The New York Times profiles stories on unemployed workers, as the emergency federal unemployment-insurance program – which extended benefits by up to 73 weeks beyond state maximums – is set to expire at the end of the month. Meanwhile, the Washington Post highlights the impact the change will have on each state’s maximum weeks of benefit eligibility in two stark graphics.
The number of asylum claims from immigrants who have entered the U.S. illegally has tripled this year, according to the L.A. Times. The sharp spike in claims is leading some to conclude that many may be fraudulent claims designed to delay deportation, but others say such suspicions shouldn’t alter a process that is vital to protect vulnerable people from persecution abroad.
The nation’s highest municipal minimum wage, $15/hr in SeaTac, Washington passed by referendum earlier this year, is facing a crucial court test today, reports the New York Times. As labor advocates anxiously await the law’s effective date of January 1, 2014, a challenge to the law brought by Alaska Airlines and the Washington Restaurant Association is being heard in a Seattle courtroom today.
New York University teaching assistants have voted by a 620 to 10 margin to join the United Automobile Workers, reports the New York Times. The workers will become the first union of graduate assistants recognized at a private university anywhere in the country.
The Washington Post highlights a cost-of-living pay increase for federal workers contained in the new Budget deal that obtained bi-partisan support in Congress.
Talks between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have collapsed, according to the Wall Street Journal, in the latest wrinkle in the ongoing drama over where the company’s planned 777x jetliner will be manufactured. A Boeing spokesperson stated they had no plans to go back to the negotiating table, characterizing the most recent proposal as their “best and final” offer.
Laura D’Andrea Tyson in the New York Times reviews the evidence on what effect a minimum wage hike has on job numbers and prices.
Daily News & Commentary
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November 26
Whole Foods workers in Philly file for first-ever union under Amazon; Waffle House sues the NLRB; Amazon workers across the world threaten to strike and protest on Black Friday.
November 25
Charlotte Airport workers go on strike; the NLRB rules that Google is a joint employer; farm industry groups petition President-elect Trump to spare their workers from deportation
November 24
Trump picks Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Labor Secretary; German Volkswagen workers on the precipice of major strike.
November 22
In today’s news and commentary, nurses in Michigan vote to unionize and a hotel workers strike continues in Las Vegas. Nurses at Corewell Health in Michigan voted to unionize after a year-long campaign. This election resulted in one of the largest union election victories in nearly 20 years, according to the NLRB, with this election […]
November 21
Workers at electric vehicle battery production complex in Kentucky launch campaign to join the UAW; Amazon workers at company’s largest air facility on the West Coast start union drive to join the Teamsters; and medical residents and fellows affiliated with Brown University organize to join CIR/SEIU Healthcare.
November 20
Philadelphia unions plan a joint strike, Greece faces a 24-hour general strike, and University of California unions set strikes for today and tomorrow.