Labor

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**FILE** Thousands of public school teachers rally Sept. 10, 2012, outside the Chicago Public Schools district headquarters on the first day of strike action over teachers' contracts in Chicago. (Associated Press)

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Associated press photographs Micheal Davis, left, Eric Keller, center, and Douglas Norton, right, volunteers with the Protect Our Jobs Coalition, deliver boxes of petitions for a proposal to add collective bargaining rights for workers into the Michigan Constitution to the state Bureau of Elections Wednesday, June 13, 2012, in Lansing, Mich. The Protect Our Jobs initiative was launched in March. It pushes back against a possible right-to-work movement in Michigan, which seeks to ban labor contracts that mandate payments to unions. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

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Workers irrigate a sugar cane field in Jaronu, Cuba. Two years ago, the sugar industry was crippled after the worst harvest in more than a century. (Associated Press)

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A worker directs traffic for street construction in Portland, Ore., Friday, Oct. 5, 2012. The Labor Department reported Friday that the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September, a decline of 0.3 percentage point and the lowest since January 2009. The government said the economy created 114,000 jobs, about as expected, and generated 86,000 more jobs in July and August than first estimated.(AP Photo/)

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A worker directs traffic for street construction in Portland, Ore., Friday, Oct. 5, 2012. The Labor Department reported Friday that the unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September, a decline of 0.3 percentage point and the lowest since January 2009. The government said the economy created 114,000 jobs, about as expected, and generated 86,000 more jobs in July and August than first estimated.(AP Photo/)

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A protester holds a banner that translates as "Financial cuts to banks and church" in Madrid on Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012, as another shouts slogans against health care austerity measures announced by the Spanish government. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

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FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2012, file photo President Barack Obama speaks about manufacturing and jobs during a visit to Intel Corporation's Ocotillo facility in Chandler, Ariz. The economy is weak and the job market brutal. Nearly 13 million Americans can't find work; the national unemployment rate is 8.1 percent, the highest level ever three years after a recession supposedly ended. A divided Washington has done little to ease the misery. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

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FILE - In this July 30, 2011 file photo, Rep. Allen West, R-Fla. talks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Conspiracy theorists came out in force Friday, Oct. 5, 2012, after the government reported a sudden drop in the U.S. unemployment rate one month before Election Day. West agreed with former GE CEO Jack Welch's skepticism of the Labor Department's announcement that the unemployment rate had fallen to 7.8 percent in September from 8.1 percent the month before. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)