
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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September 22
Biden and Lula announce Partnership for Workers’ Rights; GAO clears Su to serve as acting Secretary of Labor indefinitely.
September 21
DHS policies for Venezuelan migrants; reduced arbitration fees under No Surprises Act; increasing religious objections to workplace DEI policies.
September 19
Canadian autoworkers continue negotiations with Ford’s operations in Canada, Trump announces a rally in Detroit next week with union workers, and talk shows backtrack on plans to return to air without writers.
September 18
UAW enters its fourth day of striking with plans to meet Stellantis at the negotiating table; 13 of the 14 bargaining units representing Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) will negotiate new contracts in the next six months; a Brazilian labor court ordered Uber to pay ~$205 million in fines for irregular working relations with app drivers; unions across many sectors press lawmakers to curb potential threats from artificial intelligence
September 17
Updates from UAW’s strike, Dartmouth College athletes file petition to unionize, visual effects artists at Marvel Studios unanimously vote to unionize, and California’s legislature passes a variety of pro-worker bills.
September 15
United Auto Workers strike against the Big Three