
Morgan Sperry is a student at Harvard Law School and also serves as OnLabor's Social Media Director.
In today’s news and commentary, the Yellow trucking company has shut down, laying off 22,000 Teamsters, and Senator Fetterman has introduced legislation that would extend SNAP benefits to striking workers.
Yellow, one of the largest freight trucking companies in the United States, has shut down and laid off all of its employees only three years after the Trump Administration gave it a $700 million pandemic bailout. Yellow employed 22,000 Teamsters and had been negotiating a new contract—focused on increased wages and improved health care and pension benefits—with the union. (At one point, Yellow’s management went so far as to ask a federal judge to intervene against the union to prevent a strike.)
Senator Fetterman (D-PA) is introducing legislation to extend SNAP benefits to striking workers. Currently, workers on strike are ineligible for SNAP benefits unless they collected food stamps prior to striking. The Food Secure Strikers Act of 2023 would repeal a restriction on striking workers receiving SNAP benefits, protect food stamp eligibility for public-sector workers fired for striking, and clarify that any income-eligible household can receive SNAP benefits even if a member of that household is on strike. This summer’s strikes have resurfaced the issue of food insecurity as many workers have struggled to access strike funds and other mutual aid.
Daily News & Commentary
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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 […]
May 2
Immigrant detainees win class certification; Missouri sick leave law in effect; OSHA unexpectedly continues Biden-Era Worker Heat Rule