
Michelle Berger is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News and Commentary: The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on overturning Chevron and a recent NLRB complaint alleges widespread refusal to bargain in good faith by Starbucks.
The Justices heard oral arguments yesterday in Loper Bright Enteprises v. Raimondo. In Loper, the Court is considering whether to overturn Chevron‘s holding that courts should defer to reasonable agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes. Court observers, such as those at SCOTUSblog and the New York Times, tentatively predict that the Court will vote to overturn Chevron, though Chief Justice Roberts’ and Justice Barrett’s votes are not certain. The conservative Justices’ rationales for disliking Chevron vary (Justice Gorsuch, for example, seemed to distance himself from Justice Kavanaugh’s pro-business line of questioning by shifting focus to Chevron‘s impact on the civil liberties of individual litigants). The liberal Justices appeared united in the belief that Chevron deference is a bedrock judicial precedent that keeps decision-making in the hands of politically accountable experts, and out of the hands of judges. The Court consolidated Loper with another case, Relentless Inc. v. Department of Commerce, possibly because Justice Jackson recused herself from Loper. The consolidation gives the Court the added legitimacy of a decision by all nine Justices, should the court vote to overturn precedent. Jason discussed the potential labor law implications of a post-Chevron doctrine here.
The NLRB regional director in Florida filed a massive complaint last week against Starbucks. The complaint alleges that Starbucks has violated the NLRA by failing to bargain in good faith at the nearly 400 unionized Starbucks locations (Starbucks operates just shy of 9,000 stores in the United States, NPR reported in 2021). Starbucks baristas in Buffalo, NY, became the first in the company to unionize more than two years ago, in December of 2021. The organizing effort in Starbucks has been hailed as part of an energetic labor resurgence. Yet none of Starbucks’ unionized stores have a contract. On average, it takes 458 days for unions and employers to ratify a first contract — a number that has been rising for years as employers, perhaps embolden by the NLRB’s weak remedial powers, deploy union avoidance tactics even after their employees have exercised their right to chose a union. This is a stark reminder of how broken labor law is.
Daily News & Commentary
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April 18
Two major New York City unions endorse Cuomo for mayor; Committee on Education and the Workforce requests an investigation into a major healthcare union’s spending; Unions launch a national pro bono legal network for federal workers.
April 17
Utahns sign a petition supporting referendum to repeal law prohibiting public sector collective bargaining; the US District Court for the District of Columbia declines to dismiss claims filed by the AFL-CIO against several government agencies; and the DOGE faces reports that staffers of the agency accessed the NLRB’s sensitive case files.
April 16
7th Circuit questions the relevance of NLRB precedent after Loper Bright, unions seek to defend silica rule, and Abrego Garcia's union speaks out.
April 15
In today’s news and commentary, SAG-AFTRA reaches a tentative agreement, AFT sues the Trump Administration, and California offers its mediation services to make up for federal cuts. SAG-AFTRA, the union representing approximately 133,000 commercial actors and singers, has reached a tentative agreement with advertisers and advertising agencies. These companies were represented in contract negotiations by […]
April 14
Department of Labor publishes unemployment statistics; Kentucky unions resist deportation orders; Teamsters win three elections in Texas.
April 13
Shawn Fain equivocates on tariffs; Trump quietly ends federal union dues collection; pro-Palestinian Google employees sue over firings.