Maddy Joseph is a student at Harvard Law School.
The New York City Council passed the country’s first law requiring ride-hailing apps like Uber to offer in-app tipping. New York’s in-app tipping requirement was first proposed to the City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission this spring in a petition by the Independent Driver’s Guild that garnered over 11,000 signatures.
Also this week, Uber’s long-awaited in-app tipping feature, which it announced late last month, went live nationwide.
California’s agriculture industry is turning to automation in an attempt to make up a growing labor shortage. As immigrant farmworkers age, the LA Times reports, they are not being replaced in the workforce. In response, the $47-billion industry has sought to shift from labor-intensive crops to those that can be harvested mechanically.
A new report by the Century Foundation advocates that “it is the time for unions and their allies to return to the rights-based rhetoric and constitutional legal strategies that preceded the passage of the National Labor Relations Act and the development of our current labor law regime.” The report outlines ten rights that should make up labor’s Bill of Rights.
The Upshot has an analysis of the two recent studies on Seattle’s minimum wage. The analysis suggests that the job losses seen in the University of Washington study, which it attributed to the minimum wage increase, might instead “reflect the limitations of studying a single experiment . . . . [S]ome sort of control group is needed.” See some of our previous coverage of the studies here.
Daily News & Commentary
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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.
February 4
Lawsuit challenges Trump Gold Card; insurance coverage of fertility services; moratorium on layoffs for federal workers extended
February 3
In today’s news and commentary, Bloomberg reports on a drop in unionization, Starbucks challenges an NLRB ruling, and a federal judge blocks DHS termination of protections for Haitian migrants. Volatile economic conditions and a shifting political climate drove new union membership sharply lower in 2025, according to a Bloomberg Law report analyzing trends in labor […]
February 2
Amazon announces layoffs; Trump picks BLS commissioner; DOL authorizes supplemental H-2B visas.
February 1
The moratorium blocking the Trump Administration from implementing Reductions in Force (RIFs) against federal workers expires, and workers throughout the country protest to defund ICE.
January 30
Multiple unions endorse a national general strike, and tech companies spend millions on ad campaigns for data centers.