Peter Morgan is a student at Harvard Law School.
Today: UTLA reaches a tentative agreement, Comcast NBCUniversal is revealed to hold a role-playing exercise opposing unionization, the Texas House passes a bill restricting labor regulations, and a retail Barnes & Noble store announces organizing campaign.
The United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union has announced that the member bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with the district. The agreement, which would have to be voted on by all members and ratified by the school board, includes a 21% salary increase, class size reductions, and increased staffing of psychologists and other counselor positions.
Documents revealed that Comcast’s NBCUniversal held a role-playing exercise for managers to discourage unionization. According to reports, managers were instructed to play the role of a union leader and come up with reasons for why employees shouldn’t unionize. Company leadership noted this only occurred once in the last four years, but the company’s documents stated that “corporate management will not tolerate losing…nonunion status.” These kinds of statements have come under fire as potentially violative of labor law.
The Texas House of Representatives has passed House Bill 2127, which would prevent local governments from enacting certain regulations related to employment, housing, and other issues. The bill, passed under the rationale of providing uniform business conditions, would also overturn some existing labor regulations. The scope of the bill remains unclear, causing concern among labor advocates.
Workers at a Barnes & Noble store in Hadley, Massachusetts have announced their intention to unionize with the Union Food and Commercial Workers Local 1459. The workers cited concerns about low wages, limited benefits, inadequate staffing, and customer accessibility as reasons for their decision to unionize. This is the second Barnes & Noble store to file for an election (the first being a university store at Rutgers). If successful, the unionization effort could make the Hadley Barnes & Noble store the first unionized location in the company’s history.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 11
Regional director orders election without Board quorum; 9th Circuit pauses injunction on Executive Order; Driverless car legislation in Massachusetts
July 10
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds UW Health nurses are not covered by Wisconsin’s Labor Peace Act; a district judge denies the request to stay an injunction pending appeal; the NFLPA appeals an arbitration decision.
July 9
the Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass firings; Secretary of Agriculture suggests Medicaid recipients replace deported migrant farmworkers; DHS ends TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras
July 8
In today’s news and commentary, Apple wins at the Fifth Circuit against the NLRB, Florida enacts a noncompete-friendly law, and complications with the No Tax on Tips in the Big Beautiful Bill. Apple won an appeal overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company violated labor law by coercively questioning an employee […]
July 7
LA economy deals with fallout from ICE raids; a new appeal challenges the NCAA antitrust settlement; and the EPA places dissenting employees on leave.
July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.