The New York Times profiles stories on unemployed workers, as the emergency federal unemployment-insurance program – which extended benefits by up to 73 weeks beyond state maximums – is set to expire at the end of the month. Meanwhile, the Washington Post highlights the impact the change will have on each state’s maximum weeks of benefit eligibility in two stark graphics.
The number of asylum claims from immigrants who have entered the U.S. illegally has tripled this year, according to the L.A. Times. The sharp spike in claims is leading some to conclude that many may be fraudulent claims designed to delay deportation, but others say such suspicions shouldn’t alter a process that is vital to protect vulnerable people from persecution abroad.
The nation’s highest municipal minimum wage, $15/hr in SeaTac, Washington passed by referendum earlier this year, is facing a crucial court test today, reports the New York Times. As labor advocates anxiously await the law’s effective date of January 1, 2014, a challenge to the law brought by Alaska Airlines and the Washington Restaurant Association is being heard in a Seattle courtroom today.
New York University teaching assistants have voted by a 620 to 10 margin to join the United Automobile Workers, reports the New York Times. The workers will become the first union of graduate assistants recognized at a private university anywhere in the country.
The Washington Post highlights a cost-of-living pay increase for federal workers contained in the new Budget deal that obtained bi-partisan support in Congress.
Talks between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have collapsed, according to the Wall Street Journal, in the latest wrinkle in the ongoing drama over where the company’s planned 777x jetliner will be manufactured. A Boeing spokesperson stated they had no plans to go back to the negotiating table, characterizing the most recent proposal as their “best and final” offer.
Laura D’Andrea Tyson in the New York Times reviews the evidence on what effect a minimum wage hike has on job numbers and prices.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
September 2
Trump’s US Steel agreement impacts labor talks; Mamdani clashes with teachers’ union; Boeing plans to resume bargaining talks.
September 1
California legislature passes a bill banning AI workplace surveillance of workers' emotional states; Labor Department repeals decades-old farmworker protection rules; Sixth Circuit upholds a $1.4 million verdict for farmworkers.
August 31
Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians stave off first-ever strike; Cleveland Public Library workers ratify new contracts; New York State AFL-CIO makes endorsements
August 30
Seattle teachers vote to authorize a strike days before the school year begins; BNSF Railway’s AI dispatching system puts workers in danger; and a California court finds that the DOL’s pay cuts for non-citizen farmworkers are unlawful.
August 28
Calls for a “token tax” on AI consumption grow and the number of Amazon workers on federal aid explodes.
August 27
NLRB GC targets Biden-era precedent; Starbucks Workers United calls for boycott; Encore Boston Harbor workers authorize strike