Maddy Joseph is a student at Harvard Law School.
On Capitol Hill yesterday, Senator Al Franken resigned after allegations that he had sexually harassed several women. Meanwhile, the House Administration Committee held hearings in which it heard from employment law experts as it develops plans to reform how sexual harassment claims are handled in Congress, the Washington Post reports.
Over 1,000 food service workers at O’Hare voted yesterday to strike for higher wages and affordable health insurance, according to the Chicago Tribune. Unite Here Local 1 has not said when the strike would occur; the workers’ contracts expired in August. The contractor that operates O’Hare’s food services said that everything would remain staffed through a strike.
Next month’s Atlantic discusses the spread of automation in the food services industry, where computers or robots are now taking orders and preparing food. Some companies claim that the automation will be good for job growth on the theory that automation fuels sales and boosts efficiency.
In a review of two books for In These Times, Shaun Richman writes about the long history of employers’ attempts to break up union campaigns. Examining the “open shop” campaigns of the early twentieth century discussed in Chad Pearson’s Reform or Repression: Organizing America’s Anti-Union Movement, as well as the rise of “union avoidance” consultants amidst new worker organizing pushes in the 1970s retold in Lane Windham’s Knocking on Labor’s Door: Union Organizing in the 1970s and the Roots of a New Economic Divide, Richman’s essay highlights the evolving strategies employers have used against unionization efforts.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 26
Prop 22 survives; video game workers take action; NLRB challenged.
July 25
Disney union reaches tentative agreement, FAA agrees to improve worker conditions, and Olympic dancers drop strike notice.
July 24
Unions demand end to military aid for Israel; UAW and Teamsters hold out on Harris endorsement; Judge declines to block FTC ban on non-competes
July 23
NLRB drops appeal of a district court case striking down its joint employer rule; red states challenge EEOC’s pregnancy rule; and the WNBA players’ union taps advisors.
July 22
Unions respond to Biden's exit, many back Harris.
July 19
The Bronx Defenders Union announces a tentative collective bargaining agreement; Amazon workers continue a strike in Skokie; Bangladesh students continue protests over government job quotas.