Luke Hinrichs is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s news and commentaries, nearly 60,000 University of California workers represented by a pair of unions initiate strike, FTC forms Joint Labor Task Force, and DoorDash reaches settlement with New York AG’s Office to pay $16.8 million in restitution for wage theft practice.
Thousands of University of California (UC) healthcare, research, and technical workers went on strike Wednesday morning amid contract negotiations and alleged unfair labor practices. About 37,000 UC service and patient care workers represented by AFSCME Local 3299 began a two-day strike. AFSCME’s contract expired in 2024, and negotiations on a new agreement have been ongoing for the past year. At the same time, roughly 20,000 UC health care, research and technical professionals represented by University Professional and Technical Employees, UPTE-CWA Local 9119, initiated a three-day strike. UPTE’s contract expired at the end of October, and negotiations also remain ongoing for over eight months.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson, appointed by President Trump, has directed the FTC to form a Joint Labor Task Force focused on investigating deceptive, unfair, and anticompetitive employer labor practices. The Task Force will target no-poach, non-solicitation, or no-hire agreements; wage-fixing agreements; noncompete agreements; labor-contract termination penalties; labor market monopsonies; gig economy harms; deceptive job advertisements; occupational licensing requirements; and misleading franchise offerings. Aligned with the Trump Administration’s attack on DEI initiatives, the Labor Task Force is also charged with addressing “[c]ollusion or unlawful coordination on DEI metrics.” The initiative signals a bipartisan continuation of the Biden Administration’s focus on labor antitrust harms.
The New York attorney general’s office announced that it has reached a settlement with DoorDash in which the gig economy employer will pay $16.8 million in restitution to Dashers for withholding earned tips. DoorDash announced it ended its wage theft practice in 2019. The restitution is set to be dispersed to as many as 63,000 workers impacted by the wage theft. DoorDash has reached similar settlements of $11.25 million in Illinois and $2.5 million in Washington, D.C.
Daily News & Commentary
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April 24
NLRB seeks to compel Amazon to collectively bargain with San Francisco warehouse workers, DoorDash delivery workers and members of Los Deliveristas Unidos rally for pay transparency, and NLRB takes step to drop lawsuit against SpaceX over the firing of employees who criticized Elon Musk.
April 22
DOGE staffers eye NLRB for potential reorganization; attacks on federal workforce impact Trump-supporting areas; Utah governor acknowledges backlash to public-sector union ban
April 21
Bryan Johnson’s ULP saga before the NLRB continues; top law firms opt to appease the EEOC in its anti-DEI demands.
April 20
In today’s news and commentary, the Supreme Court rules for Cornell employees in an ERISA suit, the Sixth Circuit addresses whether the EFAA applies to a sexual harassment claim, and DOGE gains access to sensitive labor data on immigrants. On Thursday, the Supreme Court made it easier for employees to bring ERISA suits when their […]
April 18
Two major New York City unions endorse Cuomo for mayor; Committee on Education and the Workforce requests an investigation into a major healthcare union’s spending; Unions launch a national pro bono legal network for federal workers.
April 17
Utahns sign a petition supporting referendum to repeal law prohibiting public sector collective bargaining; the US District Court for the District of Columbia declines to dismiss claims filed by the AFL-CIO against several government agencies; and the DOGE faces reports that staffers of the agency accessed the NLRB’s sensitive case files.