
Benjamin Sachs is the Kestnbaum Professor of Labor and Industry at Harvard Law School and a leading expert in the field of labor law and labor relations. He is also faculty director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy. Professor Sachs teaches courses in labor law, employment law, and law and social change, and his writing focuses on union organizing and unions in American politics. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty in 2008, Professor Sachs was the Joseph Goldstein Fellow at Yale Law School. From 2002-2006, he served as Assistant General Counsel of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Washington, D.C. Professor Sachs graduated from Yale Law School in 1998, and served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. His writing has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the New York Times and elsewhere. Professor Sachs received the Yale Law School teaching award in 2007 and in 2013 received the Sacks-Freund Award for Teaching Excellence at Harvard Law School. He can be reached at [email protected].
Republican Senator Josh Hawley has circulated a document titled “A Pro-Worker Framework for the 119th Congress.” The document, available on Punchbowl News, lays out a set of proposals for labor law reform. The proposals, couched in broad terms and not in legislative language, include: requiring employers to post notices of NLRA rights and to affirmatively notify new employees of their NLRA rights; implementing safety and health reforms particularly for warehouse workers (presumably in line with the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, which Hawley supported in the last Congress); banning captive audience meetings “while protecting free speech rights of business owners”; holding NLRB elections within 20 days (of a petition presumably, though this isn’t specified); requiring that initial contract bargaining begin within 10 days of a successful union election and requiring that unions and employers “execute their agreements within months, not years”; and enhanced remedies with a private right of action in certain cases.
It is unclear whether there is more detail available about Hawley’s ideas (Punchbowl has only the one-page document) and, without more detail, it’s hard to offer anything like a complete assessment of the framework. This document, moreover, is far from a bill and it remains to be seen how much traction Hawley’s proposals will get, including from the incoming Trump Administration. And, even if all were enacted, this slate of reforms would fall far short of what’s required to fix U.S. labor law. But these are proposals for significant changes that may scramble the politics of labor law reform. That too remains to be seen.
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March 14
In today’s news and commentary, a judge orders federal probationary workers reinstated, AFGE and other unions sue the Department of Homeland Security, and the Postmaster General announces intentions to work with DOGE. Yesterday, a federal judge in California ordered the reinstatement of thousands of probationary employees who were fired from federal agencies last month. The […]
March 13
District court judge orders reinstatement of FLRA board member unlawfully removed by Trump, and the UAW files unfair labor practices charges against Volkswagen.
March 12
SAG-AFTRA complains about major video game studios’ AI proposal amid a months-long strike, and German unionized Ford workers criticize the automaker for rescinding an economic agreement in place since 2006.
March 11
Chavez-DeRemer confirmed as Labor Secretary; NLRB issues decisions with new quorum; Flex drivers deemed Amazon employees in Virginia
March 10
Iowa sets up court fight over trans anti-bias protections; Trump Administration seeks to revoke TSA union rights
March 9
Federal judge orders the reinstatement of NLRB Board Member Gwynne Wilcox; DOL reinstates about 120 employees who were facing termination