In preparation for a possible strike by American Airlines' flight attendants, with whom the company is negotiating a new contract, AA is scouring the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area for 4,000 of what it's calling "volunteers" who can undergo a 17-day training program and then report to the skies for snack-handling and pillow-distributing duties. The word "volunteers" doesn't imply "no pay" to just me, does it? Or is it just American's attempt to appear all "let's roll up our sleeves and get to work, comrades" about what looks to be a somewhat pitched battle between labor and management? [Pic via]

A USA Today overview of the way people are pinching pennies speaks to one Leigh Gostowski, a Tennessee resident who's decided to cut back on her spending habits. Gone are the $200 weekly shopping sprees at Macy's and Dillards; they've been replaced by book clubs and needlepoint circles and actually spending time with friends! "I know it will be a permanent change in my life because I enjoy it so much more," Gostowski says of her new, thrifty ways. But no one thought to ask her cats if they were enjoying their owner's new outlook on life!

"While dropping $9,000 to work – for free! – at the Huffington Post is certainly a lot of money, it's actually down from last year's winning bid of $13,000."

For the second straight week, Labor Department economists are ascribing an uptick in the number of initial jobless claims to Easter-the 18,000-claim gain for the week ending April 3 was attributed to the holiday coming up, while the 24,000 increase for the week ending April 10 was blamed on both Easter and Cesar Chavez Day. The latter is a state holiday in California, which The Wall Street Journal referred to in its report as "worker-heavy." (Ironically? Who even knows!) According to Bloomberg this is actually the second of three weeks that Easter will muck up the jobless-claim stats, thanks to its floating-holiday status making it tough to seasonally [...]

TransUnion is fighting tooth and nail to prevent legislation that would prevent employers from using credit histories during the course of employment screening, what with the economy being as lousy as it is and people being more likely to have dings on their records these days. The company is even going so far as to attempt sleights-of-language in their efforts! The problem, of course, comes when that sort of trickery actually works, as it almost did with one poor Illinois legislator who apparently didn't understand the specific reasons for the bill's existence before allowing a lobbyist to goad him into suggesting some modifications.

Today's feel-queasy story: An employee of Lathrop, Calif., gave up her job in the city's finance department in order to save the position of a 60-year-old accountant who was faced with becoming one of 11 municipal layoffs. "I could cope with the loss of a job better than my co-workers," Patricia Overy told the Lathrop City Council during a meeting where the reductions in workforce were being discussed. The response from the mayor? "'Thank you' just doesn't do it." Uh, you think?