Ross Evans is a student at Harvard Law School and a member of the Labor and Employment Lab.
Less than two years after having finally been recognized as the inspiration for J. Howard Miller’s iconic “We Can Do It!” World War II poster, Naomi Parker Fraley–the “true” Rosie the Riveter–died at age 96 on January 20. Fraley, long a feminist icon (albeit unwittingly), worked at a Naval Air Station in Alameda, CA as a twenty-year-old after the Pearl Harbor attack. According to Professor James J. Kimble of Seton Hall University, who researched the matter from 2010 to 2016, a 1942 photograph of Mrs. Fraley at the Alameda Naval Air Station could have been the true inspiration for the iconic poster. Until 2016, Geraldine Hoff Doyle’s good-faith claim to be the inspiration for Rosie the Riveter was widely accepted.
Sunday afternoon, the Major League Baseball Players Association denounced rumors that some players may boycott spring training. Players and agents have been unhappy with a slow free-agent market this year, in which top players such as World-Series-champion Jake Arrieta and All-Stars Yu Darvish and J.D. Martinez remain unsigned. On Friday, “Super-Agent” Brodie Van Wagenen, the Co-Head of Baseball for CAA, may have catalyzed this rumor via Twitter when he suggested both that owners may be colluding and that a “boycott of Spring Training may be a starting point, if behavior doesn’t change.” Given that the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between MLB and the MLBPA remains valid through 2021, a spring-training boycott would likely be a violation of national labor laws.
On Thursday, NBC News interviewed AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka about immigration. Trumka pushed back on President Trump’s talking points from Tuesday’s State of the Union Address, stating that organized labor has “a moral obligation to help [undocumented] workers.” In 2013, Trumka played a key role in getting an immigration-reform bill approved by the Senate.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
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.
June 19
Report finds retaliatory action by UAW President; Senators question Trump's EEOC pick; California considers new bill to address federal labor law failures.
June 18
Companies dispute NLRB regional directors' authority to make rulings while the Board lacks a quorum; the Department of Justice loses 4,500 employees to the Trump Administration's buyout offers; and a judge dismisses Columbia faculty's lawsuit over the institution's funding cuts.