Jon Weinberg is a student at Harvard Law School.
Uber drivers and other gig economy workers in Seattle may soon be able to unionize, as the city is close to finalizing rules to implement an ordinance passed last year which survived a court challenge. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “the city’s Finance and Administrative Services department held a public hearing to take comments on the draft rules.” More than 20 people signed up to testify. The proposed rules can be found here. Seattle’s target date for implementation is January 17, 2017, and collective bargaining negotiations could begin as soon as next summer.
The race for chairman of the Democratic National Committee features two front-runners with strong pro-labor backgrounds, and unions appear divided. NBC News reports that “the International Association of Firefighters, the main union representing American firefighters, has placed itself on a collision course with the AFL-CIO in the race for the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee, deciding to back Labor Secretary Tom Perez over Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison.” Perez has also garnered the support of the UFW and the UFCW. Per Bloomberg BNA, both candidates have strong records supporting organized labor.
Logging continues to be the most dangerous job in America, according to new data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Forbes notes that “last year loggers suffered 67 fatalities while on the job, with a fatality rate of 132.7,” while the “occupation which suffered the most fatalities overall was that of driver/sales workers and truck drivers.”
Daily News & Commentary
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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.
September 9
Ninth Circuit revives Trader Joe’s lawsuit against employee union; new bill aims to make striking workers eligible for benefits; university lecturer who praised Hitler gets another chance at First Amendment claims.