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Benjamin Sachs is the Kestnbaum Professor of Labor and Industry at Harvard Law School and a leading expert in the field of labor law and labor relations. He is also faculty director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy. Professor Sachs teaches courses in labor law, employment law, and law and social change, and his writing focuses on union organizing and unions in American politics. Prior to joining the Harvard faculty in 2008, Professor Sachs was the Joseph Goldstein Fellow at Yale Law School. From 2002-2006, he served as Assistant General Counsel of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in Washington, D.C. Professor Sachs graduated from Yale Law School in 1998, and served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. His writing has appeared in the Harvard Law Review, the Yale Law Journal, the Columbia Law Review, the New York Times and elsewhere. Professor Sachs received the Yale Law School teaching award in 2007 and in 2013 received the Sacks-Freund Award for Teaching Excellence at Harvard Law School. He can be reached at [email protected].
The election of Donald Trump along with a Republican Congress presents a set of profound challenges and questions for the labor movement and for workers. As the readers of OnLabor know, the election of 2016 may mean (among other things): a national right to work law for the private sector; national right to work rules for the public sector (through the return of Friedrichs-type cases); the possibility that exclusive representation itself could eventually be ruled unconstitutional; a reshaped NLRB willing to undo much of what the Obama board has done, including on questions of joint employment, arbitration, graduate student organizing, and rules for non-union workplaces; a Department of Labor, potentially led by Scott Walker, and willing to undo what the historic Obama Department has achieved; workplace raids aimed at undocumented immigrant workers; a different approach to Title VII and the EEOC. The list, of course, continues. There may be positive developments too: the Trump campaign was committed to a robust infrastructure program and to restoring jobs – two things that, if accomplished, would be enormously important to workers. Trump has also indicated his support for some form of family leave and child care improvements.
Whatever the particulars turn out to be, this is a moment that calls for urgent and creative thinking about what comes next for labor. How should the labor movement begin to think about the next four years? What is possible in this changed environment? We hope to contribute to this discussion with Labor in the Trump Years, a series of essays from labor leaders, lawyers, and academics. The first installment comes from David Rolf.
Daily News & Commentary
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August 30
Worker interviews raise concerns about the enforcement of California’s new indoor heat protections; SAG-AFTRA celebrates the progress of an AI regulation bill in California; preventable trench collapses threaten worker safety.
August 29
Federal labor and antitrust agencies enter agreement to collaborate on merger investigations; United Airlines Flight Attendants vote 99.99% for strike authorization; and Cornell and UAW reach tentative agreement on new labor contract.
August 28
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found merit to allegations that Chipotle Mexican Grill violated federal labor law, over 4,000 Fred Meyers workers began a strike in Portland, Oregon, and unionized software workers filed a labor complaint against Activision Blizzard and Microsoft.
August 26
NLRB bids adieu to consent orders; New research on teachers' strikes; 5th Circuit vacates DOL rule.
August 23
NLRB: Amazon is joint employer of drivers; UAW threatens Stellantis strike; Canada intervenes in railway labor dispute.
August 22
Dartmouth College players union files an unfair labor charge and two prominent Canadian Railways are planning to institute worker lockouts.