Vail Kohnert-Yount is a student at Harvard Law School.
Amazon’s nationwide delivery network is made up of hundreds of small companies that exert tremendous pressure on drivers to deliver hundreds of packages, one almost every two minutes, for a flat rate each eight-hour shift. Buzzfeed investigated the resulting “chaos, exploitation, and danger” from Amazon’s seemingly single-minded focus on getting packages to customers on time. As Amazon’s delivery network has jettisoned safety protocols used by other delivery services including FedEx and UPS, drivers and those who share the roads with them have experienced rampant legal violations, injuries, and even death.
Apple and its manufacturing partner Foxconn admitted to violating Chinese labor law in the world’s largest iPhone factory, according to a new report from China Labor Watch. Bloomberg reported on CLW’s latest report, which revaled findings from undercover investigators who worked for years in Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant. As of August, half of workers at the Zhengzhou iPhone factory were temporary workers, five times the legal maximum of 10%. Apple has repeatedly faced criticism for poor working conditions in its supply chain.
The Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act is slated for markup by the House Judiciary Committee this afternoon. Introduced by Rep. Hank Johnson and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the FAIR Act would ban forced arbitration of employment, consumer, antitrust or civil rights disputes.
The New York Times investigated how ghostwriting papers for American college students has emerged as a lucrative online industry, particularly overseas. But as foreign writers, many of whom are from countries with many English speakers such as Kenya, India, and Ukraine, increasingly join the industry, some sites selling academic writing have begun to tout their American bona fides, “in a strange twist on globalization and outsourcing.” One ghostwriting website listed “bringing jobs back to America” as a key goal. Although U.S. writers typically charge more per page, they claim to offer more passable writing products, without suspiciously foreign spellings or idioms.
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Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
May 4
Trump signs order to expand retirement plan access; Eleventh Circuit upholds NLRB determination that security guard lieutenants can unionize; REI workers launch consumer boycott.
May 3
Florida further restricts public employee unions; Yale begins negotiations with postdoc union, and online tabletop game developers seek to unionize.
May 1
Workers and unions organize May Day; and Volkswagen challenges NLRB regional directors.
April 30
US Circuit Court of Appeals renders decision on Jefferson Standard test; construction subcontractors settle over wage theft in Minnesota; union and immigrant groups urge walkout.
April 29
DOJ sues for discrimination against US citizens; Musk and DOJ pause litigation on AI discrimination bill; USTR hosts forced labor tariff hearings.
April 28
Supreme Court grants cert on Labor Department judges' authority; Apple store union files NLRB charge; cannabis workers win unionization rights