low-wage workers
December 14, 2022 -
Workers who handle customer service for Medicare and the Affordable Care Act marketplace are fighting to improve their lot at a call center in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, operated by Maximus, a Virginia-based government services contractor. Documentarian Jason Kerzinski recently visited with the workers to collect some of their stories.
April 20, 2020 -
The migrant and seasonal farmworkers who help feed the U.S. are considered "essential" employees amid the coronavirus pandemic and must show up to work to earn enough money to survive. As schools move online and government child development programs close temporarily, they're left scrambling to figure out what to do with their children.
January 31, 2019 -
While federal employees are legally entitled to back pay missed during the government shutdown, employees of federal contractors are not — but some members of Congress are trying to change that.
November 17, 2017 -
Democrats, liberal-leaning independents and a growing number of progressives lead two-thirds of the South's 30 largest cities, but their agenda is under attack from the region's conservative legislatures through preemption and other efforts to limit local control.
September 4, 2017 -
As wages stagnate nationally, more Southern states than ever before are embracing anti-union laws and laws to prevent local governments from raising pay and requiring family sick leave.
November 13, 2015 -
Fast-food and other low-wage workers held hundreds of protests across the country on Tuesday, many in Southern cities. After racking up wins at the state and local levels, organizers are now taking their case for a higher minimum wage and union rights to the national stage in the run-up to next year's elections.
February 20, 2015 -
This week Walmart announced it would boost starting wages for employees to $10 an hour by next February. Some view the modest increase as a victory for workers' organizing efforts -- but others see it as an attempt to deflect the growing movement for a more substantial wage hike.
