Vail Kohnert-Yount is a student at Harvard Law School.
Tomato pickers and labor activists from the Coalition of Immokalee Workers will protest today outside of Wendy’s headquarters in Dublin, Ohio, during the company’s annual shareholder meeting to demand that the company join its Fair Food Program. The Fair Food Program, hailed by labor rights advocates as a successful enforcement model, requires retailers to buy from growers that follow a code of conduct designed to protect workers’ rights and fight rampant sexual assault and harassment in the fields. Although many industry behemoths, including Walmart and Whole Foods, have joined, Wendy’s has responded by stopping sourcing tomatoes from Florida altogether.
ProPublica published an exposé of Sanitation Salvage, one of New York City’s largest private trash haulers, yesterday. Besides the company’s dismal record of fatal accidents and off-the-books employment arrangements, workers allege the independent union that represents them is a sham run by the company’s owners, locking them into jobs with low wages, poor benefits, and low safety standards.
Last week, sex workers nationwide took part in the first National Sex Worker Lobby Day. In the wake of the passage of the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act, which some argue endangers sex workers and their livelihoods, lobby day participants sought to educate lawmakers about misconceptions surrounding sex work and the challenges sex workers face.
Gig economy companies are embroiled in legal action over their workers’ employment status not only across the country but around the world. On Monday, a Spanish court ruled that a Deliveroo rider should have been treated as an employee and not as self-employed. The ruling echoes last month’s California Supreme Court decision on the status of Uber drivers, in which the court established a new, stricter test to determine whether workers should be considered employees or contractors. Amazon faces a similar lawsuit in the United Kingdom over whether its couriers are self-employed and therefore not entitled to employment rights including the national minimum wage and holiday pay.
Finally, Italy’s newly elected government has promised to roll back labor reforms installed by former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. Renzi’s reforms made it easier for large companies to fire people and offered fiscal incentives for employers to hire permanent workers with fewer labor protections. Proponents argued the tax breaks and lifting of restrictions would increase employment, but opponents say most new jobs created since the reforms have been the kind of temporary work the legislation was supposed to deter.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
April 1
In today’s news and commentary, Aramark workers at Philly stadiums reach tentative agreement, Crystal Carey is poised to take general counsel at NLRB, President Trump’s nominees for key DOL positions, and the National Treasury Employees Union sues the Trump administration. UNITE HERE Local 274, which represents thousands of food service workers in the Philadelphia region, […]
March 31
Trump signs executive order; Appeals court rules on NLRB firing; Farmworker activist detained by ICE.
March 28
In today’s news and commentary, Wyoming bans non-compete agreements, rideshare drivers demonstrate to recoup stolen wages, and Hollywood trade group names a new president. Starting July 1, employers will no longer be able to force Wyoming employees to sign non-compete agreements. A bill banning the practice passed the Wyoming legislature this past session, with legislators […]
March 27
Florida legislature proposes deregulation of child labor laws, Trump administration cuts international programs that target child labor and human trafficking, and California Federal judge reversed course and ruled that unions representing federal employees can sue the Trump administration over mass firings.
March 25
Illinois warehouse quota bill vetoed; Minnesota residents organize; circuit split on NLRB deference continues
March 23
Mahmoud Khalil and labor; CA Fast Food Council's slow start; debating worker-to-worker organizing