Leora Smith is a student at Harvard Law School.
Uber is dominating the news once again. This month, the company will be launching its first fleet of driverless cars in Pittsburgh. The cars will have “safety drivers” for the near future, but regular Uber drivers will still be out of a job. Safety drivers are trained engineers who will be accompanied by “co-pilots” taking notes on any challenges encountered by the technology. Tablets in the back seat will encourage passengers not to speak with the humans in the front seat, so they can get used to the idea of automated driving. In more Uber news – a federal judge has rejected the a $100 million settlement negotiated on behalf of 200,000 drivers in Massachusetts and California. Read more about the settlement and OnLabor’s Gig Economy coverage here.
Diane Furgott, volunteer advisor to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and former chief economist to the Department of Labor under George W. Bush, writes in U.S. News and World Report that “joining a union is easy, but getting out of one is too tough for workers.” An interesting glimpse into the policy minds of the Trump campaign’s vision for workers.
Writing for The Street, Jim Cramer takes a look at Walmart’s excellent performance over the last quarter and suggests that increasing employee wages might have been the magic ingredient. Increased wages might mean less employees lost to competitors such as Target, he writes, which means lower turnover and reduced training costs for Walmart stores. Walmart workers have been fighting hard for the pay raises they won, but many are still pushing for a $15/hr wage. Read more about Walmart workers’ campaign here.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
July 11
Regional director orders election without Board quorum; 9th Circuit pauses injunction on Executive Order; Driverless car legislation in Massachusetts
July 10
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds UW Health nurses are not covered by Wisconsin’s Labor Peace Act; a district judge denies the request to stay an injunction pending appeal; the NFLPA appeals an arbitration decision.
July 9
the Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass firings; Secretary of Agriculture suggests Medicaid recipients replace deported migrant farmworkers; DHS ends TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras
July 8
In today’s news and commentary, Apple wins at the Fifth Circuit against the NLRB, Florida enacts a noncompete-friendly law, and complications with the No Tax on Tips in the Big Beautiful Bill. Apple won an appeal overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company violated labor law by coercively questioning an employee […]
July 7
LA economy deals with fallout from ICE raids; a new appeal challenges the NCAA antitrust settlement; and the EPA places dissenting employees on leave.
July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.