OnLabor

Law. Workers. Organizing.

  • Follow OnLabor on X
  • Subscribe via RSS
News & Commentary

April 20, 2016

  • Hannah Belitz
Hannah Belitz

Hannah Belitz is a student at Harvard Law School.

All by Hannah
  • Share
  • Share
  • Print

The United Steelworkers union is calling on the United States to impose higher tariffs on aluminum imports, the New York Times reports.  On Monday, the union’s law firm filed a petition under Section 201 of the 1974 Trade Act, which permits “domestic industries seriously injured or threatened with serious injury by increased imports [to] petition the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) for import relief.”  According to the union, the U.S. aluminum smelting industry is suffering: by this summer, over three-quarters of the industry that existed five years ago will have been idled or shut down.  The union cites China’s rising exports as a key reason for the industry’s decline.

According to the Washington Post, Airbnb is negotiating with the SEIU over a deal to employ unionized housekeepers who make at least $15/hour.  Under the terms of the agreement, Airbnb would “endorse the union’s Fight for $15 and encourage vendors who provide services to homeowners on the Airbnb platform to pay their staff at least $15 per hour.”  Airbnb’s platform would also direct its hosts to cleaners that the SEIU has approved.  As for Airbnb, the deal would give it “new ammunition for its myriad political battles,” allowing the company “to make the claim that it is creating good jobs for local residents.”

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has found that employment has finally returned to pre-financial crisis levels.  As the Wall Street Journal explains, the employment rate fell significantly following the 2008 crisis, bottomed out in late 2010, and has been rising “slowly but steadily” ever since.  However, the fact that it has taken over seven years to recover “serves as a reminder of how damaging the crisis was.”  Moreover, the extent of the recovery varies widely across economies.  Japan, Germany, and the U.K, for example, have exceeded pre-crisis employment rates; the United States has not.

 

  • Share
  • Share
  • Print

The Latest From OnLabor

Building Toward Sectoral Bargaining – Yes We Can!

by Lynn Rhinehart

Can Workers Wear Union T-Shirts?  The Second Circuit Says it’s Complicated

by Andrew Strom

Tesla Outlasted the World’s Strongest Union Movement

by German Bender

Building Toward Sectoral Bargaining

by Lynn Rhinehart

Tagged

More by Hannah Belitz

Browse all

Daily News & Commentary: May 17, 2017

May 17, 2017

Daily News & Commentary: May 3, 2017

May 3, 2017

Daily News & Commentary: April 19, 2017

April 19, 2017

Daily News & Commentary

Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all

September 17

Unions push to block Google from buying Spirit Airlines employment records; U.S. Department of Labor sues Oklahoma coffee chain over alleged wage violations.

September 16

Trump nominates Catherine Eschbach as EEOC general counsel; NLRB declines to resolve union work-assignment dispute; Allina Health physicians begin four-day strike.

September 15

Documents reveal the inner workings of Amazon's union avoidance program; Washington state public sector unions reach tentative deals amid a difficult bargaining cycle; hundreds of Nevada Culinary Union members protest their union's health care changes.

September 14

NCAA and Big Ten file motion to dismiss in former star player's NIL suit; Seventh Circuit rules against former postal worker in discrimination suit.

September 13

Documents released on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks show that city officials encouraged workers to return to Ground Zero despite knowing the risks of asbestos exposure, and new polls demonstrate continued widespread support for labor unions.

September 10

Amazon workers allege pregnancy discrimination; federal unions challenge USDA reorganization; NYC warns of silicosis risks.

OnLabor In The News

Browse all

Wired

Hundreds of Video Game Workers Join New Union as Trump Attacks Labor Rights
Prof. Sachs on challenges to union organizing under the second Trump Administration.

Los Angeles Times

Column: How anti-union southern governors may be violating federal law
Ben Sachs quoted in a column about the anti-union governors' letter and the fragmentation of labor law; John Fry's post referenced on the question of whether state level card-check bans are preempted by the NLRA.

Fast Company

Amazon’s Labor Union is divided but closing in on electing leadership
Prof. Sachs on Amazon's use of legal roadblocks to delay negotiations.

Semafor

Unions’ picket power now extends to U.S. boardrooms
Prof. Block on the influence of labor unions on other playing fields.

Bloomberg Law

Boeing Talks Will Test Unions’ Sway as Labor Market Softens
Prof. Block on Boeing's labor negotiations with the International Association of Machinists.

More From OnLabor

See more

Does Mental Illness Count as Illness? Not in the Fifth Circuit

Aug 12, 2026 Andrew Strom

In 1970, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) in an effort to “assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthful working conditions.”  That Act created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which was charged with gathering information and setting health and safety […]

A Shameful Failure: The Board’s Lawless Starbucks Decision

Jul 30, 2026 Marina Multhaup

Baristas at the 4th & Diagonal Starbucks store in Seattle, Washington, started organizing with Workers United in early 2022. What followed over the next four years, culminating in last week’s Board decision, exemplifies the state of modern-day labor law: broken, backwards, and antithetical to workers’ interests. Through both Biden and Trump’s Labor Boards, the combination […]

Why are Bosses So Thin Skinned?

Jul 24, 2026 Andrew Strom

Decisions by Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) rarely get much attention, so it was surprising when the New York Times gave prominent coverage to a recent decision by a National Labor Relations Board ALJ finding that a software company, Atlassian, illegally fired a worker for criticizing the company’s top managers.  When I read the ALJ’s decision, […]

App-Drivers and the Promise of State Labor Law

Jul 23, 2026 Charles Du and Manny Pastreich

In May, workers secured the biggest single union organizing victory in decades: 70,000 Uber and Lyft drivers in Massachusetts won certification of their union and the right to bargain collectively with the largest rideshare companies in the country. By forming a unique labor partnership, creating a new state-level labor law, and organizing workers in unorthodox […]

Democrats of the World (or the U.S.), Unite

Jul 20, 2026 Andrew Strom

The labor movement in this country has long been torn between those who embrace the term “socialist,” and those who shun it.  Eugene V. Debs went from leading a railroad workers’ union to running for President as a Socialist.  By contrast, Samuel Gompers, the first President of the American Federation of Labor had this to say about […]

Enjoy OnLabor’s fresh takes on the day’s labor news, right in your inbox.

* indicates required

OnLabor

Law. Workers. Organizing.

OnLabor is a blog devoted to workers, unions, and their politics. We interpret our subject broadly to include the current crisis in the traditional union movement (why union decline is happening and what it means for our society); the new and contested forms of worker organization that are filling the labor union gap; how work ought to be structured and managed; how workers ought to be represented and compensated; and the appropriate role of government — all three branches — in each of these issues.

Learn more about OnLabor

Copyright © 2026 OnLabor. All rights reserved.

OnLabor is unable to accept unsolicited submissions.

  • Follow OnLabor on X
  • Subscribe via RSS
Contact
[email protected]
Site design
Jon White Studio

Sections

  • All Editorial Writing
  • All News & Commentary
  • From The Editor
  • From Senior Contributors
  • Analysis From Guest Voices
  • OnLabor In The News
  • All Featured Coverage
  • About

Connect

  • Follow OnLabor on X
  • Subscribe via RSS