Takeaways: Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas has essentially invited immigrants to come and fill the local labor pool. He’s offering officials in New York and Denver help from the crush of immigrants in those cities and welcoming foreign workers to Kansas City. That quickly sparked accusations that Lucas appeared bent on making Kansas City a […]
Labor
Posted inHealth, Labor
Kansas City nurses kick off contract talks saying they’re prepared to strike
Takeaways: When nurses rallied outside Research Medical Center this week to kick off contract negotiations, the refrain rang familiar. “Hey HCA,” the nurses’ signs read. “Put patients over profits.” In an increasingly unionized health care industry, still recovering from the pandemic, nurses across the country demand that hospitals beef up staffing and improve working conditions. […]
Posted inEconomics, Elections, Labor
Construction unions back the Royals stadium, while low-wage workers are still demanding more
Takeaways: Kansas City construction worker unions find many things to like about extending the 3/8-cent sales tax to build a new Royals stadium and maintain Arrowhead Stadium — such as new jobs. But service workers who would fill the jobs in and around a new ballpark in the Crossroads Arts District say they’re being left […]
Posted inLabor
Jackson County sent the Royals stadium tax to the ballot. Now, labor gears up for tough talks
Takeaways: The Kansas City Royals want voters to promise four more decades of tax money to underwrite a new stadium. Parking attendants, beer vendors and the other people who tend to fans want more leverage on their wages. And the Royals say the team stands willing to bargain, offering to enter into a community benefits […]
Posted inEconomics, Labor, Local Government, State Government
Uber-style rides seen as a tool for public transit in rural and urban Missouri
Takeaways: For about as long as passengers have stepped onto buses, public transportation in most of Missouri has meant fixed routes and schedules. The idea of on-demand, point-to-point service as a public amenity was unheard of. Today, those rides are being offered in Kansas City and St. Louis. Smaller Missouri cities are mulling whether microtransit […]
Posted inLabor
Kansas City cannabis dispensary workers win union to gain leverage in a growing industry
Takeaways:1. Workers at the Homestate Dispensary have voted to establish the first cannabis union in the area in the Kansas City market. 2. Homestate employees have complained about not receiving paid holidays and a lack of security in the workplace. They want better pay, job security, better health insurance and protections from wrongful termination. 3. This unionization […]
Posted inLabor
What is solutions journalism and why do we do it? A look at past coverage
At The Beacon, it is our mission to produce stories that shine a light on wrongdoings and abuse by government, businesses and other powerful institutions through in-depth, solutions-driven journalism. With a solutions focus ingrained into the fabric of our publication, we’re looking to do something different and fill in gaps where they might exist in […]
Posted inLabor
Food and retail employers at the new KCI terminal hiring for hundreds of positions
If hiring goes according to plan, food and retail businesses in the new terminal of Kansas City International Airport will employ 1,000 workers over the next 15 years. But so far, five months after the terminal opened in February, employers at MCI are hundreds of workers shy of that goal. There are 600 employees at […]
Posted inLabor
‘We can’t keep putting our lives on the line’: Kansas City bus drivers detail the safety risks they face
Sherrita Jackson was a bus driver for 21 years before she got fed up with abuse from passengers and switched careers in 2021. At the time, a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, passengers were required to wear masks. A passenger not wearing a mask boarded Jackson’s bus and refused to comply with the mandate. “He […]
Posted inLabor
KC group wants to give Black children the skills to succeed in tech
In more than two decades of working in the tech industry, Tammy Buckner rarely saw co-workers who look like her. “I didn’t see women represented in technology and specifically Black women represented in technology,” said Buckner, who has held jobs such as software developer, project manager and business analyst. In 2018, she asked a friend […]