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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July 4
The DOL scraps a Biden-era proposed rule to end subminimum wages for disabled workers; millions will lose access to Medicaid and SNAP due to new proof of work requirements; and states step up in the noncompete policy space.
July 3
California compromises with unions on housing; 11th Circuit rules against transgender teacher; Harvard removes hundreds from grad student union.
July 2
Block, Nanda, and Nayak argue that the NLRA is under attack, harming democracy; the EEOC files a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by former EEOC Commissioner Jocelyn Samuels; and SEIU Local 1000 strikes an agreement with the State of California to delay the state's return-to-office executive order for state workers.
July 1
In today’s news and commentary, the Department of Labor proposes to roll back minimum wage and overtime protections for home care workers, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by public defenders over a union’s Gaza statements, and Philadelphia’s largest municipal union is on strike for first time in nearly 40 years. On Monday, the U.S. […]
June 30
Antidiscrimination scholars question McDonnell Douglas, George Washington University Hospital bargained in bad faith, and NY regulators defend LPA dispensary law.
June 29
In today’s news and commentary, Trump v. CASA restricts nationwide injunctions, a preliminary injunction continues to stop DOL from shutting down Job Corps, and the minimum wage is set to rise in multiple cities and states. On Friday, the Supreme Court held in Trump v. CASA that universal injunctions “likely exceed the equitable authority that […]