Esther Ritchin is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s news and commentary, the NLRB files an injunction against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Cal/OSHA heat enforcement rates have fallen, and Walgreens pharmacy workers hope to unionize.
On Wednesday, August 14, the National Labor Relations Board filed an injunction against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, asking a judge to compel the newspaper to reimburse their employees for healthcare costs incurred as a result of the paper’s unilateral changes to employee healthcare, and bring the paper back to the bargaining table for good faith negotiations. This order comes after a nearly two-year strike by a group of employees.
The Los Angeles Times and Capital & Main, found that California was cutting back on enforcement of its heat safety standards, even as temperatures continue to rise. California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) is responsible for enforcing California’s outdoor heat-illness law, which requires protections including shaded break areas and cool drinking water. The investigation conducted by LA Times and Capital & Main found that from 2017 to 2023, Cal/OSHA conducted 30% fewer field investigations and issued 40% fewer violations to employers. The drop in numbers does not reflect improved compliance by employers, according to advocates such as California Rural Legal Assistance and interviews with more than 40 farmworkers in California.
Walgreens pharmacists and technicians at a store in Washington are hoping to be the first Walgreens employees to join the Pharmacy Guild, a union that formed last year in the wake of walkouts throughout the industry. CVS employees at a store in Las Vegas became the first to join the union last year, followed by CVS employees at other stores. The Washington Walgreen workers are hoping for more reasonable workloads and adequate staffing.
Daily News & Commentary
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March 11
The partial government shutdown results in TSA agents losing their first full paycheck; the Fifth Circuit upholds the certification of a class of former United Airline workers who were placed on unpaid leave for declining to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons during the pandemic; and an academic group files a lawsuit against the State Department over a policy that revokes and denies visas to noncitizens for their work in fact-checking and content moderation.
March 10
Court rules Kari Lake unlawfully led USAGM, voiding mass layoffs; Florida Senate passes bill tightening union recertification rules; Fifth Circuit revives whistleblower suit against Lockheed Martin.
March 9
6th Circuit rejects Cemex, Board may overrule precedents with two members.
March 8
In today’s news and commentary, a weak jobs report, the NIH decides it will no longer recognize a research fellows’ union, and WNBA contract talks continue to stall as season approaches. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that employers cut 92,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.4 percent. A loss […]
March 6
The Harvard Graduate Students Union announces a strike authorization vote.
March 5
Colorado judge grants AFSCME’s motion to intervene to defend Colorado’s county employee collective bargaining law; Arizona proposes constitutional amendment to ban teachers unions’ use public resources; NLRB unlikely to use rulemaking to overturn precedent.