Category: Economic Equality

Britain risks heading to US levels of inequality, warns top economist | Inequality | The Guardian

~ mcequality

Rising inequality in Britain risks putting the country on the same path as the US to become one of the most unequal nations on earth, according to a Nobel-prize winning economist.

Sir Angus Deaton is leading a landmark review of inequality in the UK amid fears that the country is at a tipping point due to a decade of stagnant pay growth for British workers. The Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, which is working with Deaton on the study, said the British-born economist would “point to the risk of the UK following the US” which has extreme inequality levels in pay, wealth and health.

via Britain risks heading to US levels of inequality, warns top economist | Inequality | The Guardian

Cinzia Arruzza on How Women Are Leading the Class Struggle

~ mcequality

Meanwhile, teachers in Las Vegas are voting this week on whether to join the nationwide strike wave, which has largely been led by educators. Hundreds of thousands of public school teachers and education workers struck last year, the overwhelming majority without the protection of traditional collective bargaining rights. So did thousands of nurses and hotel workers. Outside of the workplace, migrant women traveling with a caravan launched a hunger strike in Tijuana to protest delays in the asylum process; Irish women overturned that country’s abortion ban; and Spanish women led the resistance to the rise of the far right.

via Cinzia Arruzza on How Women Are Leading the Class Struggle

Domestic abuse: PM vows to end ‘postcode lottery’ for victims – BBC News

~ mcequality

Councils in England will have a legal duty to provide secure homes for victims of domestic abuse under new plans announced by Theresa May.
People seeking refuge from abuse and violence can receive varying levels of support depending on their location.
But Mrs May has vowed to end the “postcode lottery” for victims and their children, creating a legal duty for councils to provide refuge.
One victim described the move as “absolutely momentous” news.

via Domestic abuse: PM vows to end ‘postcode lottery’ for victims – BBC News

Senator Introduces Do Not Track Bill to Block Companies From Collecting Your Data

~ mcequality

A new bill is trying to create a program similar to The Do Not Call list, except it would stop companies from tracking your online activities.

Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, announced on Monday he is introducing the Do Not Track Act. If approved, the bill would allow people to block companies from collecting data on their activity “beyond what is indispensable” for whatever services the company provides online.b

In 2009, internet activists first introduced the idea of putting “Do Not Track” message in HTTP headers, alerting companies that the user denies permission to track activity. The next year the Federal Trade Commission supported a Do Not Track program. But even though millions of people use Do Not Track—it doesn’t do anything, because there are no fines for breaking a Do Not Track request.

via Senator Introduces Do Not Track Bill to Block Companies From Collecting Your Data

What McDonald's Workers Need to Fight Sexual Harassment is a Union

~ mcequality

“And then it happened to me,” Fairley said on Tuesday during a press call. About two months after last year’s walkout, one of the men Fairley worked with began making sexually explicit comments to her, telling her she had a “fat ass” and “I’ll take you on a ride.” The harassment didn’t end there—he also would touch her without her consent, pinching her butt and rubbing his hand in her crotch. But when she reported his behavior, her coworker was simply transferred to another store, and Fairley’s hours were cut from an average of 25 hours per week to about seven hours, a move she believes was clearly made in retaliation. When she asked to be transferred to a different location in March of this year, she was told that she could only be transferred to the McDonald’s where her harasser worked.

via What McDonald's Workers Need to Fight Sexual Harassment is a Union

UK Police Want Rape Survivors to Hand Over Their Phones

~ mcequality

According to the Associated Press, law enforcement will now ask victims of crimes, including rape survivors, to sign a consent form that asks for their permission to seize their electronic devices in order to access mobile data that might be relevant to the investigation.

“If you refuse permission for the police to investigate, or for the prosecution to disclose material which would enable the defendant to have a fair trial then it may not be possible for the investigation or prosecution to continue,” the form states, according to the AP.

via UK Police Want Rape Survivors to Hand Over Their Phones

BFI female film season sparks misogyny row – BBC News

~ mcequality

The British Film Institute (BFI) is facing accusations of misogyny over the title of a forthcoming season dedicated to “fierce females”.
The programme includes films featuring “some of the most wickedly compelling female characters on screen”.
But a letter signed by more than 300 academics and critics argued that the title “uncritically parrots” misogyny.
The Playing the Bitch season was programmed by Anna Bogutskaya, who said she hoped to “start a conversation”.
In a blog explaining the project, Ms Bogutskaya said she realised the word had “powerful connotations” that made it “offensive to many”.

via BFI female film season sparks misogyny row – BBC News

Astra Taylor & Natasha Lennard on Anti-Fascism, Women's Protest

~ mcequality

It makes a perverse kind of sense that the election of a gleeful, pussy-grabbing misogynist to the highest office in the land would cause a feminist backlash at the grassroots. Since the 2016 presidential election, women have been rising up: marching in the streets, mobilizing their communities, running for office, and winning a whole lot of them. And many have been explicit about their intention to pull this country’s political center to the left. The two democratic socialists to win congressional seats in the 2018 midterm election were not white guys shaped by the old-school mold of Bernie Sanders, but young women of color, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, who defy the alleged division between economics and identity politics with every breath. They, along with Ihlan Omar, point the way toward a forward-looking, appealing, and effective radicalism that we can only hope will continue to catch on.

via Astra Taylor & Natasha Lennard on Anti-Fascism, Women's Protest

Homeland Security to Start DNA Testing Asylum Seekers as It Tries to Back Up ‘Fake Families’ Scare Tactic

~ mcequality

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will start using Rapid DNA tests on some asylum seekers at the U.S.–Mexico border next week, according to a new report from CNN. The tests are intended to determine whether adults and children who are traveling together are actually family members.

The Rapid DNA tests involve a cheek swab and will be deployed at two ports of entry starting the week of May 6. Results from the test take about 90 minutes.

These new Rapid DNA tests are supposed to catch immigrants who are lying about being related, but it’s unclear how DHS can establish familial ties through DNA alone. Obviously, DNA relations aren’t the only thing that define a family.

via Homeland Security to Start DNA Testing Asylum Seekers as It Tries to Back Up ‘Fake Families’ Scare Tactic

Sterling Jewelry Expose Alleges Sexual Harassment, Wage Discrimination

~ mcequality

The New York Times Magazine has published a lengthy expose into the corporate culture of Sterling Jewelers Inc, a corporation which dominates the mall jewelry business with brands like Jared and Kay. It is not pretty.

The Washington Post initially broke the story of employees’ widespread harassment allegations back in 2017, and there is a large class-action lawsuit over the company’s pay practices currently winding its way through the courts. Now Taffy Brodesser-Akner has a new feature for the New York Times Magazine detailing the company’s apparently rotten culture over the decades, alleging gender discrimination in wages and sexual harassment and providing a thorough accounting of how a toxic workplace is created and maintained. She writes about the mountain of sworn statements collected for the lawsuit, which after years is still stalled in litigation:

via Sterling Jewelry Expose Alleges Sexual Harassment, Wage Discrimination