Esther Ritchin is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s news and commentary, nurses in Michigan vote to unionize and a hotel workers strike continues in Las Vegas.
Nurses at Corewell Health in Michigan voted to unionize after a year-long campaign. This election resulted in one of the largest union election victories in nearly 20 years, according to the NLRB, with this election representing nearly 10,000 workers. The vote was 4,958 for the union to 2,957 against, representing a 62% approval vote. The Teamsters president described an aggressive anti-union campaign by Corewell Health. Due to the large size of the bargaining unit, the nurses will have their own local chapter of the Teamsters union.
Hotel workers at a casino in Las Vegas have been on strike since Friday, asking for a new five-year contract and rejecting the hotel’s proposal of $0.30 per year raises. The hotel has hired scabs to maintain operations, citing almost 650 applications for the vacant positions. The strike is set to continue during the heavily-attended Formula One weekend, which began yesterday. Some have criticized the Laborers Union Pension Fund of Eastern and Central Canada, upon discovering that they, among other investors, own the hotel in question. Workers report being ignored and dismissed by the pension fund when they attempted to contact them, including by going to their offices in person.
Daily News & Commentary
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October 23
Employers increasingly shift health care costs onto workers and NYC proposes placing restrictions on fully automated customer service.
October 22
SCOTUS declines Wilcox appeal; Penn State research assistants win bargaining rights; SEIU sued over military leave firing.
October 21
DOL withdraws tipped-worker rule; Instacart settles hiring-bias claims; Phillips 66 locks out New Jersey refinery workers.
October 20
Korean unions oppose labor exemption bill; Portland city workers prepare for strike; UPenn grad student union looks to dismiss university filing
October 19
FDA reverses course on policy prohibiting off-duty union activity; FAA and NATCA reach deal to secure pay increase for air traffic controllers.
October 18
Federal judge again halts cancellation of the Bureau of Prisons’ CBA; tabletop gaming workers face roadblocks in union recognition.