The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "labor unions" ...
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Agriprocessors and Beyond: Inside the Kosher Meat Industry
This series of articles looked inside the kosher meat industry, a quietly guarded world worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The reporting began two years ago when the Forward's Nathaniel Popper wrote about the working conditions at the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors, in Postville, Iowa, setting off a wide-ranging debate in Jewish community. The paper has continued to follow the problems at Agriprocessors and reported early in 2008 on the debate withing the kosher industry about a widely used but apparently cruel method of kosher slaughter known as shackled and hoist. Then, in the middle of the year, federal agents, citing the Forward's reporting raided the Agriprocessors' plant in Iowa. Since the raid, the Forward has followed each legal development, but has also reported on elements of the story that were being overlooked. The first such article detailed the way in which Agriprocessors had handled immigrants and unions at its Brooklyn warehouse-sparking a case that went to the Supreme Court. The next set of articles investigated the working conditions in the rest of the kosher eat industry, with particular attention paid to the labor battles at Agriprocessors' biggest competitor, Alle Processing, which had been completely ignored. The article and chart on industry-wide conditions were the first effort to systematically set down the relative size and production of the major players in the kosher meat industry. The Forward also wrote a lengthy report on the immigrant workers from Agriprocessors who had been released from prison and ordered to testify in federal court against their supervisors, but were given no means to support themselves before the hearing date. After Agriprocessors declared bankruptcy, the Forward reported on the unnoticed consequences for the town and its inhabitants, from the lowly turkeys to the local bankers.
Tags: meat processing; kosher meat; agriculture; Agriprocessors; meatpacking; immigrant workers
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Corruption in the 2-million-member Service Employees
This investigation of the nation's fastest-growing labor union uncovered corruption in its largest California local as well as questionable financial practices at several affiliated organizations and its national headquarters. The stories revealed that the president of the California chapter - who represented nearly 200,000 working poor people, caregivers making about $9 an hour - had funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in dues money to himself his relatives, and spent similar sums on golf resorts, expensive restaurants and a Beverly Hills cigar lounge. They also showed that Tyrone Freeman misused two nonprofits for financial gain and political purposes, and that the head of the SEIU's largest Michigan local misappropriated funds from one of the charities. In addition, the stories reported that the SEIU's national office, while holding itself up as a model of reform, paid millions of dollars to consulting firms, nonprofits, and individuals with family ties and other personal connections to the union's top leaders.
Tags: Unions; SEIU; corruption; California; Michigan; Tyrone Freeman
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Chicago's First Family of Clout
The Chicago politics, labor unions and organized crime have been influenced by the family of Bruno Roti Sr., who came to America over 100 years ago. The Sun-Times conducted an extended documentation of the Roti family's ties to the scandals and corruption at Chicago City Hall.
Tags: Mob; Mafia; Bruno Roti; Hired Truck Program; Al Capone
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Inside the UFW
This series takes a look at what the United Farm Workers have become since it was founded over 40 years ago by Cesar Chavez and others. They found that the UFW is not a union in the typical sense; it has not really been able to raise wages for workers or improve working conditions. It has become, instead, a collection of social-service organizations, some of them for profit, some non-profit, for farm workers. Family members of the UFW founders have often inherited leadership roles and sometimes the money which is donated to various social service organizations is not well accounted for.
Tags: Organized labor; farm workers; immigrant labor; Hispanics; Latinos; not for profit organizations; NGO's; Dolores Huerta; union pension plans
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Dog Days: The city makes millions renting out park space to businesses -- and turns its back on labor abuses
New York City makes $60 million annually from Parks Development franchises -- the pushcart vendors in parks around the city. The franchises pay the Department of Parks and Recreation for the rights to operate pushcarts, but the Department turns its back on the mistreated and underpaid vendors.
Tags: franchisees; labor agreements; parks and recreation; concessions; unions
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An Empire Built on Bargains Remakes the Working World
This investigation shows how Wal-Mart as a corporation has both positive and negative effects on the world. The corporation is huge, it is the world's largest corporation and does more than eight times the sales as Microsoft. The article shows how the company prospers by cutting costs in any way possible, but also how its low costs affect the global economy. Factory workers overseas have wages cut down to pennies so Wal-Mart will buy their products, local grocery chains are forced out of business by Wal-Mart superstores and employees who are prohibited from unionizing don't make enough to support a family, even when working forty hours a week. Wal-Mart managers use illegal tactics to keep employees from joining unions and sometimes coerce employers to work overtime without being paid for it.
Tags: corporations; labor unions; wages; retailers; business; workers
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"Whistle stop: Did Northwest Airlines try to muzzle a whistleblower?"
This story investigates the circumstances in which an airline mechanic was fired after reporting a series of safety violations to the FAA. By detailing the mechanic's plight through arbitration testimony, Department of Labor documents, GAO files and other public records, the story shows how industry lobbying and a relaxation of federal oversight have resulted in the "virtual elimination" of whistleblower protections for airline workers.
Tags: airlines; FAA; deregulation; union; transportation
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Organize or Die
Douglas J. McCarron, Chief of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, pulled the carpenters from the AFL-CIO, the national Labor Federation. In this bold move, he made many enemies, but gained as many admirers. Cleeland examines his rise to power and allows him to, as he says, set the record straight.
Tags: unions; labor; carpenters; organized labor
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Labor's front lines
The story tells the struggles of workers in Chicago -many of them Latinos-, a struggle to become unionized and have access to better salaries and working conditions. Franklin explains the unions have lost a great part of the power and influence they had in the 1950's. In the struggle to gain power and influence back, Chicago is a key city because it is "an old-time labor town." In the story, Franklin introduces several leaders of the new union movement, Margarita Klein, Joe Romano, Kina McAfee, Joe Isobaker and Javier Ramirez.
Tags: Jewish Workers Committee; National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice; DePaul University Students Against Sweatshops; Union of Needle and Textile Employees; National Production Workers Union Food and Commercial Workers Union; United Steelworkers of America; American Federation of Labor; U.S. Justice Department; Chicago and North Illinois District Council of Carpenters; Northwestern University; University of Illinois; Service Employees International Union
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Up Against Wal-Mart: At the world's largest and most profitable retailer, low wages, unpaid overtime, and union busting are a way of life. Now Wal-Mart workers are fighting back.
Article explains how some people allege Wal-Mart treats its employees unfairly. According to the article, "The National Labor Relations Board has ruled that Wal-Mart repeatedly broke the law by interrogating workers, confiscating union literature, and firing union supporters."
Tags: labor; unions; wal-mart; national labor relations board; rules; anti-union; workers; employee