
Sarah Leadem is a joint degree candidate at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
In today’s News and Commentary, University of California academic workers reached a tentative labor agreement and Congress proposed a $25 million increase to the NLRB budget.
Last Friday, academic student workers at the University of California reached a tentative agreement with the university. This comes on the heels of a five-week strike initiated by the 36,000 academic workers across 10 university campuses. The strike was the largest strike of academic workers in the nation. The tentative agreements would cover two separate bargaining units of academic workers: 19,000 teaching assistants represented by UAW 2865 and 17,000 academic student researchers represented by SRU-UAW. The bargaining team reported that the tentative contract included wage increases, expanded supports for student parents, stronger protections for international students, and improved transit benefits. Some union leaders, however, oppose the tentative contract and are urging members to vote against ratification this week. They highlight that the contract does not include wage increases tied to housing costs which was a priority of the strike. The ratification vote is happening this week through Friday and requires a simple majority of each union’s membership. If the members vote no, the strike will continue.
The NLRB staff union celebrated the inclusion of a $25 million budget increase for the National Labor Relations Board in Congress’s omnibus budget bill. This increase is part of the $1.7 trillion federal omnibus spending bill announced by the Senate yesterday. This is significant for the NLRB which has seen chronic underfunding for years. As reported by Neil Davey, despite an increased workload due to the upswing in national union activity, the NLRB has not had a funding increase since 2014. The omnibus bill would fund the government through September 2023 and avoid a potential government shutdown.
Daily News & Commentary
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March 24
Duke opposing unionizing grad student workers; NLRB prosecutors find merit to ULPs against Amazon; Starbucks investors weighing outside audit of company's labor practices.
March 23
Trader Joe's workers in Oakland file a petition to form a union; a Kenyan court temporarily blocks Meta contractor’s mass layoff of content moderators; and Starbucks workers at more than 100 stores walkout ahead of shareholders’ meeting.
March 22
NLRB's General Counsel issues two memos clarifying priorities and a recent Board decision, LA teachers go on strike, and Bloomberg Law reports higher pay raises from labor contracts
March 20
Residents and fellows at Mass General Brigham hospitals prepare to unionize; divisions in the New York Times NewsGuild union deepens as contract negotiations remain ongoing; the six-month Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strike turned violent on Saturday; Los Angeles schools prepare to close this week as workers plan to strike
March 19
Ninth Circuit reinstates Uber's Equal Protection challenge to California's AB5; reduction in SNAP benefits could lead to "hunger cliff" for low-wage workers; Amazon workers start unionizing campaign at Kentucky facility; ex-Google employees ask company to honor parental leave.
March 17
Texas committee considers sweeping legislation limiting municipal power; University of Chicago graduate students unionize; Tennessee Nissan technicians reject a unionizing effort; and protestors in France take to the streets after President Macron activates nuclear option to raise retirement age.