Peter Gosselar 1:31 PM, Dec. 18, 2009

We won some enormous victories this week in our quest to end mandatory binding arbitration.

The amendment of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to prohibit federal contractors from requiring their employees (or subcontractors) from signing mandatory arbitration clauses sailed through a conference committee unscathed and appears destined to become law.

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Rick Claypool 2:38 PM, Dec. 17, 2009

That’s right, more than 125,500 signed our petition to demand an end to the US Chamber of Commerce’s lobbying against Senator Franken’s (D-Minn) amendment to bar defense contractors like Halliburton/KBR from forcing employees with sexual assault and discrimination claims into arbitration.

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Peter Gosselar 5:32 PM, Nov. 20, 2009

The Wall Street Journal reports today that JP Morgan Chase is dropping arbitration from its credit card agreements to settle an anti-trust suit. The super-sized bank had stopped sending cases to arbitration in July, but had not changed its credit card agreements. If the settlement is approved, JP Morgan would drop its arbitration clause for at least three-and-a-half years, starting in 2010.

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Peter Gosselar 10:23 AM, Oct. 29, 2009

The following letter was published Thursday, October 29, in the Washington Post. Stand up to Halliburton, and take action!

 

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Peter Gosselar 9:35 AM, Oct. 15, 2009

John Stewart, America's most trusted newsman, points out the rampant hypocrisy of the thirty senators who voted against Senator Franken's amendment prohibiting the use of any Federal funds to any contractor that "requires that employees or independent contractors sign mandatory arbitration clauses." Check out the video, after the jump (hat tip: HuffPo)

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Peter Gosselar 1:56 PM, Oct. 9, 2009

Senator Al Franken, the new patron saint of fair arbitration, tore into an arbitration apologist Wednesday, administering a beating that one would more expect to see in a boxing ring than a committee hearing room. If you don’t believe me, watch for yourself.

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Peter Gosselar 2:54 PM, Oct. 2, 2009

Good news, Fair Arbitration fans! Two weeks ago, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Jamie Leigh Jones would have her day in court.  The majority opinion was written by the Honorable Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale, veteran of Vietnam and a graduate of West Point, who was appointed to the Federal bench by President George H. W. Bush.

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Graham Steele 10:20 AM, Sep. 17, 2009

If you ever wondered why corporations prefer arbitration, the following video makes one of the reasons pretty clear. In the video, a consumer runs up various unfair overdraft charges and then avails himself of the small claims system to challenge the exorbitant fees. He pays $47.50 in filing fees and spends less than an hour between the bank and the post office. The end result: the bank, Wells Fargo, calls him and settles the case by dropping his charges.

Watch for yourself:

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Peter Gosselar 11:52 AM, Sep. 14, 2009

Mandatory binding arbitration, or “forced arbitration,” is ubiquitous in many industries, according to a study released today by Public Citizen. Seventy-five percent of companies in eight industries use forced arbitration, the organization found in a study released a day before a key congressional subcommittee holds a hearing on whether mandatory binding arbitration is fair or voluntary.

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Graham Steele 8:01 AM, Aug. 19, 2009

The Fair Arbitration Now Coalition is encouraged by Bank of America’s decision to stop requiring its customers to resolve their disputes in the unfair system of forced arbitration.

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