Annie Hollister is an Honors Attorney at the U.S. Department of Labor and an alumna of Harvard Law School.
Child care workers in California have called for a union election. The election is part of a sixteen-year organizing effort by Child Care Providers United, a joint initiative from the SEIU and AFSCME. Workers who provide child care services to California families on government subsidy were granted collective bargaining rights via state legislation introduced late last year. The proposed bargaining unit includes more than 40,000 workers. The majority of those workers are women of color; Latina women make up about a third of the workforce. If they vote to unionize later this year, it will be the largest U.S. union election in nearly a decade.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote today on the PRO Act, a proposed amendment to the National Labor Relations Act that would extend protections to union workers. The bill expands the definitions of “employee,” explicitly widens the scope of protected worker activity, and creates a citizen-suit provision allowing individuals to bring action for harm caused by labor law violations. The bill is expected to pass in the House, where it has 218 co-sponsors. Support in the Senate is uncertain, however, and some critics have described the bill as a political exercise.
On Wednesday, more than 100 Uber and Lyft drivers filed wage claims with the California Labor Commissioner’s Office in an attempt to jump-start enforcement of AB5. The drivers are seeking reimbursement for back wages, overtime, and expenses in an action they are calling “People’s Enforcement of AB5.” This week, the Los Angeles Times reported that AB5 is already changing the way companies like Uber and Lyft operate. According to the Times, ride-share companies are now experimenting with driver-requested features that they had previously dismissed as unworkable, including allowing drivers to see trip destinations before they accept rides. Uber is also moving to a simpler payment model. This move isn’t all positive, however: OnLabor contributor Veena Dubal warns that these changes may be an attempt to improve public perceptions of companies like Uber and Lyft in attempt to gain support for a ballot measure to overturn AB5.
In the Washington Post, Richmond, VA mayor Levar Stoney urges the Virginia legislature to lift its ban on collective bargaining for public-sector workers. Stoney explicitly identifies the ban on collective bargaining as a product of the state’s racist past, and calls on state lawmakers to abandon this “vestige of Jim Crow” to give workers “the dignity of a voice and a seat at the table.”
Daily News & Commentary
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June 26
A district judge issues a preliminary injunction blocking agencies from implementing Trump’s executive order eliminating collective bargaining for federal workers; workers organize for the reinstatement of two doctors who were put on administrative leave after union activity; and Lamont vetoes unemployment benefits for striking workers.
June 25
Some circuits show less deference to NLRB; 3d Cir. affirms return to broader concerted activity definition; changes to federal workforce excluded from One Big Beautiful Bill.
June 24
In today’s news and commentary, the DOL proposes new wage and hour rules, Ford warns of EV battery manufacturing trouble, and California reaches an agreement to delay an in-person work mandate for state employees. The Trump Administration’s Department of Labor has advanced a series of proposals to update federal wage and hour rules. First, the […]
June 23
Supreme Court interprets ADA; Department of Labor effectively kills Biden-era regulation; NYC announces new wages for rideshare drivers.
June 22
California lawmakers challenge Garmon preemption in the absence of an NLRB quorum and Utah organizers successfully secure a ballot referendum to overturn HB 267.
June 20
Three state bills challenge Garmon preemption; Wisconsin passes a bill establishing portable benefits for gig workers; and a sharp increase in workplace ICE raids contribute to a nationwide labor shortage.