Sarah Leadem is a joint degree candidate at Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
In today’s News and Commentary, an administrative law judge rules that Amazon violated labor law and HuffPost workers announce readiness to strike.
An administrative law judge ruled yesterday that Amazon violated labor law in the build-up to union elections at “JFK8.” Workers at JFK8 Amazon Fulfillment Center in Staten Island voted to join the Amazon Labor Union last April, making it the first union at Amazon. Despite challenges from Amazon against the election results, the NLRB upheld the election as valid earlier this month.
Yesterday, administrative law judge Benjamin W. Green ruled on allegations that Amazon violated labor laws ahead of the election and ruled in favor of the union on two counts. The judge dismissed several other charges. First, Judge Green found that Amazon supervisors illegally threatened to withhold pay and benefit increases to workers if they voted to unionize. Second, Amazon illegally removed a pro-union post on an internal digital messaging board. The judge dismissed several other charges, including allegations that Amazon suggested to employees that pay and other employer-provided benefits would not carry on if workers unionized. Find Judge Green’s decision here. Amazon can appeal the decision to the NLRB.
Workers at HuffPost have vowed to strike if a deal is not reached with parent company, BuzzFeed. The HuffPost Union is affiliated with the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE). WGAE made the strike readiness announcement Monday night. In a statement delivered to management at the bargaining table, the HuffPost Union demanded competitive compensation, severance, health and safety provisions in light of the ongoing occupational risk of COVID-19, and improved benefits. The union and Buzzfeed management were set to conclude two-day negotiations last night. HuffPost workers won their union in 2016 and signed their first contract in 2017. The union is now bargaining for its second contract. The HuffPoint Union emerged as part of a record wave of unionization within journalism in the last decade. In the last decade, the industry has seen 200 union drives. One in six journalists are now part of a union.
Daily News & Commentary
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September 21
In today’s News and Commentary, the Seventh Circuit raises the bar for the NLRB to obtain preliminary injunctions, the California Primary Care Association sues SEIU-UHW for racketeering, and the Seventh Circuit finds that an employer group and think tank do not have standing to challenge an Illinois law banning captive audience meetings. On Friday, the […]
September 20
Culinary Workers Union members protests union leadership; lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft reveal internal concerns about the threat of AI training to human labor.
September 17
Unions push to block Google from buying Spirit Airlines employment records; U.S. Department of Labor sues Oklahoma coffee chain over alleged wage violations.
September 16
Trump nominates Catherine Eschbach as EEOC general counsel; NLRB declines to resolve union work-assignment dispute; Allina Health physicians begin four-day strike.
September 15
Documents reveal the inner workings of Amazon's union avoidance program; Washington state public sector unions reach tentative deals amid a difficult bargaining cycle; hundreds of Nevada Culinary Union members protest their union's health care changes.
September 14
NCAA and Big Ten file motion to dismiss in former star player's NIL suit; Seventh Circuit rules against former postal worker in discrimination suit.