As a blistering heat wave descends on the west coast, California’s agricultural employers find themselves scrambling to finish their harvest before crops wither and perish in the searing conditions. The region’s thousands of agricultural workers — miserably exploited in the best of times — have been driven ever more intensely in recent days, with many toiling long hours in the scorching sun while deprived of breaks, shade, or water. Reports indicate that untold numbers of exhausted farmworkers have fallen ill as temperatures continue to climb — and some, tragically, have passed away.

Labor groups in California are attempting to leverage the brutal working conditions the soaring temperatures have created — or inflamed — to galvanize support for the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, legislation that would empower a ten-member council, appointed by the Governor, to establish minimum standards on wages, hours, and other working conditions in the fast food sector.

In judicial news, President Biden nominated Jennifer Sung, a former labor lawyer and union organizer, as a judge on the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, based in San Francisco, CA. The news comes on the heels of Jon’s prescient observation that the President has faced criticism for naming management lawyers, prosecutors, and corporate attorneys to the federal judiciary. While Biden has appointed several public defenders and civil rights lawyers to the bench, Sung is the first union lawyer he has tapped.