The Wall Street Journal reports on a “rare instance of agreement between immigration-rights activists and the Trump administration”: activists are applauding the DOL’s suit against an Arizona farm employing H-2A visa-holders. DOL alleged minimum wage violations and substandard living conditions, winning a preliminary injunction in May. Proposed legislation threatens to loosen federal oversight over the H-2A program, either by shifting enforcement from DOL to the more pro-industry Department of Agriculture or by ceding some control to the states.
In Canada, protections for temporary workers are already decentralized, with the territories and provinces shouldering responsibility for overseeing health, labor, and safety. This set-up has created uneven standards and enforcement. Home country consulates create a second challenge in the Canadian system. A consulate is responsible for advocating on behalf of its country’s workers, but also has an incentive to maintain good relations with employers so that the country continues to receive temporary work visas. The New York Times reports.
Unionized charter school teachers in Chicago voted in June to merge with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). Soon the question of merger will be put to CTU’s 30,000 members. Reuters reports that apprehension about the Trump Administration’s approach generally—and Secretary of Education Betsey DeVos’ declared interest in vouchers in particular—strengthen the CTU leadership’s interest in merger.
Mexican negotiators are coming to Washington this week to start renegotiating NAFTA. The LA Times reports that Mexican negotiators seek to avoid additional tariffs and bring energy, finance, and telecom within the ambit of the trade deal. (These sectors were excluded from the original deal because they were nationally controlled.) Opposition to tariffs also flows from American businesses—like Big Ass Fans, profiled in the New York Times,—who fear that increased input costs and limited sales opportunities may directly and indirectly result from higher tariffs.
Daily News & Commentary
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September 16
In today’s news and commentary, the NLRB sues New York, a flight attendant sues United, and the Third Circuit considers the employment status of Uber drivers The NLRB sued New York to block a new law that would grant the state authority over private-sector labor disputes. As reported on recently by Finlay, the law, which […]
September 15
Unemployment claims rise; a federal court hands victory to government employees union; and employers fire workers over social media posts.
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.