Jon Weinberg is a student at Harvard Law School.
A major union is mounting a high-profile effort to represent gig economy workers in New York. Crain’s reports that this week, the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 delivered union cards signed by 14,000 New York Uber and Lyft drivers to New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission. The union also held a rally outside the TLC’s headquarters. Gothamist and the New York Daily News have more.
The ATU’s campaign comes after an IBEW local filed a petition to represent some New York Uber drivers, the Teamsters announced an intent to form an Uber “drivers’ association” in California, and Seattle passed an ordinance allowing independent contractors to unionize. Uber and Lyft drivers are presently classified as independent contractors without collective bargaining rights under the National Labor Relations Act, but the National Labor Relations Board could find that drivers are misclassified and are in fact employees.
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April 18
Disneyland performers file petition for unionization and union elections begin at Volkswagen plant in Tennessee.
April 18
In today’s Tech@Work, a regulation-of-algorithms-in-hiring blitz: Mass. AG issues advisory clarifying how state laws apply to AI decisionmaking tools; and British union TUC launches campaign for new law to regulate the use of AI at work.
April 17
Southern governors oppose UAW organizing in their states; Florida bans local heat protections for workers; Google employees occupy company offices to protest contracts with the Israeli government
April 16
EEOC publishes final regulation implementing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, Volkswagen workers in Tennessee gear up for a union election, and the First Circuit revives the Whole Foods case over BLM masks.
April 15
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of bakery delivery drivers in an exemption from mandatory arbitration case; A Teamsters Local ends its 18-month strike by accepting settlement payments and agreeing to dissolve
April 14
SAG-AFTRA wins AI protections; DeSantis signs Florida bill preempting local employment regulation; NLRB judge says Whole Foods subpoenas violate federal labor law.