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.”
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
September 16
In today’s news and commentary, the NLRB sues New York, a flight attendant sues United, and the Third Circuit considers the employment status of Uber drivers The NLRB sued New York to block a new law that would grant the state authority over private-sector labor disputes. As reported on recently by Finlay, the law, which […]
September 15
Unemployment claims rise; a federal court hands victory to government employees union; and employers fire workers over social media posts.
September 14
Workers at Boeing reject the company’s third contract proposal; NLRB Acting General Counsel William Cohen plans to sue New York over the state’s trigger bill; Air Canada flight attendants reject a tentative contract.
September 12
Zohran Mamdani calls on FIFA to end dynamic pricing for the World Cup; the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement opens a probe into Scale AI’s labor practices; and union members organize immigration defense trainings.
September 11
California rideshare deal advances; Boeing reaches tentative agreement with union; FTC scrutinizes healthcare noncompetes.
September 10
A federal judge denies a motion by the Trump Administration to dismiss a lawsuit led by the American Federation of Government Employees against President Trump for his mass layoffs of federal workers; the Supreme Court grants a stay on a federal district court order that originally barred ICE agents from questioning and detaining individuals based on their presence at a particular location, the type of work they do, their race or ethnicity, and their accent while speaking English or Spanish; and a hospital seeks to limit OSHA's ability to cite employers for failing to halt workplace violence without a specific regulation in place.