Ross Evans is a student at Harvard Law School and a member of the Labor and Employment Lab.
New York City police officers rallied at city hall last week to protest the full year that they have been working without a labor contract (the prior labor agreement expired on July 31, 2017). Patrolman’s Benevolent Association (PBA), a union that represents 24,000 police officers, organized the protest. New York City and PBA are currently in the midst of arbitration proceedings over a new labor agreement.
The Wall Street Journal details how public-sector unions in Illinois, New York, and Pennsylvania are beginning to feel the effects of the Janus decision. In New York alone, unions could “lose $112 million in agency fees from 200,000 state and local workers,” per research from the Empire Center, an Albany-based conservative think tank.
Last week, The New York Times recounted the remarkable life of labor-rights leader Clara Lemlich Shavelson as part of its “Overlooked” series, which tells the stories of extraordinary people who were left out of its previously white-male-dominated obituary section. Ms. Lemlich Shavelson emigrated with her family from Ukraine to the United States in 1903. Six years later, at the age of 23, Ms. Lemlich Shavelson helped lead the Uprising of 20,000, a strike that resulted in shorter days and better working conditions for women in the New York shirtwaist industry. The Uprising of 20,000 remains the largest strike of women in American history. Ms. Lemlich Shavelson passed away in July of 1982 at the age of 96.
Brent Kendall, legal affairs reporter for The Wall Street Journal, explores Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s history of deciding labor and employment cases against workers and in favor of employers. OnLabor ‘s extensive coverage of Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination–and what it could mean for the labor movement–can be found here.
Associated Press reporter Josh Boak explains that while the “United States is on pace to add about 2.6 million jobs this year under President Donald Trump’s watch . . . . the bulk of the hiring has occurred in bastions of Democratic voters rather than in the Republican counties that put Trump in the White House.”
Yesterday marked the 85th anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s establishment of the National Labor Board. The National Labor Board was replaced by the National Labor Relations Board in 1935.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
October 22
SCOTUS declines Wilcox appeal; Penn State research assistants win bargaining rights; SEIU sued over military leave firing.
October 21
DOL withdraws tipped-worker rule; Instacart settles hiring-bias claims; Phillips 66 locks out New Jersey refinery workers.
October 20
Korean unions oppose labor exemption bill; Portland city workers prepare for strike; UPenn grad student union looks to dismiss university filing
October 19
FDA reverses course on policy prohibiting off-duty union activity; FAA and NATCA reach deal to secure pay increase for air traffic controllers.
October 18
Federal judge again halts cancellation of the Bureau of Prisons’ CBA; tabletop gaming workers face roadblocks in union recognition.
October 16
Department of Labor reduces wage-and-hour enforcement at unionized workplaces; Fain's victory poses question of federal monitor's extension.