More news on Detroit’s bankruptcy proceedings, courtesy of the Wall Street Journal. Pension funds representing Detroit’s city employees and retirees have challenged emergency manager Kevyn Orr’s calculations regarding pension shortfalls. The pension issue further complicates Detroit’s already contentious Chapter 9 filing.
In the Washington Post, opinion writer Harold Meyerson harkens back to the “more robust and egalitarian mid-20th century” in proposing a solution for the declining forecasts of the nation’s mass-retailers. Meyerson argues that today’s retailers can learn from New Deal-era retail magnates, who raised employee wages and provided workers with bargaining power in a successful effort to address under-consumption.
Concrete developments in the ongoing labor dispute between Korean autoworkers employed by Hyundai and its affiliate Kia Motors. As the Washington Post reports, the unions representing Hyundai and Kia workers have walk outs scheduled for this week, placing pressure on both Hyundai and Kia to meet union demands for better wages and benefits.
Farm labor contractors who provide field workers for California’s multi-billion dollar agricultural industry are growing nervous over a provision in the Affordable Care Act. The New York Times reports that the ACA’s requirement that contractors provide full-time farmworkers with health insurance—a requirement that’s been delayed until 2015—may cause price increases for consumers. This cost appears to be unavoidable for the thinly margined industry, since part-time farm labor isn’t economical.
The Bipartisan Policy Centre’s bipartisan Immigration Task Force—comprised of luminaries such as former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (R) and former Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis (D)—has issued a report on immigration reform. As the Washington Post notes, the report contains proposals to help American workers and businesses by increasing employment-based immigration and adjusting visa levels to fluctuating labor market demands.
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July 15
The Department of Labor announces new guidance around Occupational Safety and Health Administration penalty and debt collection procedures; a Cornell University graduate student challenges graduate student employee-status under the National Labor Relations Act; the Supreme Court clears the way for the Trump administration to move forward with a significant staff reduction at the Department of Education.
July 14
More circuits weigh in on two-step certification; Uber challengers Seattle deactivation ordinance.
July 13
APWU and USPS ratify a new contract, ICE barred from racial profiling in Los Angeles, and the fight continues over the dismantling of NIOSH
July 11
Regional director orders election without Board quorum; 9th Circuit pauses injunction on Executive Order; Driverless car legislation in Massachusetts
July 10
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds UW Health nurses are not covered by Wisconsin’s Labor Peace Act; a district judge denies the request to stay an injunction pending appeal; the NFLPA appeals an arbitration decision.
July 9
the Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass firings; Secretary of Agriculture suggests Medicaid recipients replace deported migrant farmworkers; DHS ends TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras