Martin Drake is a student at Harvard Law School.
A new study by the National Bureau of Economic research shows that the gig economy is perpetuating the gender pay gap, MarketWatch reports. According to the study, which was distributed on Monday, women Uber drivers earn 93 cents on the dollar compared to men. The study’s authors found that the pay gap is caused by the length of experience women drivers have with Uber, preferences over work hours and location, and driving speed. Another study recently released by Bankrate.com confirms a gender pay gap in the gig economy; according to the Bankrate study, men average $989 per month from gig work compared to women’s $361 per month.
Fired Amazon workers can appeal their discharge to a panel of their co-workers, Bloomberg Businessweek reports. The company announced the appeal program last year, stating that it had been too quick fire employees rather than addressing issues in other ways. The appeal process has a reputation of unfairness, however, and has created resentment among the e-commerce giant’s staff. Seattle employment lawyer George Tamblyn told Bloomberg that the panels are “a kangaroo court.”
A new study shows that almost half of all LGBTQ employees remain closeted at work, USA Today reports. The study, released by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation, found that 46 percent of LGBT employees are not open about their sexuality at work for fear of being stereotyped, making people feel uncomfortable or losing connections with coworkers. The study’s results have only slightly changed since it was first conducted in 2008, when it recorded the number of closeted employees at 51 percent.
In international labor news, a 24-hour general strike in Argentina largely shut down the country’s economic activity on Monday, Al-Jazeera reports. The strike was called by the country’s largest trade union confederation, CGT, and it disrupted bus, train, taxi and airline services. The unions were demanding salary raises and protesting the Argentine government’s $50 billion loan from the IMF. According to the transport ministry, 600 flights were cancelled due to work stoppages and at least 71,000 passengers were affected.
Daily News & Commentary
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November 25
In today’s news and commentary, OSHA fines Taylor Foods, Santa Fe raises their living wage, and a date is set for a Senate committee to consider Trump’s NLRB nominee. OSHA has issued an approximately $1.1 million dollar fine to Taylor Farms New Jersey, a subsidiary of Taylor Fresh Foods, after identifying repeated and serious safety […]
November 24
Labor leaders criticize tariffs; White House cancels jobs report; and student organizers launch chaperone program for noncitizens.
November 23
Workers at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority vote to authorize a strike; Washington State legislators consider a bill empowering public employees to bargain over workplace AI implementation; and University of California workers engage in a two-day strike.
November 21
The “Big Three” record labels make a deal with an AI music streaming startup; 30 stores join the now week-old Starbucks Workers United strike; and the Mine Safety and Health Administration draws scrutiny over a recent worker death.
November 20
Law professors file brief in Slaughter; New York appeals court hears arguments about blog post firing; Senate committee delays consideration of NLRB nominee.
November 19
A federal judge blocks the Trump administration’s efforts to cancel the collective bargaining rights of workers at the U.S. Agency for Global Media; Representative Jared Golden secures 218 signatures for a bill that would repeal a Trump administration executive order stripping federal workers of their collective bargaining rights; and Dallas residents sue the City of Dallas in hopes of declaring hundreds of ordinances that ban bias against LGBTQ+ individuals void.