Greg Volynsky is a student at Harvard Law School.
In Today’s News & Commentary, the L.A. Times Guild plans a walkout, dissent in Teamsters after union president meets with Trump, and a drop in average weekly work hours.
The L.A. Times Newsroom Guild plans a one-day walkout to protest planned layoffs, which are expected to affect about 20% of the newsroom. The strike will be the first union work stoppage in the 142-year-history of the L.A. Times. In negotiations, management asked union leaders to relax the seniority principle, which is enshrined in the collective bargaining agreement and protects staff members with longer tenure at the paper. Managers argued that relaxing seniority rules would save 50 newsroom jobs, enable management to extend employees buyout packages, and facilitate a more diverse newsroom, since many journalists of color have been hired more recently. Forced to choose between more layoffs and sacrificing long-term staff, Guild leaders “were furious.”
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien met with former President Trump in early January and announced a roundtable with the former president. On Thursday, The Guardian reported dissent within the union. Local union leaders decried the move as betraying the union’s values. A Teamsters spokesperson called it a “disservice” to ignore the Republican front-runner.
Bloomberg reports that average weekly work hours have dropped to 34.4 in December, from a pandemic high of 35. Columnist Conor Sen argues that despite a healthy stock market and decelerating inflation, companies have seen a decrease in their pricing power, leading companies to seek ways to shed costs.
Daily News & Commentary
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February 13
Sex workers in Nevada fight to become the nation’s first to unionize; industry groups push NLRB to establish a more business-friendly test for independent contractor status; and UFCW launches an anti-AI price setting in grocery store campaign.
February 12
Teamsters sue UPS over buyout program; flight attendants and pilots call for leadership change at American Airlines; and Argentina considers major labor reforms despite forceful opposition.
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.