Maddy Joseph is a student at Harvard Law School.
The June jobs report was released this morning. There’s coverage here and here. In anticipation of the report, coverage in major papers this week remarked on the economy’s continued slow expansion and the slower-than-last-year jobs growth in the first five months of 2017.
The Department of Labor filed a brief defending most of its fiduciary rule, which was developed during the Obama Administration and partially implemented on June 9. The Department of Labor did not defend the rule’s anti-arbitration condition “[i]n light of the position adopted by the Acting Solicitor General” in NLRB v. Murphy Oil. See some of our previous coverage of the fiduciary rule here.
In Uber news, the New York Times details the mounting evidence that the company deducted far more than it has acknowledged from drivers’ earnings to pay New York State taxes that were supposed to be paid by passengers.
Yesterday, the New York Times had an editorial about stagnating wages and rising income inequality. Citing a recent NBER Working Paper, the editorial explained: “As workers lose ground, inequality deepens, because money that would flow to wages tends to flow instead to those at the top of the income ladder.” The Times argued that “[u]pdated overtime pay standards would raise pay broadly in the service sector, as would closing the gender pay gap, through better disclosure of corporate pay scales, anti-discrimination legislation and litigation.”
The changing U.S. job market also got some attention. The New York Times analyzed “How the Growth of E-Commerce is Shifting Retail Jobs.” And the Washington Post covered a new survey of Americans’ earnings from popular “gig economy” platforms, including Airbnb and Uber.
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August 15
Columbia University quietly replaces graduate student union labor with non-union adjunct workers; the DC Circuit Court lifts the preliminary injunction on CFPB firings; and Grubhub to pay $24.75M to settle California driver class action.
August 14
Judge Pechman denies the Trump Administration’s motion to dismiss claims brought by unions representing TSA employees; the Trump Administration continues efforts to strip federal employees of collective bargaining rights; and the National Association of Agriculture Employees seeks legal relief after the USDA stopped recognizing the union.
August 13
The United Auto Workers (UAW) seek to oust President Shawn Fain ahead of next year’s election; Columbia University files an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge against the Student Workers of Columbia-United Auto Workers for failing to bargain in “good faith”; and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) terminates its collective bargaining agreement with four unions representing its employees.
August 12
Trump nominates new BLS commissioner; municipal taxpayers' suit against teachers' union advances; antitrust suit involving sheepherders survives motion to dismiss
August 11
Updates on two-step FLSA certification, Mamdani's $30 minimum wage proposal, dangers of "bossware."
August 10
NLRB Acting GC issues new guidance on ULPs, Trump EO on alternative assets in401(k)s, and a vetoed Wisconsin bill on rideshare driver status