37 billion shipbuilding industry. At least that's the theory of U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan, who, during his confirmation hearing in February, said he was handed down a mandate of " shipbuilding, shipbuilding, shipbuilding " by President Donald Trump.
They are underpaid and haven't seen a raise in many years. This is the predicament facing many workers in the service industry, even though they play a critical key role in the contemporary capitalist economy. Gig and service-sector workers are indeed among the most overexploited segments of the working class - struggling with low pay, lack of legal protection, and insecure employment.
The steep rise in hospitality wages to a record high will come as a big concern to the sector, particularly following a prolonged period of subdued sales. This puts more pressure on margins, with every £1 increase in wages also leading to additional employers' NIC, resulting in a double whammy on operators' costs.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Jan Bartek has always believed in his country's potential. That year marked Poland's entry into a fiercely competitive market economy, after more than four decades of isolation under the communist system. We were coming out of a regime as a poor country, so we had a lot to recover, explains this employee, nearing 50, at a car dealership in Warsaw.
The agreement late Friday ends a weekslong stalemate after the Austin Firefighters Association rejected of a proposal that it said wouldn't substantially increase wages for its personnel. The AFA agreed to a deal that would raise wages by at least 3 percent over four years. The contract also would eventually reduce firefighters' hours to fewer than 50 per week, a key provision that the city pushed back on.
In howling winds and choking smoke during the January fires that devastated Altadena and Pacific Palisades, more than 1,100 incarcerated firefighters cleared brush and dug fire lines, some for wages of less than $30 per day. Those firefighters could soon see a major raise. On Thursday, California lawmakers unanimously approved a plan to pay incarcerated firefighters the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour while assigned to an active fire, a raise of more than 700%.
The British Columbia government has unveiled details of its last offer to striking public service workers, ahead of the expected expansion of job action by the B.C. General Employees' Union. The Finance Ministry says the government is proposing a 4.5 per cent compensation increase over two years, made up of both general wage increases and cost-of-living allowances. It says the union wants 15.75 per cent, while BCGEU President Paul Finch has
