Union Health Plan Provides Much-Needed Safety Net

Americans don’t save enough - in 2005, Americans’ personal savings rate was negative for the first time since the Great Depression ─ instead of piling up savings, we are piling up debt. Two behavioral economics columns on how switching signup for a 401K plan from opt-in (say yes to be enrolled) to opt-out (say no to be un-enrolled) dramatically raises enrollment rates.

Part 1 of a series on solutions to freeing victims of labor trafficking around the globe. Labor trafficking is a deeply entrenched problem, woven into global economies where the victims are often hidden in plain sight. Almost everyone in the US owns some product likely made with slave labor. But there is hope - from grassroots workers’ coalitions to multilateral treaties and geo-data manipulation to new law enforcement initiatives, individuals are finding new ways to counter labor trafficking.

Flexibility allows employees to “work smarter and better.” The productivity payoffs of offering part-time hours and remote work outweigh the administrative costs of such policies, according to a study in Australia.

Production agriculture has put many small town, local farmers out of business, changing the landscape of the communities they've been pushed out of. One town in Missouri is fighting against this by joining together to preserve the importance of local control by nurturing a tradition of canning tomatoes.

Europe's generous social policies, such as allowing employees to retain their salaries while taking sick time to care for themselves or family members, may help to mitigate the coronavirus outbreak while also safeguarding the economy. Although the long-term impacts are yet unknown, in the short term, government-provided incentives are helping people and businesses stay afloat.

The Women’s Collective is a nonprofit that works with more than 10,000 subsistence farmers in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu to promote food security using millets, a crop resilient to drought and climate change. For Pavitra, one of those farmers, she began cultivating the ancient grains in 2015 and now has more than enough food to feed her family year-round. However, there’s a lack of public investment in millet production and machinery. And there’s no unified effort to create demand for millets: Some state governments lead the charge and in other states, it’s led by grassroots organizations.

An association of cooperatives has provided fair labor practices and equity for almost 70 years. Members of the coops vote on critical decisions that impact working conditions. When business is booming, everyone does well and when times are hard, everyone has a reliable security net.

Unite Here, a 300,000-member labor union of hotel and restaurant workers, has organized mass protests to pass voting rights legislation. In 2020 they ran a huge door-knocking operation with 500 full-time paid canvassers. The weekly salary helped canvassers, many of whom were hotel workers that lost their jobs due to the pandemic. And the well-organized ground campaign that encouraged over 48,000 infrequent voters in Arizona to vote for Biden, likely helped push Biden to a narrow and surprising victory in that state.

Liberty Cleaners co-created a curriculum to train immigrant women workers about tech education, green cleaning, and workers’ rights. As the first women-led workers’ hub in the country, the group is organizing and enabling its members with skills that can ensure they receive the fair wages, opportunities, and respect they deserve but are often denied.

The Fort Stockton Independent School District in Texas is attracting qualified teachers with high pay and cheap rent at school-owned housing.