Maddy Joseph is a student at Harvard Law School.
“Organized labor, once seen as fractured and feckless in the Trump era, gave the Democrat Conor Lamb his edge in Pennsylvania,” says a New York Times analysis of last night’s special election. A Politico analysis also noted Lamb’s strong support from unions, noting that Lamb’s opponent, Rick Saccone, was a strong supporter of “right to work” laws. In the days leading up to the election, NBC detailed Lamb’s labor support here.
Just weeks after the NLRB vacated its decision in Hy-Brand, the Board is being asked to vacate a second decision, in favor of Boeing’s no photos in work areas rule, because of concerns about a conflict of interest by Member William Emanuel. As Bloomberg reports, the ruling “permitted [Boeing] under federal labor law to ban workers from using devices to take photos at certain job sites[,] . . . overturning the NLRB’s 2004 decision in Lutheran Heritage Village-Livonia.” Emanuel’s firm represented Boeing, not in this matter, but in others that raised similar issues.
Strikes continue at universities in the United Kingdom over a plan to convert pensions from defined benefits to a stock-market dependent defined contribution scheme. Members of the University and College Union voted earlier this week to reject a deal that had been negotiated. Their strike will continue for at least a week and may pick up again during student exam period if a deal is not reached before then.
An article in next month’s issue of The Nation argues that the West Virginia teachers won a bigger victory than we’ve been appreciating, emphasizing that the teachers won not just raises but lasting, structural victories, including seats for organized labor on the insurance board and on a health care task force.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
September 14
Workers at Boeing reject the company’s third contract proposal; NLRB Acting General Counsel William Cohen plans to sue New York over the state’s trigger bill; Air Canada flight attendants reject a tentative contract.
September 12
Zohran Mamdani calls on FIFA to end dynamic pricing for the World Cup; the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement opens a probe into Scale AI’s labor practices; and union members organize immigration defense trainings.
September 11
California rideshare deal advances; Boeing reaches tentative agreement with union; FTC scrutinizes healthcare noncompetes.
September 10
A federal judge denies a motion by the Trump Administration to dismiss a lawsuit led by the American Federation of Government Employees against President Trump for his mass layoffs of federal workers; the Supreme Court grants a stay on a federal district court order that originally barred ICE agents from questioning and detaining individuals based on their presence at a particular location, the type of work they do, their race or ethnicity, and their accent while speaking English or Spanish; and a hospital seeks to limit OSHA's ability to cite employers for failing to halt workplace violence without a specific regulation in place.
September 9
Ninth Circuit revives Trader Joe’s lawsuit against employee union; new bill aims to make striking workers eligible for benefits; university lecturer who praised Hitler gets another chance at First Amendment claims.
September 8
DC Circuit to rule on deference to NLRB, more vaccine exemption cases, Senate considers ban on forced arbitration for age discrimination claims.