On Tuesday, the Clean Slate for Worker Power released a report setting forth a series of policy recommendations designed to fundamentally reform U.S. labor law and build worker power. At a high level, the policies are aimed at developing a regime of sectoral bargaining, enlarging the scope of mandatory bargaining subjects to encompass subcontracting, relocation, and capital substitution decisions, and narrowing the NLRA’s sweeping preemption doctrines which have inhibited innovation at the state and local level.

In international news, violent protests in demand of economic justice continue to rage in Colombia. The demonstrations, orchestrated by the country’s largest labor unions, commenced last week, in response to tax legislation proposed by the reactionary Colombian government which would have raised the prices of many ordinary goods and services. Although the president has since rescinded the proposal, thousands of Colombians continue to protest the nation’s poverty, inequality, and unemployment, conditions which predated the pandemic but have been aggravated by it. The protests took a violent turn on Monday night, as law enforcement officers in Cali, one of the country’s largest cities, reportedly opened fire into a crowd of protestors — some have characterized the events as a “massacre.” At least 18 protestors were killed, and hundreds more injured. Vowing to persist, the unions have declared a national strike set to start today.

On Monday, the Republican majority on the NLRB ruled that telecommunications conglomerate AT&T violated federal labor law by threatening a union steward after the individual recorded a meeting in which an employee was terminated. However, the Board declined to set aside the company policy at issue in the proceeding. In doing so, the Board overturned part of its Lutheran Heritage decision, under which an otherwise lawful employer policy would warrant facial invalidation if it was unlawfully applied to circumscribe employees’ Section 7 rights.

In an article published Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Business Times details that several local enterprises appear to have discovered a novel and innovative management strategy. The firms decided to offer higher wages after struggling with staffing shortages for several months, and they suddenly found themselves inundated with “thousands of applications.” As labor shortages reportedly persist across the country, post-lockdown wages remain stubbornly low, and some state governments have begun to limit or eliminate pandemic-era unemployment benefits, these small Pittsburgh firms may have uncovered the key to commercial success: paying decent wages and treating employees with dignity. Let’s hope employers across the nation take notice.

In sports news, unions representing athletes in the largest U.S. professional leagues offered support to the PRO Act on Tuesday. In a joint statement, the MLBPA, the NBPA, the NFLPA, and the NHLPA said that “now is the time to overcome decades of increasing obstacles to working people who choose to exercise their right to organize a union.” Moreover, the sports unions emphasized their conviction that “all workers should have the same fair chance to work together to improve their pay, benefits, and working conditions.” Although for the time being the bill remains frozen in the Senate, the backing of these major players unions may help amplify public awareness with respect to the importance of labor rights, and thereby increase pressure on Senate Democrats — some of whom are avid sports fans — to find a way to circumvent the filibuster and pass the reform legislation.