Like many front-line workers across the country, Denise Kohr saw her pay at Amazon increase over the past year; as for her say, not so much.

“They don’t want to hear from me,” complained Kohr, who has picked and packed products at a fulfillment center in Carlisle, Pa., since 2018.

Kohr — who after a 25-cent bump last fall, along with a shift change that boosted her wage, now makes $22.95 an hour — wishes she earned more money. But her bigger frustration is this: Whenever she makes a suggestion about how work should get done, she is invariably dismissed by management. “It can’t possibly be a good idea,” she said, if it’s coming from an entry-level employee.

A tight job market and smart public policy have translated into wage gains for many lower-income workers. Though it’s unclear how long the trend will last, and there is still a long way to go for tens of millions to reach a true living wage, those at the lower end of the pay distribution have made up a ton of ground since the COVID-19 pandemic.

But while the pay gap has narrowed, what scholars call the “voice gap” doesn’t seem to have budged.

New research reveals that a majority of workers, young and old, don’t believe they have the right amount of say when it comes to compensation and paths to promotion. A sizable gap also exists on issues such as training and scheduling. Meanwhile, Gallup polling shows that only 30% of U.S. employees feel their opinions at work count.

This lack of voice comes against the backdrop of a “hot labor summer,” with Southern California hotel workers, as well as Hollywood writers and actors, going on strike, and UPS drivers threatening to do so before the Teamsters union was able to win what it termed a “historic” contract in July. The United Auto Workers, whose contract is up in September, are the latest to consider taking to the picket lines.

At least some of the agitation can be interpreted as a blowback to constant stifling by corporate America. “All we want is … to have a little more dignity, and to have more of a say in what we have to do on a day-to-day basis,” Jaysin Saxton, a worker and union organizer at a Starbucks in Augusta, Ga., told a Senate committee in March.

Perhaps the most curious thing about companies not listening more to their workers is that it’s bad for business. Gallup estimates that if 6 in 10 employees had faith that their opinions matter, rather than just 3 in 10, organizations could realize a 27% reduction in turnover, a 40% drop in safety-related incidents, and a 12% uptick in productivity. When workers use their voice, it can also spur innovation — an indication that many employees are eager to contribute, not just carp.

So why, then, don’t more companies seek employee input?

For one thing, executives tend to be confident they have a pulse on their employees’ thinking, thanks to HR surveys, on-site visits and “open-door” policies that, at least in theory, allow workers to contact upper management without fear of retaliation. The problem is that these mechanisms are prescribed by the company itself. “Those are not substitutes for real worker voice,” said Tom Kochan, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Indeed, some executives find giving workers more real say even tougher to do than raising pay because that requires sharing something more precious than money: a bit of their power. In addition, managers worry that allowing workers more voice might lead to unionization — something most employers are determined to defy at all costs.

Still, the fear of collective bargaining explains only part of management’s unwillingness to heed workers’ recommendations. “It’s deeper than that,” said Bianca Agustin, co-executive director of United for Respect, a workers’ rights organization. “It’s just a disrespect for working people and what management thinks they can bring to the table.”

As an example, Agustin pointed to a shareholder resolution at Walmart submitted by an hourly worker and United for Respect member named Cynthia Murray. Her proposal sought an independent review of company policies and practices on workplace safety and violence, including gun violence. “As a 22-year Walmart associate,” Murray declared, “I am personally invested in keeping myself and my fellow associates safe at work.”

At Walmart’s annual meeting in May, Murray’s resolution received nearly 24% of the vote — well above the 20% threshold that proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis says should lead the board of directors to “engage with shareholders … and demonstrate some initial level of responsiveness.” Yet Walmart won’t meet with Murray, telling her in a letter that it already regularly reviews its protocols to “ensure a safe and healthy work environment.”

“If she were any other shareholder — not a worker — the vote would have triggered a dialogue,” Agustin said. “It’s very discouraging.”

All sorts of notions have been put forth to bolster workers’ voice: placing rank-and-file employees on corporate boards, creating European-style works councils, expanding employee ownership and more.

But the most straightforward approach is to make it easier for workers to unionize — something that has proved a very tall order despite a surge in organizing efforts over the last few years and soaring popularity for unions. In 2022, a mere 10.1% of American workers were unionized, the lowest rate on record.

As the hot labor summer fades to fall, it’s hard to be sure what will become of the high-profile union drives underway. Even where labor organizers make inroads, like at Starbucks, companies can take advantage of toothless labor laws and delay negotiating, in hopes that worker excitement for a union will wither away.

Not only would that mark another setback for workers seeking more control over employment conditions, but it would imperil a chance to elevate the voice of the worker in national affairs.

A rich body of scholarship has established a clear connection between union strength on the one hand and political stability and economic and social justice on the other. With unions diminished, “you create the room for demagogues to grow,” said Ray Marshall, who served as Labor secretary under President Carter.

By contrast, when unions had a more robust presence in the United States, representing a third or so of all workers in the 1950s and ’60s, organized labor played a key role in civil rights and other movements pushing for equality.

Unions are mechanisms for building civic bonds and engagement. “People want to know how to get involved,” said John Ahlquist, a professor at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. “You get a very different answer if it’s coming from the Proud Boys than if it’s coming from a union.”

When employees’ voices are ignored or squelched, it is terrible for workplace democracy. It may be even worse for American democracy.

DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various author’s articles on this Opinion piece or elsewhere online or in the newspaper where we have articles with the header “COLUMN/EDITORIAL & OPINION” do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or official policies of the Publisher, Editor, Reporters or anybody else in the Staff of the Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle Newspaper.

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Evan Crosby | Newsbreak

The Inland Empire continues to be one of the fastest growing regions in California, as well as the United States.

The Riverside-San Bernardino area has become a major hub for warehouses and distribution centers for several large companies like Amazon and Toyota.

1. Team Nurses Home Health Services, Inc – Physical Therapist

Team Nurses Home Health Services in San Bernardino is hiring multiple physical therapists. The company has both full-time and part-time openings available.

These jobs pay $75 an hour. Qualified candidates must have a physical therapy license and (preferably) a CPR license.

2. Aviation Structure Repairs – Station Coordinator

Aviation Structure Repairs in San Bernardino is hiring to fill multiple station coordinator positions. These full-time jobs pay up to $90,000 a year and include full benefits.

Candidates should have at least one year of customer service experience.

3. Aldi – Warehouse Maintenance Worker

Aldi has multiple openings for first shift maintenance workers at the company’s Moreno Valley warehouse. These full-time positions pay $32.60 an hour and include employee benefits.

4. Uline – Warehouse Department Manager

Uline is looking to fill multiple department manager roles at the company’s Rancho Cucamonga warehouse. These jobs pay between $75,000 and $125,000 a year.

Furthermore, these positions come with competitive benefits.

5. Samplers, Inc – Drink Sampler

Samplers is hiring multiple drink samplers in Rancho Cucamanga. These part-time jobs pay $30 an hour.

Candidates should have a driver’s license and at least one year of customer service experience.

6. Riverside Community Hospital – Patient Access Manager

Riverside Community Hospital is hiring to fill multiple patient access manager roles. These on-call jobs pay between $74,942 and $104,936 a year and include full employee benefits.

Applicants should have a bachelor’s degree in business (or a related field) and at least two years of healthcare management experience.

7. Summit Solar & Roofing, Inc – Project Manager

Summit Solar & Roofing in San Bernardino has multiple openings for project manager roles. These full-time positions pay between $93,681 and $101,888 a year and come with flexible schedules.

Qualified candidates should have at least one year of project management experience.

8. Thrive Staffing – Professional Cannabis Trimmer

Thrive Staffing is hiring both full-time and contract professional cannabis trimmers in Perris. These jobs pay up to $45 an hour and also include the opportunity for bonus pay.

Candidates should have at least two years of cannabis trimming experience.

9. David Engineering & Mfg – Sales Associate

David Engineering in Corona is seeking a full-time sales associate. The job pays $70,000 a year and includes employee benefits.

Applicants should have at least three years of sheet metal fabrication experience.

10. Rancho Pacific Electric Inc – Project Accountant

Rancho Pacific Electric in Rancho Cucamanga is hiring multiple construction project accountants. These full-time jobs pay up to $32 an hour and come with full benefits.

Qualified candidates must have accounts payable experience, including at least two years of GAAP experience. Furthermore, it’s helpful for applicants to have construction industry knowledge.

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Jobs, jobs, jobs. Signs are up in stores and other business windows all over the country. Go online and there are thousands of jobs in every category under the sun. So why is it that when you submit dozens of requests for applications (and you submit them), you aren’t getting hired, despite the fact that you are more than just qualified? Your resume would make any employer delighted to bring you aboard. The past couple of weeks, I’ve spoken to dozens of men who find themselves in that situation. Qualified but no thanks. Over-qualification is a red light of age discrimination. The resume is great except for one flaw. You are too old. Oh, they don’t tell you that because they would be admitting that they are in violation of the law.

Age discrimination is a rapidly growing crime problem in the State of California. You ask if it is a crime. You bet it is and employers are practicing that crime every day. Remember the last time you applied for employment and thought you were a shoe-in? They never called back. Know what happened? You were a victim of age discrimination in the workplace.

You say, “I’m only 53 and my doctor says I’m in perfect health.” All true, but you have a disease that is common to millions. You are too old. You can argue your case all day but you contacted the age disease the day you turned 41. Forty is the cut-off age is 40; employers are not looking for middle-aged help even though they are the most dependable and are not all-night party animals. They are usually settled in with families and not likely to be fly-by-night employees who will walk away without notice.

That is the least noticeable age discrimination. It is even worse for a long-time employee looking forward to retirement in a few years, who suffers from employers who continue to find fault with you as near retirement. Some are getting cut off from their pensions because of age discrimination. It is often coupled with elder abuse. Maybe you thought that to be something happening in the family. It is common in the workplace.

Most times, when a company or business seems to be concentrating on younger employees, they are either unknowingly or intentionally practicing age discrimination. In California, it is unlawful to lay off staff based on age, yet it is a common practice to do so. The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA) is a federal law that explicitly prevents age discrimination in staff reductions, corporate restructurings, and in the offering of employee benefits.

So, the next time you see a healthy man, well-qualified for work, not employed, don’t be so quick to call him a bum. He may be the victim of age discrimination in the workplace. Pillars of the community practice such discrimination in their businesses every day. Just sayin’

rusty strait@gmail.com

• DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various author’s articles on this Opinion piece or elsewhere online or in the newspaper where we have articles with the header “COLUMN/EDITORIAL & OPINION” do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints or official policies of the Publisher, Editor, Reporters or anybody else in the Staff of the Hemet and San Jacinto Chronicle Newspaper.

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The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department will be hosting a Career Fair on Sunday, May 15, 2022, at 78870 CA-111, La Quinta, CA. The event will take place from 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM and is open to all members of the public.

Department employees will be on-site to provide career information and assist anyone interested in a career in law enforcement and all current career openings within the Sheriff’s Department such as Deputy Sheriff Trainee, Correctional Deputy, 911 Dispatcher and more.

Riverside County Sheriff, Chad Bianco, will be there to meet and greet members of the public. Department members from specialized teams and divisions, will be available to provide information about their assignments within our department. There will be static displays from various specialized teams such as SWAT Team, Aviation, SERT, Dive Team, and a live K-9 demonstration.

Please visit our Facebook page or Instagram at Join RSD for information about this and future recruiting events.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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Hospitals around the U.S. are increasingly taking the extraordinary step of allowing nurses and other workers infected with the coronavirus to stay on the job if they have mild symptoms or none at all.

The move is a reaction to the severe hospital staffing shortages and crushing caseloads that the omicron variant is causing.

California health authorities announced over the weekend that hospital staff members who test positive but are symptom-free can continue working. Some hospitals in Rhode Island and Arizona have likewise told employees they can stay on the job if they have no symptoms or just mild ones.

The highly contagious omicron variant has sent new cases of COVID-19 exploding to over 700,000 a day in the U.S. on average, obliterating the record set a year ago. The number of Americans in the hospital with the virus is running at about 108,000, just short of the peak of 124,000 last January.

Many hospitals are not only swamped with cases but severely shorthanded because of so many employees out with COVID-19.

At the same time, omicron appears to be causing milder illness than the delta variant.

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that health care workers who have no symptoms can return to work after seven days with a negative test, but that the isolation time can be cut further if there are staffing shortages.

France last week announced it is allowing health care workers with mild or no symptoms to keep treating patients rather than isolate.

In the Phoenix area, Dignity Health, a major hospital operator, sent a memo to staff members saying those infected with the virus who feel well enough to work may request clearance from their managers to go back to caring for patients.

“We are doing everything we can to ensure our employees can safely return to work while protecting our patients and staff from the transmissibility of COVID-19,” Dignity Health said in a statement.

In California, the Department of Public Health said the new policy was prompted by “critical staffing shortages.” It asked hospitals to make every attempt to fill openings by bringing in employees from outside staffing agencies.

Also, infected workers will be required to wear extra-protective N95 masks and should be assigned to treat other COVID-19-positive patients, the department said.

“We did not ask for this guidance, and we don’t have any information on whether hospitals will adopt this approach or not,” said Jan Emerson-Shea, a spokesperson for the California Hospital Association. “But what we do know is that hospitals are expecting many more patients in the coming days than they’re going to be able to care for with the current resources.”

Emerson-Shea said many hospital workers have been exposed to the virus, and are either sick or caring for family members who are.

The 100,000-member California Nurses Association came out against the decision and warned it will lead to more infections.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state health leaders “are putting the needs of health care corporations before the safety of patients and workers,” Cathy Kennedy, the association’s president, said in a statement. “We want to care for our patients and see them get better — not potentially infect them.”

Earlier this month in Rhode Island, a state psychiatric hospital and a rehabilitation center allowed staff who tested positive for COVID-19 but were asymptomatic to work.

At Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital, chief medical officer Dr. Hany Atallah said they are not yet at the breaking point and that workers who test positive are staying away for five days. “We still have to be very careful to prevent spread in the hospital,” he said.

Kevin Cho Tipton, a nurse at Jackson Memorial, said he understands why hospitals are eager to have employees come back after five days of isolation. Yet he worries about the potential risk, especially for patients at higher risk of infection, such as those receiving transplants.

“Yes, Omicron is less deadly, but we still don’t know much,” he said.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — One reason America’s employers are having trouble filling jobs was starkly illustrated in a report Tuesday: Americans are quitting in droves.

The Labor Department said that quits jumped to 4.3 million in August, the highest on records dating back to December 2000, and up from 4 million in July. That’s equivalent to nearly 3% of the workforce. Hiring also slowed in August, the report showed, and the number of jobs available fell to 10.4 million, from a record high of 11.1 million the previous month.

The data helps fill in a puzzle that is looming over the job market: Hiring slowed sharply in August and September, even as the number of posted jobs was near record levels. In the past year, open jobs have increased 62%. Yet overall hiring, as measured by Tuesday’s report, has actually declined slightly during that time.

The jump in quits strongly suggests that fear of the delta variant is partly responsible for the shortfall in workers. In addition to driving quits, fear of the disease probably caused plenty of those out of work to not look for, or take, jobs.

As COVID-19 cases surged in August, quits soared in restaurants and hotels from the previous month and rose in other public-facing jobs, such as retail and education. Nearly 900,000 people left jobs at restaurants, bars, and hotels in August, up 21% from July. Quits by retail workers rose 6%.

Yet in industries such as manufacturing, construction, and transportation and warehousing, quits barely increased. In professional and business services, which includes fields such as law, engineering, and architecture, where most employees can work from home, quitting was largely flat.

Other factors also likely contributed to the jump in quits. With many employers desperate for workers and wages rising at a healthy pace, workers have a much greater ability to demand higher pay, or go elsewhere to find it.

The data from August is probably too early to reflect the impact of vaccine mandates. President Joe Biden’s mandate was not announced until Sept. 9. United Airlines announced its mandate in early August, but it was one of the first companies to do so. And layoffs were unchanged in August, the report found.

The government said Friday that job gains were weak for a second straight month in September, with only 194,000 jobs added, though the unemployment rate fell to 4.8% from 5.2%. Friday’s hiring figure is a net total, after quits, retirements, and layoffs are taken into account. Tuesday’s report, known as the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, includes raw figures, and showed that total hiring in August fell sharply, to 6.3 million from 6.8 million in July.

The data is “highlighting the immense problems businesses are dealing with,” said Jennifer Lee, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, in an email. “Not enough people. Not enough equipment and/or parts. Meantime, customers are waiting for their orders, or waiting to place their orders. What a strange world this is.”

Quits also rose the most in the South and Midwest, the government said, the two regions with the worst COVID outbreaks in August.

When workers quit, it is typically seen as a good sign for the job market, because people usually leave jobs when they already have other positions or are confident they can find one. The large increase in August probably does reflect some of that confidence among workers.

But the fact that the increase in quits was heavily concentrated in sectors that involve close contact with the public is a sign that fear of COVID also played a large role. Many people may have quit even without other jobs to take.

The sharp increase in job openings also has an international dimension: Job vacancies have reached a record level in the United Kingdom, though that is partly because many European workers left the U.K. after Brexit.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The signs and banners are dotted along suburban commercial strips and hanging in shop windows and restaurants, evidence of a new desperation among America’s service-industry employers: “Now Hiring, $15 an hour.”

It is hardly the official federal minimum wage — at $7.25, that level hasn’t been raised since 2009 — but for many lower-skilled workers, $15 an hour has increasingly become a reality.

Businesses, particularly in the restaurant, retail and travel industries, have been offering a $15 wage to try to fill enough jobs to meet surging demand from consumers, millions of whom are now spending freely after a year in lockdown. And many of the unemployed, buoyed by stimulus checks and expanded jobless aid, feel able to hold out for higher pay.

The change since the pandemic has been swift. For years, and notably in the 2020 presidential race, labor advocates had trumpeted $15 an hour as a wage that would finally allow low-paid workers to afford basic necessities and narrow inequality. It struck many as a long-term goal.

Now, many staffing companies say $15 an hour is the level that many businesses must pay to fill their jobs.

“That number is not a coincidence,” said Aaron Sojourner, an economist at the University of Minnesota. “It’s the number that those activists and workers put on the table 10 years ago, and built a movement towards.”

Even so, millions of Americans are still earning less than $15 an hour. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office calculates that even by 2025, roughly 17 million workers will remain below that level.

Yet at ZipRecruiter, the number of job postings on the site that are advertising $15 an hour has more than doubled since 2019, said Julia Pollak, labor economist for the company. The proportion of jobs that offer 401(k) retirement accounts, flexible scheduling, signing bonuses and other benefits has risen, too.

The beneficiaries are people like Maggie Himmel, who started working at the Flowers for Dreams flower shop in Milwaukee last fall for $12.50 an hour. In January, the company raised its minimum wage to $15.

The higher pay allowed Himmel, 22, to move into her own apartment after sharing living space with her sister. She is earning more than she did before the pandemic, when she worked part time at a flower shop in Kalamazoo, Michigan, for about $11 an hour.

“Moving out on my own was a huge goal for me,” she said. “I was so happy to get that news.”

Steven Dyme, the owner of Flowers for Dreams, said the $15 minimum made it much easier for him to staff up once the economy reopened this spring and demand for flowers, particularly for weddings, soared.

Dyme, whose company has four locations — one in Chicago, one in Milwaukee and two in Detroit — says he’s fully staffed, with 80 full- and part-time workers.

At $15 an hour, he said, “I saw a markedly different picture in how fast we could recruit and in the experience level of workers.”

Mathieu Stevenson, the CEO of Snagajob, a site for hourly workers, says a handful of restaurant chains are going so far as to offer retirement plans — he calls it the “white collarization” of blue collar jobs — as benefits once reserved for professionals are being offered to some service workers.

“The $15 an hour debate,” Stevenson said, “is essentially being resolved through market forces.”

Yet other trends have also helped drive the movement toward a $15 wage. The Fight for $15 labor movement has organized strikes by fast food workers and has lobbied states and cities for higher minimum wages. Thirty states and the District of Columbia have adopted wage floors that exceed the $7.25 federal minimum. Eleven states have passed laws that will lift their minimum wages to $15 over time. Among them is Florida, where voters last year approved a measure raising the minimum to $15 by 2026.

Other states on track to a $15 an hour wage floor include California, Illinois, New York and Virginia. Ben Zipperer, an economist at the liberal Economic Policy Institute, estimates that four in 10 workers live in states where the minimum is set to reach $15 in the coming years.

The National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for low-income workers, calculates that 26 million people, or about 16% of workers, have received higher pay because of all the state and local minimum wage increases since 2012, though often to less than $15 an hour.

The increases have disproportionately benefited Black and Hispanic workers, the report found. Historically, higher minimum wages have been found to reduce racial wage gaps.

The $7.25-an-hour federal minimum wage has now gone the longest stretch without an increase since it was first introduced in July 2009. Labor Department data showed that last year, only about 250,000 people — fewer than 0.5% of all workers — earned that wage.

Many employers are having to pay more to keep up with larger companies, including Amazon, Costco and Target, that have announced their own pay raises to $15 or more. More recently, Under Armour, Southwest Airlines and Best Buy have adopted $15 wage floors.

Economic research has found that when a large company raises pay, nearby employers feel compelled to follow suit. A study led by Ellora Derenoncourt, a Princeton University economist, found that companies in local markets that compete with Amazon, Target or Walmart generally responded by matching their wage hikes dollar-for-dollar. Derenoncourt’s research also found that when companies seek to match the pay offered by their large competitors, they often end up employing fewer people, though the impact is relatively small.

Some economists argue that a federal minimum wage increase to $15 an hour — more than double the current minimum — will cost jobs. The CBO, in its most recent assessment, said that it would mean 1.4 million fewer jobs by 2025. Yet the CBO also found that as many as 27 million people would receive pay increases.

One factor that’s helping fuel higher wages is a change in outlook among many lower-paid workers, millions of whom were laid off when COVID-19 first erupted in the spring of 2020. Some who worked at grocery stores, restaurants or hotels now don’t want to return to those jobs — at least at the same pay.

And three rounds of stimulus checks, plus a $300-a-week federal unemployment benefit, have made it easier for them to turn down jobs that don’t pay enough. Pollak, at ZipRecruiter, notes that with the extra unemployment benefit, jobless aid on average pays about $625 a week — equivalent to about $15 an hour.

That’s likely a big reason why a March survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that workers without a college degree have raised the minimum pay they expect from a job by a whopping 26% from a year earlier.

Economists are uncertain whether or how long hefty pay gains will last. But many predict that when the $300 federal benefit for the unemployed expires in September, schools reopen, and more mothers return to work with their children in school full time, the influx of workers will make it easier to hire and reduce the pressure on employers to raise wages.

Nebraska is among the states that have stopped paying the $300 benefit and has reinstated requirements that jobless people document that they are searching for work. Greg Sulentic, who owns an Express Employment staffing agency franchise in Lincoln, Nebraska, said those steps have attracted more job-seekers but have hardly been a panacea. In the offices he oversees, there are still 1,300 jobs to be filled.

Sulentic said pay rates have jumped since the pandemic, with workers that made $10 to $11 an hour last year now getting $15 or $16.

“We’ve seen wage growth like we’ve never before seen in this industry, and I’ve been doing this for 25 years,” he said.

Some employers, he said, have been reluctant to increase pay, but “it’s been very difficult for those companies to hire on and retain employees.”

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