The Guardian reports on efforts by FedEx, the second largest logistics company in the US, to thwart union organizing campaigns at its warehouses. FedEx spent $870,000 between 2014 and 2018 on union avoidance consultants, making it one of the top spenders on anti-union consultants in the country. According to records obtained by the Guardian, the company required its workers to sign into mandatory meetings held at FedEx facilities in 2015 and 2016, where workers were cautioned against joining the Teamsters union. The consultants and mandatory meetings seemed to have worked; only FedEx freight workers and pilots are currently unionized, and between 2014 and 2018 several warehouses around the country voted against unionization.
The WBNA and its union have agreed on an eight-year collective bargaining agreement that will increase player salaries and provide enhanced benefits. If the deal is ratified by WBNA team owners, it will triple salaries for the league’s top players, increase the average player salary to $130,000 (bringing it above six figures for the first time), and provide full salary during maternity leave, an annual child care stipend of $5,000, and up to $60,000 reimbursement for veteran players for costs directly related to adoption, surrogacy, and fertility treatment. The deal will also lift current restrictions on pay for WNBA players who work as coaches for affiliated NBA teams. The WNBA players’ union president, Nneka Ogwumike, envisions the deal as part of a broader effort to improve conditions for women workers, explaining that the union is “hoping to lift, not just women in sports and women in basketball, but women in society.”
Airbnb has announced that it will only use union construction labor for several real-estate developments that it plans to begin in the next three years. The announcement comes on the heels of successful campaigns by the Hotel Trades Council to limit Airbnb’s operation in New York and New Jersey, and may signal that the company is trying to strengthen its support from organized labor as more local governments move to curtail short-term rentals.
State legislative workers in Delaware have begun a union organizing drive that, if successful, would make Delaware the first state with a unionized legislative staff. Maine, where two small groups of legislative staffers are unionized, is the only other state with any unionized legislative employees. The Delaware staffers’ proposed unit would be affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 81, and would include 42 staffers from across party lines, as well as two nonpartisan staffers who work for the Delaware House and Senate clerks. A majority of the legislative staffers have already signed union cards, and have requested voluntary recognition from state legislative leaders.
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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 […]
June 27
Labor's role in Zohran Mamdani's victory; DHS funding amendment aims to expand guest worker programs; COSELL submission deadline rapidly approaching
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.