Today’s News & Commentary — June 21, 2016

The Supreme Court has issued its ruling in Encino Motorcars, LLC v. Navarro, and held the Department of Labor cannot change its interpretation of a rule absent an explanation.  The Hill reports that “in the 6-2 ruling, the Supreme Court said the Labor Department had to explain why it decided to change a longstanding policy on which employees at auto dealerships are exempt from overtime pay.”  SCOTUSblog has more on the ruling and its implications.

The SEIU is now not only criticizing the wage practices of McDonald’s, but also their planned international expansion despite not representing McDonald’s workers .  According to Reuters, the SEIU “warned potential buyers of roughly 3,000 McDonald’s Corp restaurants in Asia that such deals could saddle them with operational risks, including significant costs and liabilities.”  The letter comes as the SEIU continues the Fight for $15 campaign to improve pay and working conditions for American fast-food workers.

Verizon workers have spoken, and they overwhelmingly can hear and agree to new labor contracts.  Broadcasting & Cable notes that “Verizon workers represented by the Communications Workers of America and IBEW have ‘overwhelmingly’ voted to approve new contracts stemming from a 45-day strike by between 35,000 and 40,000 workers.”  The contracts are for four years.  A pact to end the strike was reached last month.

In commentary, Neil Irwin asks in The Upshot “if the very thing that is often viewed as one of the United States’ sources of dynamism — flexible labor markets — is the driving force behind the economy’s greatest weakness: millions of people who are neither working nor looking for a job?”  Reviewing a new White House study, he concludes that “there is no guarantee that a more European-style labor market would solve America’s missing male worker problem, let alone solve those much bigger problems.  But the international comparisons suggest less flexible labor markets might have some advantages.”