Jon Weinberg is a student at Harvard Law School.
Minors in Texas may soon need parental approval to join a labor union. According to the Texas Tribune, “minors in the state may be required to obtain parental approval before they can join a labor union under a proposal the Texas Senate tentatively approved along party lines Monday.” The legislator who introduced the bill “said she filed the measure in response to concerns from a constituent whose daughter ‘was persuaded to join a union without fully understanding’ the terms of agreement.” For their part, “some union leaders argue the bill would target minors employed by grocery stores while unfairly limiting their freedom and opportunity in the workplace.”
Voters in Missouri may be deprived the opportunity to vote on the state’s right-to-work legislation, if a lawsuit is successful. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that “supporters of Missouri’s new ‘right to work’ law have filed another lawsuit seeking to scuttle an attempt by labor officials to put the issue before voters for an up-or-down vote.” Labor leaders “want to give voters the chance to weigh in on the issue after it was pushed quickly through the GOP-controlled Legislature this year and signed into law by Republican Gov. Eric Greitens.” The law is set to go into effect on August 28. Missouri residents “can call a referendum on a new law by collecting signatures totaling 5 percent of voters from two-thirds of the state’s congressional districts.”
The Fight for $15 has been incredibly successful – but not in Baltimore. Vox explores why the effort to raise the minimum wage in Baltimore to $15 an hour fell apart, noting the city’s financial problems and fear of ensuing job loss.
Finally, Republicans are challenging several key labor protections. The Miami Herald reports on union concerns that President Trump will revist the Davis-Bacon Act, “a law that guarantees wage levels for workers on most federally funded construction projects,” while the Washington Examiner notes that a “group of 47 House Republican lawmakers is urging the heads of Congress’ appropriations committee to restrain the National Labor Relations Board from implementing several of former President Barack Obama’s changes to labor regulations.”
Daily News & Commentary
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September 14
Workers at Boeing reject the company’s third contract proposal; NLRB Acting General Counsel William Cohen plans to sue New York over the state’s trigger bill; Air Canada flight attendants reject a tentative contract.
September 12
Zohran Mamdani calls on FIFA to end dynamic pricing for the World Cup; the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement opens a probe into Scale AI’s labor practices; and union members organize immigration defense trainings.
September 11
California rideshare deal advances; Boeing reaches tentative agreement with union; FTC scrutinizes healthcare noncompetes.
September 10
A federal judge denies a motion by the Trump Administration to dismiss a lawsuit led by the American Federation of Government Employees against President Trump for his mass layoffs of federal workers; the Supreme Court grants a stay on a federal district court order that originally barred ICE agents from questioning and detaining individuals based on their presence at a particular location, the type of work they do, their race or ethnicity, and their accent while speaking English or Spanish; and a hospital seeks to limit OSHA's ability to cite employers for failing to halt workplace violence without a specific regulation in place.
September 9
Ninth Circuit revives Trader Joe’s lawsuit against employee union; new bill aims to make striking workers eligible for benefits; university lecturer who praised Hitler gets another chance at First Amendment claims.
September 8
DC Circuit to rule on deference to NLRB, more vaccine exemption cases, Senate considers ban on forced arbitration for age discrimination claims.