RadioFreeLiberal.com

“We couldn’t do this without the hiring of additional officers,” Craig said before going on to champion the department for hiring a whopping 662 officers over the past two years.

What he failed to mention was that, during the same period, the department lost 444 officers due to attrition. Further, the DPD didn’t exactly hire 662 new cops, so much as it brought on 512 while shuffling things around internally to put 171 who were working desk jobs onto the streets, according to a spokesman for Mayor Duggan.

But a net gain of what the Duggan administration says is 239 officers over two years has hardly recouped the losses the department endured before and during bankruptcy. According to a 2015 Detroit News story headlined, “Fewest cops are patrolling Detroit streets since 1920s,” there were just 1,590 officers with the department by the middle of that year — a reduction of 37 percent over the previous three years. Today, that number has climbed to only 1,621, according to the city’s latest data.

“The situation has not improved the way we’d like,” Detroit Police Officers Association president Mark Diaz said in an email last week. “The guys are still working double shifts because of manpower shortages. More often than not they are forced to work doubles because of officers calling in sick due to issues related to exhaustion.”

According to Diaz, a combination of these conditions and bankruptcy-era cuts to benefits has made it diffucult for the department to hold onto officers — particularly seasoned ones. While starting pay has increased for new officers, from about $27,000 a year during the bankruptcy to $36,000 today, Diaz says pay levels still max out below those of the police departments of neighboring cities and Detroit’s benefits aren’t as good. The elimination of longevity bonuses for long-time officers, for example, has sent more experienced patrolmen and women in search of better work. As a result, Diaz says that of the department’s approximately 1,621 officers, 700 of them have less than five years on the job.

“The mayor can proudly display what he’s done with hiring, but it’s a facade,” Diaz said in an email following the Thursday news conference. “The city is being protected by fewer and fewer seasoned officers every month.”

He added, “We are in a very dangerous situation.”...............

.........Hargrave was called on twice during the public session of the school board's meeting. But KATV video shows that as she continued sharing her concerns, a city marshal hired by the school district escorted Hargrave out and handcuffed her in a hallway........

Jack in the Box CEO Says It "Makes Sense" to Consider Replacing Human Cashiers with Robots If Wages Rise
https://slate.com/technology/2018/01/ja ... obots.html

Leonard Comma, the CEO of Jack in the Box, indicated that the fast food chain will reconsider replacing human cashiers with machines like self-service kiosks as California gradually increases its minimum wage over the next four years, according to Business Insider. “As we see the rising costs of labor, it just makes sense,” he reportedly said on Tuesday at the ICR Conference in Florida.

Comma claims that previous tests of automated kiosks at certain Jack in the Box locations, which began in 2006, resulted in greater efficiency and higher checks on average. The installation costs just weren’t worth it at the time. However, California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a law in 2016 that will raise the state’s minimum wage incrementally each year to $15 by 2022. And California is just a part of a nation-wide wave of minimum wage reforms—17 other states, including New York, Michigan, and Washington, are also seeing increases early this year.

Automation is a familiar threat from executives unhappy with rising labor costs. Andrew Puzder, the CEO of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s who was briefly Trump’s pick for labor secretary, told Business Insider in 2016 that he would be interested in developing an employee-free restaurant if minimum wages keep rising. “[Robots are] always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case,” he told reporters.

[snip][end]

That was why you would have been such a great Secretary of Labor, Andy. He says, with only the slightest hint of sarcasm.



In Idiocracy - which may be our present day reality - the only restaurants left are Carl's Jr.'s, with self-operated automated kiosks.

Jack in the Box CEO Says It "Makes Sense" to Consider Replacing Human Cashiers with Robots If Wages Rise
https://slate.com/technology/2018/01/ja ... obots.html

Leonard Comma, the CEO of Jack in the Box, indicated that the fast food chain will reconsider replacing human cashiers with machines like self-service kiosks as California gradually increases its minimum wage over the next four years, according to Business Insider. “As we see the rising costs of labor, it just makes sense,” he reportedly said on Tuesday at the ICR Conference in Florida.

Comma claims that previous tests of automated kiosks at certain Jack in the Box locations, which began in 2006, resulted in greater efficiency and higher checks on average. The installation costs just weren’t worth it at the time. However, California Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a law in 2016 that will raise the state’s minimum wage incrementally each year to $15 by 2022. And California is just a part of a nation-wide wave of minimum wage reforms—17 other states, including New York, Michigan, and Washington, are also seeing increases early this year.

Automation is a familiar threat from executives unhappy with rising labor costs. Andrew Puzder, the CEO of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s who was briefly Trump’s pick for labor secretary, told Business Insider in 2016 that he would be interested in developing an employee-free restaurant if minimum wages keep rising. “[Robots are] always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case,” he told reporters.

[snip][end]

That was why you would have been such a great Secretary of Labor, Andy. He says, with only the slightest hint of sarcasm.



In Idiocracy - which may be our present day reality - the only restaurants left are Carl's Jr.'s, with self-operated automated kiosks.

In the wake of a growing FBI corruption probe, the UAW and Fiat Chrysler have a new legal headache: A proposed class-action lawsuit filed by autoworkers who claim they were duped and scammed by their own people.

The plaintiffs claim that a years-long scheme involving auto executives paying bribes to union bosses cheated them out of "hundreds of millions of dollars" in union dues that were "wasted on tainted bargaining." They want to recover their dues, claiming the UAW leaders who were supposed to be looking out for their interests were instead in cahoots with Fiat Chrysler execs who "paid bribes to executives of the UAW to take FCA-friendly positions."

"The conspiracy ... has resulted in tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars in union dues not being used for the intended purpose: bargaining for the benefit of the union members," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit, which seeks class action status on behalf of tens of thousands of UAW members, was filed by three union members who work at FCA.................

The number of Michigan workers killed on the job rose 20% between 2015 and 2016, according to a new report released by the AFL-CIO.

The report compiles data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 2016 — the most recent year data is available. It was released in conjunction with the national Workers Memorial Day, which is Saturday, a day meant to commemorate workers who have died or suffered illness or injury on the job.

"Every American has the right to a safe and healthy workplace," Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber said. "Hardworking men and women putting in long hours deserve to know that they’re going to make it home at the end of the day. Yet, Michigan families are here mourning their loved ones. We’re here to fight for workplace safety for everyone."

According to the report "Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect," Michigan saw 162 workplace fatalities in 2016 — up from 134 — and 97,000 private workplace-related injuries and illnesses — up from 96,000 the year prior.

Of the 162 workplace deaths, 37 were caused by assaults or violent acts, 50 by transportation accidents, two by fires or explosions, 31 by falls, 23 by exposure to harmful substances or environments and 19 by contact with objects or equipment. The state ranked 21st in the nation for workplace deaths.

Michigan saw 40 Occupational Safety and Health Administration fatality investigations in 2017. Of these, workplaces paid $444,050 in penalties — or an average of $11,101 per investigation.

Nationally, the report found that 5,190 workers died on the job in 2016 — a 7% increase from the year prior. Roughly 60,000 died from occupational-related diseases.....................

..........According to the AFL-CIO report, the state of Michigan had one OSHA investigator for every 71,907 workers in 2016. With those numbers, the report stated, it would take 53 years for every Michigan workplace to be inspected once..........

........."If you start in one of those low-wage occupations, you have a higher probability of becoming unemployed than moving up the career ladder," said Todd Gabe, a co-author of the paper, titled "Can Low-Wage Workers Get Better Jobs?"

The answer seems to be, "With extreme difficulty."

The authors looked at 175,000 workers in so-called low-quality jobs -- with low pay, unpredictable scheduling and few or no benefits -- and examined how those people's jobs changed over a six-year period ending in 2017. Of this group, only 5.2 percent were in a higher-paying job one year later, the authors found. By contrast, more than 10 percent left the workforce and 6.7 percent became unemployed.

In other words, a low-wage worker was three times more likely to stop working altogether than to move to a better job in a given year..............

.......The Kohl’s plaintiffs say that while assistant store managers handle some management functions, those duties are routine and are closely supervised by supervisors.

Most of the assistant store managers’ time “is spent performing non-exempt duties, such as unloading freight, stocking shelves, filling on-line orders, ensuring that the merchandise was arranged according to company standards, performing recovery, counting inventory, and organizing the store,” the complaint says.

The complaint alleges Kohl’s has sought to hold down payroll by sending hourly employees home before the end of a shift, and by not replacing those who call in and say they can’t work. Assistant managers then must do the work of the absent hourly employees, the complaint says.......