Martin Drake is a student at Harvard Law School.
Workers from the D.C. Metro system’s largest union voted to authorize a strike yesterday, the Washington Post reports. Union members approved the potential strike by a 94 percent margin. Union leaders have yet to say whether they will go forward with the strike now that they have authorization. The strike would significantly disrupt a transit system that serves about 1 million people a day.
Tesla employees say they were ordered to walk through raw sewage in order to meet their production goals, Bloomberg reports. Dennis Duran, who works in Tesla’s paint shop at the company’s Fremont factory, says that raw sewage spilled onto to the floor and he and several colleagues were told to walk through it to “keep the line moving.” Duran supports unionization efforts at the car manufacturer. The Fremont factory is under three separate open investigations by California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
European Amazon workers have walked off the job to protest the company’s tough working conditions, Forbes reports. Amazon workers in Italy, France, England, Germany and Poland have all joined the walkout, which started on Tuesday in Spain. The walkout came in anticipation of today, known as “Prime Day,” one of the Amazon’s highest volume days of the year. Online workers, gamers, and shoppers plan to boycott Amazon today in solidarity with the striking workers.
Employees at Deloitte are calling for their company to stop providing consulting services to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the New York Times reports. A petition circulated by Deloitte employees asks the company’s chief executive, Cathy Engelbert, to end all contracts with both ICE and United States Customs and Border Protection. The document also calls on Engelbert to publicly denounce the Trump Administration policy of separating migrant children from their parents. The news comes just after the consulting giant’s competitor, McKinsey & Company, cut its own contracts with ICE.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
May 22
U.S. employers spend $1.7B on union avoidance each year and the ICJ declares the right to strike a protected activity.
May 21
UAW backs legal challenge to Trump “gold card” visa; DOL requests unemployment fraud technology funding; Samsung reaches eleventh-hour union agreement.
May 20
LIRR strike ends after three-day shutdown; key senators reject Trump's proposed 26% cut to Labor Department budget; EEOC moves to eliminate employer demographic reporting requirement.
May 19
Amazon urges 11th Circuit to overturn captive-audience meeting ban; DOL scraps Biden overtime rule; SCOTUS to decide on Title IX private right of action for school employees
May 18
California Department of Justice finds conditions at ICE facilities inhumane; Second Circuit rejects race bias claim from Black and Hispanic social workers; FAA cuts air traffic controller staffing target.
May 17
UC workers avoid striking with an 11th-hour agreement; Governor Spanberger vetoes public employee collective bargaining protections; Samsung workers prepare for an 18-day strike.