Labor

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As council chairman, Vincent C. Gray took the lead in voting down the contract award, thus necessitating a rebid, according to the memo. (The Washington Times)

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Tire inspector Buddy Rice checks for defects in the tire-verification area at a Michelin manufacturing plant in Greenville, S.C., in July. U.S. factory activity shrank for the third straight month in August as new orders, production and employment all fell. Weak consumer spending and steady declines in business orders for large machinery are slowing factory output. (Associated Press)

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City Council Members wave to spectators during the Labor Day parade. (Craig Bisacre/The Washington Times)

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Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign stop at the United Auto Workers Local 1714 Union Hall, Friday, Aug. 31, 2012, in Lordstown, Ohio. (AP Photo/Mark Stahl)

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Jane Edmonds, former Massachusetts Secretary of Workforce addresses the Republican National Convention. (Rod Lamkey, Jr./ The Washington Times)

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South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley boasted Tuesday that airplanes at Boeing’s new plant in her state are made by “6,000 nonunion employees.” (Associated Press)

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New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie bragged Tuesday he wasn’t afraid to take on “the third rail of politics … public sector unions.” Union bashing has been a unifying theme at the Republican National Convention. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Terri Doring lost her secretarial job at a Philadelphia law firm in 2009. She now is on the verge of losing much of what remains of her middle-class lifestyle and is scrambling to make mortgage payments on her town house. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Terri Doring lost her secretarial job at a Philadelphia law firm in 2009. She now is on the verge of losing much of what remains of her middle-class lifestyle and is scrambling to make mortgage payments on her town house. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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A power plant kept the IBM campus in Endicott, N.Y., running during the boom years. Employees enjoyed good pay, benefits and job security for years, but IBM has not been immune to the economic challenges faced by other U.S. companies. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)