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Labor
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Union critics of John Sweeney—especially Andrew Stern of the Service Employees International Union and James Hoffa of the Teamsters—further say that they have withdrawn from the AFL-CIO to dramatize their opposition to these policies. The reforms they demand include a refund of part of the affiliates’ per capita membership fees so that individual unions can spend more on organizing instead of on political action.
In truth, the reformers’ charges are farcical and their remedies hollow: Membership fees to the AFL-CIO are a very small fraction of affiliates’ total expenditures (and income).
Temp
work
Picketers
for hire
The strange business of protesting jobs that may be better than yours
By Stacy J. Willis
Las Vegas Weekly
The shade from the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market sign is minimal around noon; still, six picketers squeeze their thermoses and Dasani bottles onto the dirt below, trying to keep their water cool. They're walking five-hour shifts on this corner at Stephanie Street and American Pacific Drive in Henderson—anti-Wal-Mart signs propped lazily on their shoulders, deep suntans on their faces and arms—with two 15-minute breaks to run across the street and use the washroom at a gas station.
Periodically one of them will sit down in a slightly larger slice of shade under a giant electricity pole in the intersection. Four lanes of traffic rush by, some drivers honk in support, more than once someone has yelled, "assholes!" but mostly, they're ignored.
They're not union members; they're temp workers employed through Allied Forces/Labor Express by the union—United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). They're making $6 an hour, with no benefits; it's 104 F, and they're protesting the working conditions inside the new Wal-Mart grocery store.
Juice
Next stop: Suckerville
The ‘public’ Las Vegas Monorail is taking taxpayers for a very expensive ride
By Steve Sebelius
and George Knapp
Las Vegas City Life
The Las Vegas monorail train slows somewhat as it approaches its worst turn, a near 90-degree elbow at Koval Lane and Spring Mountain Road, as if to gain better purchase on the narrow track below. A female voice thanks riders for letting the monorail help their “trip down the Strip,” which is somewhat misleading. Although it comes tantalizingly close in places, the monorail never actually touches Las Vegas Boulevard.
Katrina
Feds won’t cover cost of housing refugees
By Valerie Miller
LV Business
Press
Local housing authorities are paying to house the thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina who have already arrived in Las Vegas. Those costs have exhausted the budgets that usually pay to house the poor but officials say the Federal Emergency Management Agency is refusing to reimburse them for the emergency housing.
Gas Prices
Nevada one
of 10 states
with the highest gas taxes
National average is 45.9 cents; Nevadans pay 51.9
By Jonathan Williams
The Tax Foundation
With gas prices on the rise in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Tax Foundation has released a new fact sheet examining the impact of local, state and federal gas taxes on retail gasoline prices. While supply and demand determine gas prices, gasoline taxes are responsible for a significant portion of the price drivers pay at the pump.
According to the new analysis, the combined burden of federal, state and local gas taxes is roughly 45.9 cents for every gallon purchased, and exceeds 60 cents per gallon in some states. That amounts to an annual gas tax burden of roughly $271 for every man, woman and child in the United States.
Integrity
Hualapais
gambling
on tourism without casinos
By Richard N. Velotta
InBusinessLasVegas
The doors opened last week to Southern Nevada’s newest tourist attraction -- in Arizona. Grand Canyon West, an isolated section of the western reaches of the Grand Canyon, is operated by the Hualapai Indian Tribe, which has chosen to exploit the scenic beauty of its homeland rather than plopping down a casino to generate income."
Employees
Companies: Older workers major asset
By Alana Roberts
InBusinessLasVegas
As more employers consider the consequences of losing workers to retirement, some companies are making efforts to hire and retain workers age 50 and up.
Bob Berg, vice president of human resources for Iowa-based engineering firm Stanley Consultants Inc., which employs about 90 workers in Las Vegas, said the company depends on workers with a wide scope of knowledge and experience, attributes that older workers are often equipped to provide.
“In terms of retaining them, we’re in the engineering consulting industry,” Berg said. “What we sell is our knowledge, our intellectual property. Our older workers have amassed a great deal of knowledge relating to our industry, our customers. They have the street sense of running the business. We hate to see that knowledge walk out the door.”
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