Jon Weinberg is a student at Harvard Law School.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Southwest Airlines has reached a tentative agreement with the Transport Workers Union local representing 12,000 of its flight attendants. The deal “would run through May 2019 and provide wage increases, bonus opportunities and work-rule adjustments.” Negotiations have been difficult and have lasted over two years.
According to The New York Times, the share of American teenagers working has plummeted since 2000 and those who most need jobs are often least likely to get them. While experts are unsure of the reason for the precipitous decline in the summer teenage work force, possible factors include an increase in summer school attendance, a longer school year, and off-season athletics practices. Adults may also be crowding out teenagers, and government funding for teenage summer employment has decreased. The article discusses municipal efforts to promote paid work and pressure to take unpaid internships instead of employment.
VICE notes “a controversial piece of legislation ostensibly aimed at increasing transparency in Canada’s labor unions, and on track to become law by next week, could have negative implications for everyone from Sidney Crosby to your local shop steward.” The legislation would require all labor unions in Canada to disclose detailed financial records and logs of time spent on political activities. Labor unions are critical of the legislation and characterize it as political, while defenders believe the information disclosures would require unions to operate at a higher standard. The information from disclosures would be published online.
Ross Perlin criticizes the recent Second Circuit ruling on the test for legal unpaid internships, previously covered by OnLabor, in a New York Times op-ed. Perlin says the judges “ignored the legal standard and ethical principle that work merits pay” and noted that the ruling significantly limits the ability of interns to pursue class action lawsuits, ignoring the complicity of universities while disregarding the benefits employers derive from interns. In response to interns lacking basic workplace protections, Perlin argues for legislation on intern protection and intern pay.
Meanwhile, USA Today reports that 94% of the members of Congress who support legislation to increase the minimum wage do not pay their interns. The article notes government interns are not covered by Fair Labor Standards Act and the law governing them allows for unpaid internships even when interns complete “employment duties.”
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.