Subject: Jobs and Labor

• Job Search

  May 23, 2007

• Day Five: Wherein I Resolve to Become a Hollywood Script Scab and Man-Whore

  November 2, 2007

• It's quiet on the potential grocery store strike or lockout front

  The latest contract extension between King Soopers and workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local #7 expired at midnight on May 30. But as of this writing, at least, nothing much has happened. It's been clear for weeks that neither management nor labor really want a strike -- and the main sticking point in regard to another contract extension involves its length; the union would like ten more weeks to talk, while King Soopers prefers a June 15 date. Hence, the tw

  June 1, 2009

• Janitors in a Conundrum

  A bitter labor dispute envelops the Denver Tech Center.

  July 23, 1998

• Off Limits

  August 13, 1998

• Low Blows

  March 4, 1999

• Delivering the Message

  The women at UPS bleed as brown as the men, and they have the scars to prove it.

  September 23, 1999

• Check-out Time

  The hotel union isn't about to let Denver forget the Adam's Mark.

  February 8, 2001

• Wake-Up Call: Looking for work is hard work

  Today is officially Keep Colorado Working day – but where, exactly, are people supposed to be working? Yesterday, Intrawest Corporation– which runs Winter Park and owns Steamboat and Copper Mountain – announced companywide cuts. (Happy opening day, Winter Park!) And here in town, longtime businesses are looking at layoffs – and worse – as holiday sales fail to materialize. Colorado leaders know that the immediate outlook is grim, which is why Governor Bill Ritter last week announ

  November 20, 2008

• Are unions gunning for Ryan Frazier because of his Amendment 47?

  Has the other shoe finally dropped for up-and-coming Republican Ryan Frazier? The Aurora city councilman made headlines - as well as enemies - for sponsoring the controversial "right to work" ballot measure Amendment 47 this past November, and even though it lost at the polls, unions, many of which are vehemently against right to work, surely haven't forgotten. Last week, the local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, part of the powerful AFL-CIO union,

  December 31, 2008

• Interview with Christopher Ortiz, co-creator of the Stuff Journalists Like website

  In a Westword Q&A published earlier today, Stuff White People Like author Christian Lander rattles off a list of websites that pay a form of tribute to his Internet creation, which shares its name with a bestselling book he'll be talking about and signing at the Boulder Bookstore tonight. Among those he mentions is Stuff Journalists Like, launched by Colorado residents Christopher Ortiz and David Young. Ortiz is refreshingly honest about the imaginative spark that led to the project at the he

  February 2, 2009

• Bring It On

  December 12, 2002

• Letters to the Editor

  October 30, 2003

• Best Place to Dress for Success

  March 25, 2004

• Ryan Frazier puts his job on the line with Amendment 47

  October 16, 2008

• Courting Chaos

  When the workers' compensation appeals system bogged down, judges felt the pain, too.

  April 5, 2001

• Adding Insult to Injury

  Pinnacol Assurance, the state's largest workers' compensation provider, today boasts healthy profits -- and workers have paid the price.

  October 16, 2003

• Talking Dirty

  Denver's janitors were being swept aside. Now they're winning respect.

  September 11, 2003

• Critical Condition

  Denver Health nurses are ready to unionize to save their profession.

  June 12, 2003

• The Long Road Home

  Why so many parolees go back to prison, and how a new approach could help turn them around.

  May 22, 2003

• A Healthy Paycheck

  Denver Health may cut services, but its execs won't feel the pain.

  June 27, 2002

• Layoff Payoff

  The Layoff Lounge concept helps job seekers get in the groove with potential contacts.

  June 6, 2002

• Language Barrier

  Colorado Central Station Casino takes a hit over an English-only policy.

  May 24, 2001

• Best Fashion Advice

  "Style Matters"
  Rocky Mountain News

  March 29, 2001

• Company Town

  In Pueblo, the iron will of a union has proved tougher than steel.

  March 9, 2000

• Look for the Union URL

  February 17, 2000

• Organized Chaos

  The labor movement at Swedish Medical Center could be catching.

  February 10, 2000

• No Labor Lost

  Ellen Golombek plays rough with the Capitol bosses.

  April 8, 1999

• Union Busted

  A young woman gets $200,000 to settle a lawsuit against a union concerning a sexual assault.

  February 5, 1998

• Up the Organization

  Upstart Jack Hawkins tries to win control of the state AFL-CIO.

  August 14, 1997

• An Unholy Union

  A young labor organizer was sexually assaulted by a colleague. Was Local 7 to blame?

  May 15, 1997

• Reject Your Elders

  November 28, 1996

• Sorry, Wrong Number

  July 11, 1996

• Still Hurting

  Injured workers have borne the brunt of workers' comp "reform" in Colorado.

  March 28, 1996

• Labor Pangs

  AFSCME mounts another attempt to unionize Denver city workers.

  March 7, 1996

• LABOR PAINS

  AN EX-LAWYER FOR THE TEAMSTERS HAS A CAR WINDOW BLOWN OUT BY A PIPE BOMB.

  July 26, 1995

• THE BIG HURT

  TRUTH IS THE FIRST CASUALTY IN THE POLITICAL WAR OVER AMENDMENT 11.

  October 19, 1994

• THE CASTLE ON THE HILL

  IT WAS MAN VERSUS MACHINE. AND THE ARISTOCRATS OF LABOR LOST.THE LAST OF THEIR TYPE RESIDENTS OF THE UNION PRINTERS HOME LEAVE A LASTING IMPRESSION.

  May 11, 1994

• MINDING THE STORE

  THEY DON'T MAKE BOMBS ANYMORE AT ROCKY FLATS. BUT THE PLANT IS AS DANGEROUS AS EVER.

  May 4, 1994

• Source: 23 more layoffs at Clear Channel Denver

  G-Man with Rocky, the Nuggets' mascot. A reliable source reveals that 23 part-time or fulltime employees at Clear Channel Denver were laid off today as part of the San Antonio-based firm's second series of cuts this year. (The number is confirmed by KOA Morning News host Steffan Tubbs on his Twitter feed.) Many of those impacted worked in off-air capacities such as accounting, but a handful of on-air personalities reportedly received pink slips. The biggest name: The G-Man, a staple of the Rick

  April 28, 2009

• Grocery-workers union ratchets up web presence prior to possible strike

  Yesterday, King Soopers employees represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local No. 7 rejected the chain's latest proposal, laying the groundwork for a potential May 9 strike. Taking such an action in this employment environment is risky, as witnessed by the long lines of folks who've applied for temporary jobs thus far -- which is why the UFCW is already making a concerted Internet effort to win consumers' hearts and minds. AlwaysHereForColorado.com avoids hardcore hectori

  May 6, 2009

• Management, union really don't want a grocery strike

  The decision by employees at King Soopers and Safeway to keep working amid continuing negotiations with management through at least May 30 despite the fact that their respective contracts have expired indicates an understanding that striking amid an economic downturn is a worst-case scenario for all concerned. That doesn't mean a work stoppage is an impossibility. But the last thing grocers want these days is to be viewed by customers as hard-hearted and uncaring -- something the folks at Unit

  May 11, 2009

• If there's a grocery strike, what will you do?

  A Flickr photoWorkers picket a California Albertsons in 2003 Have you worked out your supermarket strike plan? If you haven't, now might be a good time. Although the corporate execs and lawyers at Safeway, King Soopers and Albertsons are still negotiating with the familiar, name-tagged faces who ring you up at your local grocery -- and their union overlords -- that could change on May 30, when a twenty-day extension of the current union contract expires. At that point: 1) Everyone involved

  May 22, 2009

• Grocery-workers union recalls Soopers' first King

  The contract dispute involving workers at King Soopers, Safeway and Albertsons has been quiet of late, with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 7 seeking to maintain member loyalty during this period via releases about, for example, pension reductions that would go into effect if the store's latest contract offer was accepted. Now, with negotiations between UFCW and Safeway set to restart today, the union-bankrolled AlwaysHereForColorado.com site is claiming philosophi

  July 14, 2009

• If you're reading this in your pajamas, there may be hope yet

  Psst. Hey lady. Grab your resume. There may be hope for you after all. The number of Colorado companies executing large numbers of jobs at once is falling, the Denver Business Journal reports this morning, a sign that slightly less sucky times may lie ahead: (T)he number of Colorado workers let go in June's mass layoffs declined by more than half, to 832 in June from 1,762 in May, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its monthly report on large-scale layoffs. Nationwi

  July 23, 2009

• Senator Morgan Carroll tries to explain Pinnacol

  Senator Morgan Carroll.​Senator Morgan Carroll, an Aurora Democrat who heads the interim committee looking into the 800-pound gorilla known as Pinnacol Assurance, knows plenty about the enterprise, which the Denver Business Journal describes as a "state political subdivision that operates as a mutual insurance company and serves as the workers'-compensation policy provider of last resort." As the Denver Post points out, she's an attorney who handles more than her share of workers' compensa

  August 12, 2009

• Xcel Energy, others accused of OSHA violations in incident that killed five

  ​In October 2007, five employees of RPI Coating Inc. were killed by carbon monoxide generated by a fire at the Cabin Creek Hydro Plant outside Georgetown that's operated by Xcel Energy and Public Service Company of Colorado. Now, a federal grand jury has issued indictments against RPI, Xcel, Public Service and two men for violating Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules -- actions that may well have contributed to these deaths. It's a case as complicated as it is tragic. Get

  August 28, 2009

• Read the letter from a King Soopers exec threatening a lockout if union workers strike Safeway

  ​Yesterday, in the wake of a negotiating breakdown between Safeway and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, King Soopers employees were given a letter attributed to Dave Savage, vice president of retail operations for the firm. The document accuses the union of "recklessly pursuing a course that will lead to a strike or a lockout" -- and then, after enumerating several of what Savage sees as indications that pickets are about to go up, he writes, "If there is a strike against Safewa

  October 23, 2009

• While grocery workers fret, their union bosses are busy fighting

  Melanie AsmarKim Cordova and Cindy Lucero in front of the UFCW headquarters.​ Kim Cordova and Cindy Lucero, the president-elect and secretary-treasurer-elect of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, stood in front of the union's empty headquarters in Wheat Ridge this afternoon and, with an audience of a reporter and a single news camera, called the current president a thief. "The current leadership is trying to steal the union election," said Cordova, a former Safeway worker who

  November 11, 2009

• Who is the city laying off to balance its budget?

  ​Today marks the last day of work for 176 city employees who were laid off in order to help close a $160 million gap in Denver's budget. (Read this Denver Post story by reporter Christopher Osher for more.) Most of the layoffs -- the equivalent of 108.5 positions -- occurred in two city departments: the Office of Economic Development and Denver Human Services. Those departments were hit harder because more of their funding comes from federal sources, which are declining, rather than the

  November 13, 2009