Alliant Staffing News Release (02/03/13)

Alliant Staffing has acquired Perioperative Nurses Inc. This is Alliant’s third acquisition in four years. Alliant president Marvin H. Rabovsky says that specialty nurses are in critical demand nationwide, and that this latest acquisition increases the company’s footprint and coverage areas. PNI, which has been searching for a corporate staffing partner with a national presence, indicated that there is a high immediate demand for operating room, postanesthesia care unit, and intensive care unit nurses around the country.

Fox News (02/05/13)

Officials with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO will meet today to discuss the possibility of a federal guest worker program that would ensure legal entry of immigrants coming to the U.S. Business and labor leaders also will meet with President Obama today in separate meetings to talk about a number of issues, including immigration reform and how it might affect the economy. The Chamber of Commerce “views the existence of a temporary worker program as vital to a comprehensive immigration bill,” says spokeswoman Blair Latoff Holmes. Although the U.S. currently has a number of temporary worker programs, they are considered outdated and unwieldy.

Reuters (02/04/13)

The ADP Research Institute’s 2012 Study of Large Employer Health Benefits, based on data from about 300 nonunion U.S. companies employing 1,000 or more workers, reveals that 68% of the full-time work force selected employer-sponsored health coverage, versus 8% of the part-time work force. However, the number of part-time employees eligible for benefits is expected to rise in 2014, as the Affordable Care Act specifies that employees who work at least 30 hours per week or 130 hours per month are automatically eligible for employer-sponsored health plans. The study also shows that employers with more than 5,000 workers pay 14% less in health insurance premiums as a group than employers with 1,000 to 2,499 employees.