House Democrats and the Trump Administration appear on the verge of agreement on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a North American trade deal that President Trump is billing as a NAFTA replacement. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would not confirm news of a trade deal last night, but told press that “we made great progress” towards an agreement and that United States Trade Representative Bob Lighthizer is flying to Mexico today in an effort to finalize the deal.
President Trump campaigned on renegotiating NAFTA—but the new agreement maintains is extremely similar to NAFTA, making relatively few changes to the existing law and leaving NAFTA’s most-criticized provisions in place. USMCA does include a few significant changes, including increasing minimum wages for Mexican auto factories, requiring cars to have 75 percent of their components (up from 62.5% under NAFTA) manufactured in North America to qualify for zero tariffs, and increasing the duration patents for “biologics” specialty drugs, protecting BigPharma from competition by more affordable, generic medicine—though House Democrats have demanded the last provision be dropped in exchange for their support for ratification, and the White House signaled this week it might agree to do so.
Instacart workers are escalating their campaign demanding the gig company raise workers’ pay, reports Vice reporter Lauren Gurley. A group of Instacart delivery workers went on strike early last month, asking the company to restore a previous 10% default tip amount on the Instacart app. In 2016, the company replaced 10% tipping fee built into every app order with a service fee collected by the company, rather than delivery workers. Sustained worker pressure has forced the company to raise workers’ minimum pay, but the company has faced ongoing accusations of misappropriating workers’ tips.
Under pressure from survivors of gender-based violence, Uber released internal records that shows that over 3,0000 people were sexually assaulted during Uber ride shares last year. Public attention has focused on passengers who have sued the companies for failing to prevent sexual assault by drivers, but Uber’s internal data shows that 42 percent of reports to the company came from drivers who reported being sexually assaulted on the job.
Donald Trump has appointed more than one-quarter of active Appeals Court judges in the nation. Vox’s Ian Millhiser explores the implications Trump judicial appointees pose for workers’ rights and other progressive causes.
One year after the nationwide prison strike, Kim Kelly covers what’s changed—and what hasn’t— for Teen Vogue.
Daily News & Commentary
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October 10
California bans algorithmic price-fixing; New York City Council passes pay transparency bills; and FEMA questions staff who signed a whistleblowing letter.
October 9
Equity and the Broadway League resume talks amid a looming strike; federal judge lets alcoholism ADA suit proceed; Philadelphia agrees to pay $40,000 to resolve a First Amendment retaliation case.
October 8
In today’s news and commentary, the Trump administration threatens no back pay for furloughed federal workers; the Second Circuit denies a request from the NFL for an en banc review in the Brian Flores case; and Governor Gavin Newsom signs an agreement to create a pathway for unionization for Uber and Lyft drivers.
October 7
The Supreme Court kicks off its latest term, granting and declining certiorari in several labor-related cases.
October 6
EEOC regains quorum; Second Circuit issues opinion on DEI causing hostile work environment.
October 5
In today’s news and commentary, HELP committee schedules a vote on Trump’s NLRB nominees, the 5th Circuit rejects Amazon’s request for en banc review, and TV production workers win their first union contract. After a nomination hearing on Wednesday, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee scheduled a committee vote on President Trump’s NLRB nominees […]