When I started working at Burlington Coat Factory in 2013, the company recommended that I get paid with their payroll debit card. They made it sound like a good deal for me -- so I was shocked when I realized the card included hidden fees. It turns out there was a lot I didn't know about the card. We never got paper pay stubs. If we wanted them for any reason, we had to pay $3 per stub to have a hard copy sent to us. That's a lot of money when you just make $8.55 an hour like I did. Burlington uses an online payroll system we can log on to, but many of us can't afford a smartphone, a computer, or internet access. We also had to pay a fee to use an out-of-network ATM -- so the ATM would charge us a fee, then the card company charges another fee. You could pay $7.50 just to get your own money! People shouldn't have to pay just to get paid! Employers shouldn't be able to push their employees to participate in a payroll system that doesn't always work. We ought to have a choice about whether to get paystub records, paper checks, direct deposit or payroll cards. We ought to receive all the information about any fees associated with these cards. And when things go wrong, we need to know who we can hold accountable. And things do go wrong -- it took a month for me to get my first payroll deposit, and instead of getting help resolving the issue I just got the runaround. The card company said to talk to Burlington Coat Factory. My supervisor at Burlington Coat Factory told me to talk to the card company. No one accepted responsibility for getting me the money I had earned. I borrowed money for a month just to get by. I couldn't even help my godmother pay our rent. When there's no accountability, workers like me are caught in the middle. Thing is, more and more employers are switching to these payroll cards every day, and some of these cards have even worse terms than the ones we got from Burlington Coat Factory. This madness has to stop somewhere. It's time for us to take a stand. I'm calling on Burlington Coat Factory to lead the industry in implementing a fair and transparent pay system. Whether you shop at Burlington Coat Factory or work in retail, please add your name. Together, we'll convince Burlington to do what's right and begin changing this industry-wide practice. Photo credit: https://www.flickr.com/people/jeepersmedia/

Many AA retirees left before the age of 65. We are currently paying over $1,000 per month for retiree and spousal Cobra Insurance which is going to end eighteen months after retirement date. Searching for private insurance has shown to cost over $2000 per month for retiree and spouse with a $6000 deductible. I paid over $20,000 in 2013 for premiums, deductibles, and uncovered dental work. We were promised retiree healthcare through prefunding but AA refunded our prefunding which didn't even cover one year of Cobra health insurance premiums. While AA had the right in bankruptcy to renege on retiree healthcare, I'm requesting from the New American Airlines and CEO Doug Parker to help retirees get healthcare lower premiums and lower deductibles. One suggestion would be to extend Cobra insurance or somehow get all retirees as a group to get a healthcare plan. As a TWU Local 514 retiree member I'm sure my local here in Tulsa would be willing to help coordinate any help you may give us. I devoted thirty five years to AA and I ask for AA to not put retirees and myself at such a financial bind.

This issue is vitally important to our future travel planning. Please sign our petition.

All employees, whether active, retired, union or non-union should have a fair and equal opportunity to travel, which is served by the current travel policy that was in place at American Airlines prior to the merger between American Airlines and US Airways. All retirees should have equal access to web portals, such as, Jetnet in order to administer their travel privileges. Currently, some retiree groups are being deprived of access to Jetnet which denies them the ability to place their name on the airport standby list until they actually arrive at the airport for the flight, and no options are provided to them to check availability or list when traveling outside of the U.S.

“Wage theft has been going on at fast-food restaurants for years but no one has had the courage to speak up about it because they’re afraid they will be let go.” Rhonesha Victor, Oakland resident, East Bay Fast Food Worker On top of paying thousands of workers an hourly wage of just $8 -- McDonald's appears to have routinely stolen their employees' pay. A class action lawsuit filed by employees in the state of California alleges that McDonald's engaged in "altering or condoning the alteration of time records to avoid paying [employees] for time they work and for overtime premiums they earn." The lawsuit also alleges McDonald's failed to pay workers wages for missed meal breaks and rest periods as required by California law. We already know that fast-food workers can barely get by on the low wages they are paid -- with over half needing some kind of public assistance to make ends meet. We will not tolerate corporations like McDonald's -- with 5.5 billion in profits last year -- adding to these workers' struggles by stealing their pay. We're calling on community members, elected leaders, and crew members from McDonald's locations across the state to come together in opposing wage theft from California food service workers.

It has been over a year since I launched this petition. FC/FS has been in place since September 2014. Management has ignored all of our requests to not change boarding priorities. Many of us can share personal experiences/examples of the unfairness of boarding this way. Our union leaders and upper management and their families fly space positive, therefore are not impacted by this policy. OUR CALL TO ACTION: Make an effort to connect with and educate the LAA employees. We need to multiply the signatures on this petition proving that the majority of American Airline employees do not support the FC/FS method of boarding. It is only a matter of time when current LAA crew bases will close, forcing non-commuters to experience what has already occurred at LUS. We cannot forget what happened to PIT, LGA, BOS and all of the other former LUS bases. Our success lies in the collective voices of all labor groups. Talk to your fellow employees. Let's change the course of this merger! Thank you, Mary Kepple LUS Flight Attendant

Many young Vermonters depend on our hard-working, experienced CCTA bus drivers to get to school every day. These bus drivers fight dangerous weather conditions and aggressive drivers to ensure that our students arrive to school safely. On March 12th, CCTA bus drivers voted to strike after months of being pressured by the transit authority to accept serious (and sometimes dangerous) changes to their contract. The bus drivers already work 12.5-hour shifts, but CCTA wanted its drivers to agree to 13.5-hour shifts. CCTA wanted to transition to more part-time positions, leaving more Vermont families without dependable, full-time employment. CCTA has increased surveillance of drivers for disciplinary purposes by reviewing video footage when anonymous complaints are filed. CCTA also continues to make unilateral changes to working conditions, such as regular access to bathroom breaks while drivers are on their shift. As of March 17th, CCTA drivers are on strike. The strike interrupts bus service for thousands of Vermonters, including many of our students. In Burlington, local school children rely on the public buses to get to school, and the vast majority of students who will struggle to find alternative transportation to school during a strike are students who come from lower socio-economic families. We're calling on CCTA to settle a fair contract for its bus drivers and get the buses back on the road. Our students' public bus drivers deserve safe working conditions and fair treatment. We're speaking up for them, and we hope you'll join us by adding your name.

Excessive sales goals put an intense amount of pressure on team members to sell financial products regardless of whether or not they fit needs of customers. Citigroup shouldn't put their employees in a position where they can't win. When a team member is evaluated based on sales goals rather the financial advice they provide to the their customers, it creates a sales culture that boarders on unethical. Sales at all costs is no way to build trust with our communities and puts unnecessary stress on Citigroup workers. Everyone has unique banking needs, and Citibank employees pride themselves on being able to deliver quality products to individuals and small businesses. But when aggressive sales goals compete with customers' needs, one side always wins. We're calling on Citigroup to immediately review its consumer and commercial banking program and lower excessive sales targets for retail bankers.

As Walmart Associates, we want to do the best job we can. We come to work every day and are proud of the job we do. We are the people helping customers, stocking shelves, moving inventory, getting carts and other items to their proper places, and making sure we run the store in the best way possible. However, as we continue to carry out this work, we are finding it difficult to keep food on the table, pay our rent, provide for our family, put gas in our cars, and make ends meet due to the lack of hours in our schedules. Today, we stand before you, asking Walmart to follow-through on its public commitment to provide Associates with MORE HOURS and MORE CLEARLY DEFINED FULL-TIME POSITIONS to be permanently added to our schedules. We believe this will help ensure that every store is running to the best of its abilities and that Associates will not be going home hungry, avoiding medical care because we are worried about the high cost, living paycheck to paycheck and choosing between rent and food. We believe more hours and full-time work is a more viable and successful strategy than continually hiring and firing temps and letting go of longtime Associates with invaluable experience. We believe these changes will benefit customers, as when hours and positions are cut, we are no longer able to carry out the necessary work in a timely, safe and efficient manner. It is the right thing to do; for the store, for the customers, for all Associates. One year ago, Walmart said it would provide Associates the opportunity to work more hours and make available more full-time positions. With $17 billion in profit per year, we believe there is no viable reason why Walmart can't follow-through with its commitment and provide these much needed changes. LEGAL DISCLAIMER: UFCW and OUR Walmart have the purpose of helping Wal-Mart employees as individuals or groups in their dealings with Wal-Mart over labor rights and standards and their efforts to have Wal-Mart publically commit to adhering to labor rights and standards. UFCW and OUR Walmart have no intent to have Walmart recognize or bargain with UFCW or OUR Walmart as the representative of Walmart employees.

XXXX sacked one of our coworkers unfairly. We’ve been trying to convince them to reinstate Scotty, we even went on strike. Now we’re calling on XXXX drinkers all over Queensland to help us out. Scott has worked as a fitter for Lion Nathan (owners of XXXX) for 15 years. In October he was injured at work when some pallets fell. We don’t believe it was Scott’s fault but XXXX sacked him. Scott has two daughters - they're five and seven. Now he's facing Christmas without work. If we all work together - XXXX drinkers, XXXX workers and supporters - we can get Scott his job back.

I came to Australia in March on a student visa, and while studying here, I decided to take a job as a contract cleaner at Brisbane Airport. While working at the airport, I witnessed my employer harass and abuse several of my female colleagues. Until now, everyone was too afraid to speak out. That all changed last week, when five brave women came forward to alert authorities of harassment and sexual abuse they experienced at Brisbane Airport. These women are international students who say their employer forced himself on them in locked rooms, and threatened them with deportation if they resisted. He offered them rides home, then drove into dark alleys with an expectation of sexual favours. And in case there was any confusion about his intent, they say he openly and unapologetically fired any woman who resisted him. Right now, these women are scared of being kicked out of Australia for speaking out -- the very thing they were threatened with by their accused abuser. No one should be punished for alerting police of illegal abuse. As the contractor's employer, BAC needs to speak out in support of these workers remaining in Australia. All the women I work with know what this guy is like, and while he has never done anything to me, I was warned about him when I started working at the airport. I've seen so many young people come here to study, and many have taken on work with airport contractors to cover basic expenses. Some of these contractors are fair-minded, lawful businesses. But too many contractors rely on shadowy business practices to keep costs low. It's in this environment that sexual harassment has been allowed to thrive. The Brisbane Airport cleaning contractor accused of sexually abusing these women should be fired, and if found guilty, jailed. But it's also important that we prevent this from ever happening again. I don't want Brisbane Airport to ever again be the scene of exploitation and abuse. BAC should take steps to ensure that all airport workers are protected from potential exploitation. If enough airport employees, customers and members of the public speak out, Julieanne Alroe will listen. Please add your name and share with others. Together, we can repair the damage that's been done, and make Brisbane Airport a safer workplace for all its workers.

Recently I found out that Bank of America is replacing real, in-person bank tellers with video screens. These video tellers will spend their days in front of a camera, staring at customers through a screen. The bank plans to pay these workers a lower wage than in-person tellers, with far fewer benefits. Being a bank teller is all about building a personal connection with our customers, something that I couldn’t do through a video screen. Often our customers have complex questions – a local business attempting to pay an overseas vendor, or a mother who needs to wire money to a family member. Some are elderly or speak English as a second language. My coworkers and I care about meeting the needs of our customers, and we deserve to make a decent wage while doing so. I went to work as a teller at Bank of America because I thought it would offer me the opportunities I had not received in other industries, like paid vacation days, sick pay, and a decent wage—things that are critical to me as a student trying to make my way through college. Bank of America tried to do this a few years ago, but scrapped its plans. It was a bad idea then, and it still is today – and we need to convince them of that. The fact is that you can’t downsize hands-on customer service. Bank of America’s future depends on the employees who represent the bank in our communities and meet the needs of customers every day. Photo via Charlotte Business Journal (http://bizj.us/qxg6p/i/1)