Martin Drake is a student at Harvard Law School.
A group of federal employees working without pay are suing President Trump and their bosses for a violation of the 13th Amendment, the Washington Post reports. The lawsuit is not the first by federal workers during the shutdown, but it is the only one likening the workers’ predicament to involuntary servitude, which the 13th Amendment abolished after the Civil War. The government shutdown enters its 24th day today; it is the longest shutdown in American history.
As federal workers remain furloughed, thousands flock to D.C.-area pop-up food banks in an effort to survive, NPR reports. The Capital Area Food Bank says it distributed over 30,000 pounds of produce Saturday in its pop-up food distribution efforts. More than 250,000 federal workers live in the D.C. area, and some workers in the food bank lines said they were considering applying for other jobs during the shutdown.
Fast food workers continually face danger and violence while at work, Business Insider reports. After an attack on a McDonald’s employee went viral earlier this month, several other stories of violence against fast food workers have surfaced, including customers assaulting workers and burning them with hot coffee. A 2015 survey showed that 12 percent of fast food workers had been assaulted in the past year, while 87 percent had faced some injury on the job. Among other dangers, fast food workers often face improperly discarded syringes in bathrooms, drive-thrus, and other locations in the store.
A recent report from a Seattle-based salary comparison site, PayScale, shows that the median American worker saw their real wages drop 1.3 percent over the course of 2018 when adjusted for cost of living, MarketWatch reports. The report is a counterpoint to Bureau of Labor Statistics data that uses average wages, rather than median, to show a more rosy wage picture. PayScale uses the median “so outlier growth doesn’t bias the results,” according to representatives. The data also contrasts with positive labor market news that the U.S. unemployment rate remained near a 49-year low of 3.9% in December.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
February 11
Hollywood begins negotiations for a new labor agreement with writers and actors; the EEOC launches an investigation into Nike’s DEI programs and potential discrimination against white workers; and Mayor Mamdani circulates a memo regarding the city’s Economic Development Corporation.
February 10
San Francisco teachers walk out; NLRB reverses course on SpaceX; NYC nurses secure tentative agreements.
February 9
FTC argues DEI is anticompetitive collusion, Supreme Court may decide scope of exception to forced arbitration, NJ pauses ABC test rule.
February 8
The Second Circuit rejects a constitutional challenge to the NLRB, pharmacy and lab technicians join a California healthcare strike, and the EEOC defends a single better-paid worker standard in Equal Pay Act suits.
February 6
The California Supreme Court rules on an arbitration agreement, Trump administration announces new rule on civil service protections, and states modify affirmative action requirements
February 5
Minnesota schools and teachers sue to limit ICE presence near schools; labor leaders call on Newsom to protect workers from AI; UAW and Volkswagen reach a tentative agreement.