Jon Weinberg is a student at Harvard Law School.
Today The Los Angeles Times published a story on the gig economy and the 2016 presidential election, noting attempts by Republican candidates to rally behind gig economy firms “as prime examples of free-market entrepreneurship and workplace deregulation” while Democrats struggle to “avoid appearing resistant to the popular new ventures while highlighting their potential negative effect on workers’ pay and benefits.” OnLabor Co-Founder Professor Benjamin Sachs was quoted about the implications of the debate for labor policy:
“Layered on top of all of this is the important question: What’s at stake here?” said Benjamin Sachs, a professor of labor and industry at Harvard Law School. “Are the forms of protection and social welfare that we’ve provided since 1935 — are people going to just lose all of that because we have technological change? … How do we make sure that workers share in the sharing economy?”
OnLabor continues to follow developments in the gig economy and the status of gig economy workers.
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May 9
Philadelphia City Council unanimously passes the POWER Act; thousands of federal worker layoffs at the Department of Interior expected; the University of Oregon student workers union reach a tentative agreement, ending 10-day strike
May 8
Court upholds DOL farmworker protections; Fifth Circuit rejects Amazon appeal; NJTransit navigates negotiations and potential strike.
May 7
U.S. Department of Labor announces termination of mental health and child care benefits for its employees; SEIU pursues challenge of NLRB's 2020 joint employer rule in the D.C. Circuit; Columbia University lays off 180 researchers
May 6
HHS canceled a scheduled bargaining session with the FDA's largest workers union; members of 1199SEIU voted out longtime union president George Gresham in rare leadership upset.
May 5
Unemployment rates for Black women go up under Trump; NLRB argues Amazon lacks standing to challenge captive audience meeting rule; Teamsters use Wilcox's reinstatement orders to argue against injunction.
May 4
In today’s news and commentary, DOL pauses the 2024 gig worker rule, a coalition of unions, cities, and nonprofits sues to stop DOGE, and the Chicago Teachers Union reaches a remarkable deal. On May 1, the Department of Labor announced it would pause enforcement of the Biden Administration’s independent contractor classification rule. Under the January […]