This week, President Trump will make the expansion of apprenticeship programs the center of his labor policy. The Wall Street Journal reports that these programs could help fill the record number of job openings—6 million in April. While Trump’s proposed budget continues steady funding for apprenticeship, it cuts funding for other job-training programs by 40 percent.
At Fuyao, a Chinese-owned automotive glass plant in Dayton, Ohio, the New York Times reports that “a major culture clash is playing out on the factory floor.” As foreign companies work to align themselves with the Trump Administration’s promise to create U.S. jobs, Fuyao’s experience reveals potential challenges—including union campaigns and workplace condition lawsuits, both of which are unfamiliar to Chinese executives.
Although U.S. women account for just 57 percent of students enrolled in colleges and universities, they owe $833 billion in student loans (up from $223 billion in 2004), which is almost two-thirds of the national student loan debt of $1.3 trillion. While there are a variety of reasons for the disparity, the persistent gender pay gap is one key explanation.
In the Boston Globe’s opinion pages, Jeff Jacoby argues that even though income inequality rose during the same time period that union membership fell, revitalizing labor unions today will not reduce inequality. He points to globalization, automation, the Internet, and other large-scale changes in the workplace as reasons that unions are no longer relevant as major players in American life.
Daily News & Commentary
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July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.
July 4
The DOL scraps a Biden-era proposed rule to end subminimum wages for disabled workers; millions will lose access to Medicaid and SNAP due to new proof of work requirements; and states step up in the noncompete policy space.
July 3
California compromises with unions on housing; 11th Circuit rules against transgender teacher; Harvard removes hundreds from grad student union.
July 2
Block, Nanda, and Nayak argue that the NLRA is under attack, harming democracy; the EEOC files a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by former EEOC Commissioner Jocelyn Samuels; and SEIU Local 1000 strikes an agreement with the State of California to delay the state's return-to-office executive order for state workers.
July 1
In today’s news and commentary, the Department of Labor proposes to roll back minimum wage and overtime protections for home care workers, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by public defenders over a union’s Gaza statements, and Philadelphia’s largest municipal union is on strike for first time in nearly 40 years. On Monday, the U.S. […]
June 30
Antidiscrimination scholars question McDonnell Douglas, George Washington University Hospital bargained in bad faith, and NY regulators defend LPA dispensary law.