Esther Ritchin is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s news and commentary: Republicans attempt to sway historically blue union voters; employees at Sega voted to ratify a contract; BMWE launches a campaign for direct elections.
As the 2024 election approaches, Republicans are making a play for the union vote. Former Representative Mike Rogers claimed “I understand these people,” drawing on his own experience working in a car factory, anticipating many UAW voters will shift towards the Republican party this year. This anticipation stems from many factors, including working-class support for presidential nominee Donald Trump and populism sweeping the Republican party. UAW president Shawn Fain has expressed distrust of the Republican party, pointing to the party’s long history of support for policies that push wealth inequality.
This week, Allied Employees Guild Improving Sega (AEGIS), won a union contract at Sega–the first at any major video game company in America. The contract contained important protections for workers, including a commitment to credit people for games they’ve worked on, a significant issue in the video game industry. Notably, workers will also get just cause protection, a rarity in the industry. The protections create a strict set of guidelines for an employer attempting to fire a worker. AEGIS is partnered with the Communications Workers of America.
The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Ways Employees (BMWE), one of the largest railroad unions, launched a campaign for direct elections of their union officers. Currently, BMWE operates via delegates, and members can vote for their local officers and the president of the Teamsters (with whom they are affiliated), but not for officers in between. In support of the campaign, members point to successful direct elections in other unions, including the election of Shawn Fain as president of UAW, and hope direct elections would help engage members, build solidarity and power, and lead to better contracts.
Daily News & Commentary
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September 16
In today’s news and commentary, the NLRB sues New York, a flight attendant sues United, and the Third Circuit considers the employment status of Uber drivers The NLRB sued New York to block a new law that would grant the state authority over private-sector labor disputes. As reported on recently by Finlay, the law, which […]
September 15
Unemployment claims rise; a federal court hands victory to government employees union; and employers fire workers over social media posts.
September 14
Workers at Boeing reject the company’s third contract proposal; NLRB Acting General Counsel William Cohen plans to sue New York over the state’s trigger bill; Air Canada flight attendants reject a tentative contract.
September 12
Zohran Mamdani calls on FIFA to end dynamic pricing for the World Cup; the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement opens a probe into Scale AI’s labor practices; and union members organize immigration defense trainings.
September 11
California rideshare deal advances; Boeing reaches tentative agreement with union; FTC scrutinizes healthcare noncompetes.
September 10
A federal judge denies a motion by the Trump Administration to dismiss a lawsuit led by the American Federation of Government Employees against President Trump for his mass layoffs of federal workers; the Supreme Court grants a stay on a federal district court order that originally barred ICE agents from questioning and detaining individuals based on their presence at a particular location, the type of work they do, their race or ethnicity, and their accent while speaking English or Spanish; and a hospital seeks to limit OSHA's ability to cite employers for failing to halt workplace violence without a specific regulation in place.