The BBC has made progress in closing the wage gap between its male and female stars, but its dozen highest-paid stars continue to be all men. An enormous pay disparity at the network was revealed last year, causing outrage among many employees and members of the British public. Since last year, the median pay gap for men and women doing comparable work has dropped from 9.3% to 7.6%, but equal-pay advocates says the network still has a lot of room for improvement.
Trial began this week in a sexual harassment suit against Columbia Business School. Enrichetta Ravina, a former professor at the school, alleges that she was denied tenure because she complained to school officials about another professor’s inappropriate sexual advances. Ms. Ravina has sued the school for over $20 million in damages.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that teachers’ unions in Florida have noticed an uptick in membership after the state passed a new law targeted at the unions. The law, which did not apply to any public employees other than teachers, said that a union could be disbanded if fewer than half of the teachers in a district were members of that district’s union. Since the law’s passage, union organizers have increased their outreach to members. The Orange County teachers’ union, for example, has seen its membership rate rise from 46% to 55%, giving hope to unions looking for paths forward after the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Janus.
The House Appropriations Committee began debate on legislation that proposes to cut funding to the Labor Department and the NLRB. The bill would cut Labor’s discretionary funding by $88 million dollars (to $12.1 billion) and the NLRB’s by $12.8 million (to $261.3 million). The bill also includes riders criticized by Democratic members of the committee, like a provision blocking the NLRB from exercising jurisdiction over tribal governments, which would prevent workers at tribal casinos from unionizing.
Daily News & Commentary
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February 2
Amazon announces layoffs; Trump picks BLS commissioner; DOL authorizes supplemental H-2B visas.
February 1
The moratorium blocking the Trump Administration from implementing Reductions in Force (RIFs) against federal workers expires, and workers throughout the country protest to defund ICE.
January 30
Multiple unions endorse a national general strike, and tech companies spend millions on ad campaigns for data centers.
January 29
Texas pauses H-1B hiring; NLRB General Counsel announces new procedures and priorities; Fourth Circuit rejects a teacher's challenge to pronoun policies.
January 28
Over 15,000 New York City nurses continue to strike with support from Mayor Mamdani; a judge grants a preliminary injunction that prevents DHS from ending family reunification parole programs for thousands of family members of U.S. citizens and green-card holders; and decisions in SDNY address whether employees may receive accommodations for telework due to potential exposure to COVID-19 when essential functions cannot be completed at home.
January 27
NYC's new delivery-app tipping law takes effect; 31,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and healthcare workers go on strike; the NJ Appellate Division revives Atlantic City casino workers’ lawsuit challenging the state’s casino smoking exemption.