The Boston Globe reports that employers struggling with the tight labor market are seeking out candidates that they may not have previously considered. For example, Shake Shack is hiring workers who speak little English; Spaulding Rehabilitation Network is placing those with criminal backgrounds; CVS is recruiting workers with disabilities; and others are lowering education and experience requirements. While employers have faced some challenges, they have also found that many formerly “‘hard-to-employ’ people make excellent workers.”
Today, President Trump is in Nashville, Tennessee speaking at the Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention, where he will be the first president to attend in 25 years. The New York Times published a story stating that although farmers helped elect Trump to the White House, Trump Administration policies—particularly tax and trade policies—could hurt the farm industry.
As consumer preferences and behavior change to match the explosion in online shopping, “[retail] employees are trying to deliver the kind of customer service the internet can’t match,” reports the Associated Press as part of its Future of Work series. Last year, 66,500 retail jobs disappeared in the United States, and as many as 60 percent of the remaining jobs will involve changed duties over the next decade.
Associate Professor Sara L. Maurer penned an op-ed in the Chronicle Review arguing against recent criticism of the #MeToo movement. Maurer suggests that the #MeToo movement is about the extra labor that women must do in order to manage harassment in the workplace—labor that men do not share. “The #MeToo movement is one more wave in a long line of feminist calls for careful attention to how women spend their time and energy each day, and one more reminder that women’s expenditures should not be significantly larger than men’s.”
Daily News & Commentary
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December 11
House forces a vote on the “Protect America’s Workforce Act;” arguments on Trump’s executive order nullifying collective bargaining rights; and Penn State file a petition to form a union.
December 8
Private payrolls fall; NYC Council overrides mayoral veto on pay data; workers sue Starbucks.
December 7
Philadelphia transit workers indicate that a strike is imminent; a federal judge temporarily blocks State Department layoffs; and Virginia lawmakers consider legislation to repeal the state’s “right to work” law.
December 5
Netflix set to acquire Warner Bros., Gen Z men are the most pro-union generation in history, and lawmakers introduce the “No Robot Bosses Act.”
December 4
Unionized journalists win arbitration concerning AI, Starbucks challenges two NLRB rulings in the Fifth Circuit, and Philadelphia transit workers resume contract negotiations.
December 3
The Trump administration seeks to appeal a federal judge’s order that protects the CBAs of employees within the federal workforce; the U.S. Department of Labor launches an initiative to investigate violations of the H-1B visa program; and a union files a petition to form a bargaining unit for employees at the Met.