Lolita De Palma is a student at Harvard Law School.
California has experienced significant union growth—139,000 workers were unionized in the past year. 16.5% of California’s workforce is now unionized. Steve Smith, spokesman for the California Labor Federation, said, “We’re seeing a reinvigoration in organizing across California, including in healthcare, online media, technology, and entertainment.”
As Annie reported yesterday, Clean Slate for Worker Power, an initiative of Harvard Law School’s Labor and Worklife Program, released its final report on Thursday. The initiative brought together a diverse group of activists and scholars to recommend policies to empower working people. The report advocates for an entirely new system of labor law that will enable working people to build collective organizations to increase their bargaining power with employers. The Harvard Gazette interviewed Sharon Block and Benjamin Sachs, the authors of the report, who explained that a “clean slate” is necessary for labor law because “the system we have is so fundamentally broken that tweaking it or amending it is no longer a sufficient response.”
Today, unions in France made a final push to oppose President Emmanuel Macron’s sweeping pension plan. Thousands took to the streets, disrupting traffic and forcing schools to shut down. Now that the health minister has officially presented the bill to President Macron and his cabinet, Parliament can begin to debate the proposals next month.
Presidential hopefuls have been looking to unions for endorsements in the upcoming Democratic primaries. While Senator Bernie Sanders has been receiving significant union support, Pete Buttigieg has not been endorsed by a single union.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
July 11
Regional director orders election without Board quorum; 9th Circuit pauses injunction on Executive Order; Driverless car legislation in Massachusetts
July 10
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds UW Health nurses are not covered by Wisconsin’s Labor Peace Act; a district judge denies the request to stay an injunction pending appeal; the NFLPA appeals an arbitration decision.
July 9
the Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass firings; Secretary of Agriculture suggests Medicaid recipients replace deported migrant farmworkers; DHS ends TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras
July 8
In today’s news and commentary, Apple wins at the Fifth Circuit against the NLRB, Florida enacts a noncompete-friendly law, and complications with the No Tax on Tips in the Big Beautiful Bill. Apple won an appeal overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company violated labor law by coercively questioning an employee […]
July 7
LA economy deals with fallout from ICE raids; a new appeal challenges the NCAA antitrust settlement; and the EPA places dissenting employees on leave.
July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.