OnLabor

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News & Commentary

January 15, 2025

Jacqueline Rayfield

Jacqueline Rayfield is a student at Harvard Law School.

In today’s News and Commentary, Starbucks workers’ negotiations with the company continue to flounder, Utah ski patrollers return to work after a nearly two-week strike, and a longtime UAW union officer announces his retirement.

Starbucks workers highlight their CEO’s large pay package amid tense contract negotiations. Starbucks’ CEO, Brian Niccol, joined the company in August 2024 from Chipotle. He receives $113 million in total compensation annually.

Last week, two hundred ski patrollers returned to work after accepting a new contract. By returning to work on Thursday, patrollers ended a nearly two-week strike which began on December 27th amid the ski resort’s busiest season. Patrollers’ employer, Vail Resorts, agreed to a $2-an-hour base pay increase for senior ski patrollers among other key demands from workers. Park City Professional Ski Patrollers Association reported that a livable wage in Park City surrounding the ski resort has risen to $27 per hour. The average home price in Park City is over $1.5 million.

Chuck Browning, a leader in the United Auto Workers for over two decades announced his retirement to local union leaders on Tuesday morning. Browning supported Shawn Fain’s UAW leadership and worked on a deal with Ford Motors during the union’s six-week strike in 2023. Browning currently leads negotiations between UAW and Volkswagen but is expected to retire once the deal is finalized. UAW leadership Shaw Fain commented, “Chuck Browning is not only one of the greatest bargainers in the labor movement, but one of our most powerful, generous, and capable leaders.”

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Tracking Attacks on the NLRB: Fifth Circuit Finds NLRB Removal Protections Unconstitutional

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has ruled that removal protections for NLRB Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) and Board Members are unconstitutional. This ruling affirmed district court injunctions that halted unfair labor practice proceedings against three companies: SpaceX, Energy Transfer, and Findhelp. The Fifth Circuit held that being subject to an unconstitutional […]

Ruelas v. County of Alameda — California Pretrial Detainees Denied Minimum Wage for Corporate Labor (Part 3)

In Ruelas v. County of Alameda, the Supreme Court of California denied pretrial detainees’ state minimum wage claim, reasoning that section 4019.3 of the state’s Penal Code — capping jail laborers’ wages at two dollars per day — instead governed.  The first part of this three-part series discussed the California Supreme Court’s holding and reasoning.  The second part gave a history of California’s constitution and jail labor in the state, concluding that the two-dollar daily wage cap could not have applied to plaintiffs, who were pretrial detainees performing unpaid labor for a corporation.  

Ruelas v. County of Alameda — California Pretrial Detainees Denied Minimum Wage for Corporate Labor (Part 2)

In Ruelas v. County of Alameda, the Supreme Court of California held that pretrial detainees forced to labor for a corporation are ineligible for a minimum wage under the state’s Labor Code.  The court construed Penal Code section 4019.3 broadly, interpreting it as incompatible with California’s Labor Code. The court concluded that the Penal Code prevents pretrial detainees from earning more than two dollars per day for their labor, absent a local ordinance.  

How Three Simple Labor Laws Helped Unions Organize Amazon and UBER in Canada

In early July,  the British Columbia Labour Relations Board (BCLRB) certified UFCW-Canada as the bargaining representative for over 500 UBER drivers in the province’s capital city of Victoria.  A few days later, the BCLRB issued another decision that certified the union Unifor (formerly the Canadian Auto Workers) for a bargaining unit of hundreds of employees employed at an Amazon distribution centre […]

Ruelas v. County of Alameda — California Pretrial Detainees Denied Minimum Wage for Corporate Labor (Part 1)

Pretrial detainees in Santa Rita Jail are forced to labor for Aramark, a food-preparation company that provides meals to third parties outside of the jail. Neither Aramark nor the county pays detainees for their labor.  In 1990, California amended its constitution to allow companies to contract with prisons — facilities run by the state or federal government that detain convicted offenders — for labor, so long as prisoners were paid comparable wages to non-inmate laborers.  

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