The Clean Slate for Worker Power, an academic project directed by Benjamin Sachs and Sharon Block at the Harvard Law School, released a report comprehensively reimagining the U.S. labor law regime so as to empower working people to construct an equitable democracy and economy.  The report outlines a sweeping series of policy reforms, from establishing a sectoral bargaining system to expanding the scope of mandatory bargaining subjects to loosening preemption doctrine and unlocking state and local innovation to democratizing corporate governance.

In sports news, the unions representing athletes in the country’s largest professional sports leagues — namely, the NFLPA, MLBPA, NBPA, and MLHPA — endorsed  the PRO Act on Tuesday, insisting in a joint statement that “now is the time to overcome decades of increasing obstacles to working people who choose to exercise their right to organize a union.”  While unlikely, it is conceivable the vocal support of these culturally visible unions may help heighten public awareness of the issue and dislodge the stubborn aversion among a critical group of Democratic senators —  some of whom are avid sports fans — to dismantling the filibuster.

In international news, violent protests in demand of economic justice continue to reverberate across Colombian society.  The demonstrations were catalyzed by a tax reform plan introduced by the country’s reactionary president last week, which threatened to sharply raise the prices of many essential goods and services.  Although the president swiftly moved to rescind the proposal in the face of mounting popular opposition, the protests have continued to escalate, transforming into a broader expression of disaffection toward the country’s deepening poverty and inequality.

The demonstrations took a dramatic turn on Monday, as security forces in Cali, a large city in the country’s southwest, reportedly fired into a dense crowd of protestors in what some observers have described as a “massacre.”  Hundreds of protestors were injured and least a dozen killed.  Reacting to the bloodshed, unions have urged a sweeping national strike.

In doctrinal developments, the NLRB’s Republican majority found that telecommunications giant AT&T violated federal labor law by disciplining a steward for recording a meeting at which an employee was discharged.  Significantly, the Board declined to invalidate the policy the company invoked to punish the steward, thereby repudiating in part the Lutheran Heritage doctrine which required setting aside an otherwise lawful workplace rule where it was deployed to suppress protected activity.