32BJ Statement On Rescued Window Washers

New York, NY—“We are happy and relieved that our members Juan Lizama and Juan Lopez are safe and will be going home to their families tonight. We thank the FDNY and everyone who was involved in their rescue. The safety of our members is of paramount importance for our union. That is why we make sure that a rigorous safety protocol is followed on the job and that workers are offered the training they need to be safe every day and in the event of an accident,” said 32BJ President Héctor Figueroa.

32BJ SEIU represents 70,000 building service workers including about 600 window cleaners in New York City.

http://www.seiu32bj.org/press-releases/32bj-statement-on-rescued-window-washers/

Here’s Your Union-Made in America Thanksgiving Shopping List

Before you put together your Thanksgiving dinner shopping list, check our list of union-made in America food and other items that are essential to a traditional family Thanksgiving feast. Speaking of thanks, a big “thank you” to the Union Label and Service Trades Department (ULSTD), Union Plus and the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor's resource site, Labor 411, for compiling their extensive catalogs of union-made products.

Here are some of the best union-made Thanksgiving eats and cookware from the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM); Glass, Molders, Pottery, Plastics and Allied Workers (GMP); Machinists (IAM); United Steelworkers (USW); and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW).

http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Other-News/Here-s-Your-Union-Made-in-America-Thanksgiving-Shopping-List

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Is payment transformation on the way?

Apple has recently unveiled Apple Pay to great fanfare, which allows customers to pay using their iPhone. A rival payment system is under development called CurrentC, which is being created by a consortium of large retailers. Without placing any bets, it’s clear that there will be significant activity around the “digital wallet,” allowing customers to speed up their payment options. Self-checkouts have been around for years and Kroger is working on some cool technology that could rapidly speed the scanning process.

But, what about avoiding the checkout altogether? With nearly two-thirds of customers now using some sort of smartphone, we are not far away from what might be both a customer and retailer dream — the ability to check out in aisle without ever waiting in a checkout line. Customers get to bypass the wait and retailers can save on their largest single labor expense —the front end.


Read More: http://supermarketnews.com/technology/payment-transformation-way#ixzz3IeePDfUW

Students with special needs turned away from Bath and Body Works at Chesterfield Mall (St. Louis, MO)

A field trip to the Chesterfield Mall for students with special needs was disrupted Thursday when teachers say an employee at the Bath and Body Works refused to allow their group to enter the store.

Seventeen students from Fort Zumwalt North High School went on the trip to practice life skills, and were in small groups with staff to find stores and products in a scavenger hunt activity.

They were welcomed at other stores in the mall, but a worker stopped the groups before they walked into Bath and Body Works, saying they could not come in, Principal Joe Sutton said. The denial prompted some of the students to ask why they weren’t allowed to get things at the store.

(Now, this particular paragraph below, I find interesting as it offers a reason, granted a very bad one, but a reason and suggests just how very afraid the store level staff is of not making the "numbers" set by their corporate office).

The employee apparently assumed the group wouldn’t be buying anything and was concerned that if they walked past the sensor that tracks the number of people in the store each day, it would hurt their sales percentage.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/students-with-special-needs-turned-away-from-bath-and-body/article_97d8278f-159c-5bf6-a5ab-5528b4e07020.html

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