Holt McKeithan is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News and Commentary, national media explores Tim Walz’s connection with labor, American Apple store workers get their first contract, and tenant organizers launch a national federation.
Minnesota governor Tim Walz is the first union member to appear on a presidential ticket since Ronald Reagan. Steven Greenhouse for Slate explains why the former public school teacher is a good choice for workers. During Walz’s term as governor, Minnesota passed a broad slate of progressive reforms that included expanding parental leave, banning noncompete clauses and prohibiting captive audience meetings. Labor played a role in helping him get the spot on the bottom of the Democratic presidential ticket. The presidents of the American Federation of Teachers and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees both released public statements supporting Walz.
On Tuesday, unionized workers at a Towson, Maryland, Apple store ratified the company’s first labor contract in the United States. The 85 workers, who are affiliated with the Machinists, won an average raise of 10% over the next three years. The contract includes guaranteed severance pay and an increase in benefits to match those Apple withheld from unionized stores to discourage organization in 2022. The contract comes two years after the store first became unionized. Following Towson’s lead, Apple workers in Oklahoma City voted to unionize in 2022. However, campaigns at other stores have failed.
Tenant organizers around the country formed the Tenant Union Federation on Tuesday. TUF, which calls itself a “union of unions”, was formed by five founding unions in Louisville, Kansas City, Montana, Connecticut, and Chicago. Those unions have seen success in their respective cities, including banning new short-term rentals in Bozeman, Montana, negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with a large Connecticut landlord, and winning an anti-displacement ordinance in Chicago. The federation aims to build tenant organizations around the country by training and supporting new groups. It will consider dues-based membership models.
Daily News & Commentary
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November 25
In today’s news and commentary, OSHA fines Taylor Foods, Santa Fe raises their living wage, and a date is set for a Senate committee to consider Trump’s NLRB nominee. OSHA has issued an approximately $1.1 million dollar fine to Taylor Farms New Jersey, a subsidiary of Taylor Fresh Foods, after identifying repeated and serious safety […]
November 24
Labor leaders criticize tariffs; White House cancels jobs report; and student organizers launch chaperone program for noncitizens.
November 23
Workers at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority vote to authorize a strike; Washington State legislators consider a bill empowering public employees to bargain over workplace AI implementation; and University of California workers engage in a two-day strike.
November 21
The “Big Three” record labels make a deal with an AI music streaming startup; 30 stores join the now week-old Starbucks Workers United strike; and the Mine Safety and Health Administration draws scrutiny over a recent worker death.
November 20
Law professors file brief in Slaughter; New York appeals court hears arguments about blog post firing; Senate committee delays consideration of NLRB nominee.
November 19
A federal judge blocks the Trump administration’s efforts to cancel the collective bargaining rights of workers at the U.S. Agency for Global Media; Representative Jared Golden secures 218 signatures for a bill that would repeal a Trump administration executive order stripping federal workers of their collective bargaining rights; and Dallas residents sue the City of Dallas in hopes of declaring hundreds of ordinances that ban bias against LGBTQ+ individuals void.