A continuing labor dispute between members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and shipowners continues to cause delays at West Coast seaports, the New York Times reports. Employees and management offer different explanations for the delays. The union says that the owners are deliberately worsening congestion at the ports to gain advantage at the bargaining table. Shipowners have limited night-shift activities and reduced nighttime payroll. The shipowners say that workers are deliberately slowing their work. The Wall Street Journal reports that terminal operators at the port will suspend the loading and unloading of vessels for four days.
The New York Times reports that Halliburton plans to lay off about 7 percent of its workforce. The company says the cuts are in response to falling oil prices. Oil workers continue to strike in Houston, Politico reports. The United Steelworkers made a proposal to Shell Oil to remove contractors and adequately staff facilities to ensure safe operations. The union is still waiting for a response.
In Kansas, Governor Brownback has rescinded a former Governor Sebelius’s order prohibiting employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, the New York Times reports. Mr. Brownback says that Ms. Sebelius acted unilaterally and that legislators should not approve any expansion of anti-discrimination laws.
In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Scott Martelle describes the efforts of several members of the Republican Party to nullify new National Labor Relations Board regulations. The regulations, passed last year, would speed up the union election process and bar legal challenges before employees have an opportunity to vote.
In another Los Angeles Times op-ed, Michael McGough explores lower court’s applications of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, a case in which the Court found a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws. For example, a Cincinnati federal appeals court ruled in favor of employer InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, who fired an employee whose marriage had collapsed.
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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.
September 9
Ninth Circuit revives Trader Joe’s lawsuit against employee union; new bill aims to make striking workers eligible for benefits; university lecturer who praised Hitler gets another chance at First Amendment claims.