Zachary Boullt is a student at Harvard Law School.
As pandemic restrictions have loosened across the United States, workers in the restaurant, hotel, retail, and salon industries have received half of all payroll gains in June. Raises and hiring bonuses in those industries have also begun to outpace the overall wage growth rate and inflation, though wages still fall below the overall private-sector average hourly wage.
Yahoo! Finance has reported on an increase in the hiring of teens to fill hiring gaps as businesses reopen. Teenagers accounted for 36% of recent hires in June, in comparison to a median rate of 10% during this same period from 2017 to 2019. Fewer teens are currently out-of-work than at any time over the past six decades. Wages paid to teens have also increased by 13% over the past couple of months.
The Chicago Sun-Times has profiled the recent labor activism of the Industrial Workers of the World. The piece focuses on a recent collective bargaining agreement with Dill Pickle Food Co-Op that the IWW helped secure, along with eight meritorious complaints filed with the NLRB over the co-op’s anti-union activities. The IWW’s international headquarters is still in Chicago and spends much of its time forming and supporting locals and affiliate unions. Representatives of the IWW spoke with optimism when interviewed about growing collective consciousness of issues of labor, imperialism, war, race, and class.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
February 11
Hollywood begins negotiations for a new labor agreement with writers and actors; the EEOC launches an investigation into Nike’s DEI programs and potential discrimination against white workers; and Mayor Mamdani circulates a memo regarding the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
February 10
San Francisco teachers walk out; NLRB reverses course on SpaceX; NYC nurses secure tentative agreements.
February 9
FTC argues DEI is anticompetitive collusion, Supreme Court may decide scope of exception to forced arbitration, NJ pauses ABC test rule.
February 8
The Second Circuit rejects a constitutional challenge to the NLRB, pharmacy and lab technicians join a California healthcare strike, and the EEOC defends a single better-paid worker standard in Equal Pay Act suits.
February 6
The California Supreme Court rules on an arbitration agreement, Trump administration announces new rule on civil service protections, and states modify affirmative action requirements
February 5
Minnesota schools and teachers sue to limit ICE presence near schools; labor leaders call on Newsom to protect workers from AI; UAW and Volkswagen reach a tentative agreement.