Jacob Denz is a student at Harvard Law School
Members of Nevada’s Culinary Workers Union participated in the state’s Democratic caucus Saturday, including at “strip caucuses” located at their workplaces in casinos and hotels. The Union did not endorse a candidate this year, but as The New York Times details, it did single out Bernie Sanders’s Medicare for All proposal for criticism, telling its members that Medicare for All would take away their hard-won union health benefits. In the ensuing back-and-forth, the union leadership also alleged that some Sanders supporters harassed and personally attacked them online. In spite of this conflict, Bernie Sanders appears to have won among the Culinary Union members who caucused at five of the seven strip caucus locations and tied at a sixth. Nevada entrance polls also showed Sanders winning a plurality among union households overall.
The Trump Administration published a memo Friday that would authorize the Secretary of Defense to end collective bargaining rights for the Department’s civilian workforce of nearly 750,000, Bloomberg Law reports. The memo delegates to the Secretary the President’s own authority to exempt federal agencies from law guaranteeing their right to unionize. American Federation of Government Employees secretary-treasurer Everett Kelly strongly condemned the memo, saying that denying the collective bargaining rights of Department of Defense workers would be “a travesty.” In a separate statement, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers President Paul Shearon suggested that the memo’s reasoning might also support union-busting among millions of private-sector workers in defense-related sectors.
The Economic Policy Institute released a report Thursday detailing “slow, uneven, and unequal” wage growth for U.S. workers over the past forty years. The report notes that “consistent, positive wage growth” has occurred in only ten of these years. Meanwhile, inequality continues to increase dramatically, with earners above the 95th percentile pulling farther and farther away from everyone else. Race- and gender-based wage inequities persist, while wages have decreased for the bottom 50% of college graduates. Wage growth at the bottom was strongest in states that have increased the minimum wage.
Abuse and exploitation of workers is rampant in New York City nail salons, according to a workers advocacy group report discussed by The Cut. The report found that 82 percent of nail salon workers experience wage theft, losing an average of $181 per week. The majority of these workers are immigrant women who are often the sole providers for their families.
Teamsters President James Hoffa has informed The Detroit News that he will not seek reelection to another term after his current term ends in March 2022. Hoffa has been President of the Teamsters for 23 years. It is not clear who will succeed Hoffa. One union official who had been regarded as a possible candidate, Rome Aloise, now faces internal charges of racketeering and intimidation of union members, according to Bloomberg Law.
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July 21
Fifth Circuit transfers an Anheuser-Busch NLRB case to the Eleventh Circuit; a new report makes the case for tripling union membership.
July 20
New York City weighs banning horse carriages despite union opposition; public defenders go on strike; cinema workers stage walkout.
July 17
Canadian wildfires endanger rail workers; 26 Meta employees allege targeted layoffs for those on paid leave; FIFPRO pushes for more rigorous heat protections for players.
July 16
Trump's NLRB nominee set for Senate vote, federal district court grants partial win on WARN Act claims, Brigham and Women's nurses return to work.
July 15
U.S. labor productivity climbs at its fastest pace in decades; a federal judge grants a preliminary injunction to anti-abortion groups challenging Michigan’s civil rights law; and Jackson, Mississippi’s bus workers walk off the job.
July 14
DOJ opens investigation of UAW president; LIUNA protests Pfizer building collapse; national park workers unionize