Maddy Joseph is a student at Harvard Law School.
This week, President Trump endorsed legislation that would halve legal immigration to the United States in the next decade, by drastically reducing the number of immigrants admitted because of family ties. Although the number admitted based on jobs skills would remain steady at around 140,000, the legislation would award merit-based green cards using a points system that looks at education, job offers, and “entrepreneurial initiative,” among other factors.
Trump, his Labor Secretary, and the legislation’s Senate sponsors claimed the changes were needed in part to stop immigrant workers from taking American workers’ jobs and lowering American workers’ wages. But economists question whether reducing immigration leads to more or higher-paying jobs. As the New York Times puts it:
“[E]conomists say . . . that there is no clear connection between less immigration and more jobs for Americans. Rather, the prevailing view among economists is that immigration increases economic growth, improving the lives of the immigrants and the lives of the people who are already here.”
Workers at a Mississippi Nissan plant continue to vote today on whether to unionize. The organizing campaign at the plant, where the majority of workers are African-American, began in 2012, and, as the New York Times characterizes it, has “bitterly divided” workers along racial and other lines. It has also elicited intense opposition from Nissan. As we’ve previously noted, the Mississippi plant is one of the few Nissan plants worldwide where workers are not unionized. Last Friday, the NLRB issued a complaint against the company, which included the charge that Nissan had illegally told workers that the plant might close if they voted to unionize. The voting ends today.
The Senate voted 50-48 to put Trump nominee Marvin Kaplan on the NLRB. With Kaplan’s confirmation, the Board becomes evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.
Daily News & Commentary
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June 2
Proposed budgets for DOL and NLRB show cuts on the horizon; Oregon law requiring LPAs in cannabis dispensaries struck down.
June 1
In today’s news and commentary, the Ninth Circuit upholds a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration, a federal judge vacates parts of the EEOC’s pregnancy accommodation rules, and video game workers reach a tentative agreement with Microsoft. In a 2-1 decision issued on Friday, the Ninth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration […]
May 30
Trump's tariffs temporarily reinstated after brief nationwide injunction; Louisiana Bill targets payroll deduction of union dues; Colorado Supreme Court to consider a self-defense exception to at-will employment
May 29
AFGE argues termination of collective bargaining agreement violates the union’s First Amendment rights; agricultural workers challenge card check laws; and the California Court of Appeal reaffirms San Francisco city workers’ right to strike.
May 28
A proposal to make the NLRB purely adjudicatory; a work stoppage among court-appointed lawyers in Massachusetts; portable benefits laws gain ground
May 27
a judge extends a pause on the Trump Administration’s mass-layoffs, the Fifth Circuit refuses to enforce an NLRB order, and the Texas Supreme court extends workplace discrimination suits to co-workers.