In 2003 CNN replaced unionized subcontractor TVS, which provided camera and technical services to CNN, with nonunion staffers. The NLRB upheld the earlier ruling declaring CNN a joint employer with TVS and ordered CNN to offer employment to more than 100 contract employees, "make whole" any of the 300 affected workers who suffered a loss of earnings or benefits, and to cease and desist from any anti-union activities.
According to a report by Florida International University, since the 1980 the wages of the highest-paid 25 percent of Florida workers has risen at three times the rate of the lowest-paid 25 percent of workers. The lowest-paid workers saw their wages rise only $2,000 in the last 33 years, a 14 percent increase, as compared to those earning the most, who saw their wages rise $28,000, a 47 percent increase. Nationally, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median wealth of the poorest 20 percent of households has fallen from negative $905 in 2000 to negative $6,029 in 2011.
Florida's alternative to Obamacare, Florida Health Choices, has only 30 customers, despite the state spending $2.4 million in taxpayer funding on the program. The program has not been able to secure contracts with any major health insurers and currently only offers discount vision and dental programs. The Florida Legislature provided $1.5 million in startup funding in 2008 and an additional $900,000 in 2014, and the chief executive officer of the program has stated that they would need 67,000 customers to cover costs. In 2013 Florida had 3.9 million residents, 20 percent of all residents, that lacked health insurance. Florida ranked behind only Texas and Nevada in percentage of residents without health insurance.