On Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Sandifer v. United States Steel Corp., the New York Times reports. The case poses the question whether the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that steelworkers be paid for the time it takes them to put on and take off their work clothing. The Seventh Circuit, in an opinion written by Judge Richard Posner, had previously answered emphatically no. The opinion went on to warn that workers should be wary of making such claims if “they don’t want the American steel industry to go where so much American manufacturing has gone in recent years — abroad.”
The Washington Post reports that the Senate voted 61 to 30 yesterday to advance the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, a law that bans workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill is expected to be debated today and could pass the Senate as early as the end of this week.
The Associated Press reports that Seattle residents will vote today on whether to raise the minimum wage for workers at Washington’s Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to $15 an hour. The current minimum wage in Washington is $9.19 an hour – the highest state minimum wage in the country.
Two recordings secretly made by workers at Iron Mountain, a document storage company in Georgia, capture supervisors warning workers not to unionize, according to Salon.com. In one recording, managers tell workers they are “very disappointed” the workers are seeking unionization, and the managers vow to “educate” them about unionization. In another, a manager confronts employee Wayne Walker about his participation in the union campaign, saying: “If that’s what you want to do, by means do it if you think that’s what’s best for your family, but just make sure you’re educated.” Walker was fired a week later. The NLRB is currently investigating charges that the firing was retaliation for Walker’s organizing efforts.
In international news, the Washington Post reports that street cleaners and garbage collectors in Madrid plan to begin an open-ended strike today to protest planned layoffs of more than 1,000 workers. The workers gathered on Madrid’s Puerta del Sol plaza late yesterday, where they set off firecrackers and started bonfires in denunciation of the announced cuts.
Daily News & Commentary
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March 13
Republican Senators urge changes on OSHA heat standard; OpenAI and building trades announce partnership on data center construction; forced labor investigations could lead to new tariffs
March 12
EPA terminates contract with second-largest union; Florida advances bill restricting public sector unions; Trump administration seeks Supreme Court assistance in TPS termination.
March 11
The partial government shutdown results in TSA agents losing their first full paycheck; the Fifth Circuit upholds the certification of a class of former United Airline workers who were placed on unpaid leave for declining to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons during the pandemic; and an academic group files a lawsuit against the State Department over a policy that revokes and denies visas to noncitizens for their work in fact-checking and content moderation.
March 10
Court rules Kari Lake unlawfully led USAGM, voiding mass layoffs; Florida Senate passes bill tightening union recertification rules; Fifth Circuit revives whistleblower suit against Lockheed Martin.
March 9
6th Circuit rejects Cemex, Board may overrule precedents with two members.
March 8
In today’s news and commentary, a weak jobs report, the NIH decides it will no longer recognize a research fellows’ union, and WNBA contract talks continue to stall as season approaches. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that employers cut 92,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.4 percent. A loss […]