Labor

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D.C. Council members Phil Mendelson (left) and Michael A. Brown (center) listen to American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Executive Director Geo T. Johnson's pitch for compensation for furlough days for city employees. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)

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**FILE** Shoppers at a Best Buy in Victorville, Calif., leave the store March 30, 2012, as an employee walks a big-screen television to their car. (Associated Press/The Victor Valley Daily Press)

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A woman leaves a banner after an April 29, 2012, demonstration against education and health care spending cuts in Madrid. (Associated Press)

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House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee John Kline, Minnesota Republican, and Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Texas Republican, speak about a student loans bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

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American Airlines flight attendants protest at San Francisco International Airport on Monday. The airline wants to eliminate 13,000 union jobs, freeze or terminate pension plans, curb health benefits, reduce time off, and impose many other cuts. American lost more than $10 billion in the decade leading up to its declaration of bankruptcy in November. (Associated Press)

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**FILE** Labor Secretary Hilda Solis speaks Aug. 30, 2011, at the National Press Club in Washington. (Associated Press)

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The vote by Republicans to require Americans to return the full amount of subsidy overpayment for health insurance exchange coverage was blasted Rep. Fortney Pete Stark, California Democrat. (Associated Press)

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Amanda Clayton won a $1 million lottery jackpot but continued to collect food stamps and public health insurance, leading to state welfare fraud charges. (Michigan Lottery via Detroit Free Press)

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Mechanic Doug Isonio works on parts for a Bay Area Rapid Transit subway train at the system's maintenance yard. BART still uses 449 of its original 669 cars from 1972, but circuit boards and other electrical components are no longer manufactured, so employees scour eBay and cannibalize some cars for parts. (Associated Press)

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** FILE ** Office workers leave the headquarters of Sony Corp. in Tokyo Tuesday, April 10, 2012. Faced with mounting losses, Sony Corp. said Thursday April 12, 2012, it will slash 10,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of its global workforce, and turn around its money-losing TV business over the next two years. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, File)