
Jason Vazquez is a staff attorney at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 2023. His writing on this blog reflects his personal views and should not be attributed to the IBT.
An unprecedent heat wave continues to scorch the West Coast, and employers in the agricultural industry have been scrambling to harvest their fields before crops wither in the blistering heat. As a result, the region’s agricultural laborers—who already find themselves subjected to highly exploitative conditions—have been pushed even harder in recent days. Thousands of fruit pickers have reportedly been working up to twelve hours a day, and many of them are deprived of access to breaks, shade, or water and pressured to continue toiling even when they are feeling sick, overheated, or dehydrated. In recent days, many farmworkers have contracted heat-related illnesses—and some, tragically, have died.
Labor groups in California have attempted to take advantage of the terrible conditions existing in the Golden State’s agricultural fields to galvanize public support for the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, a bill introduced in the California legislature earlier this year which, animated in large measure by the exploitation of “essential workers” so vividly displayed during the Covid pandemic, would empower a fast food sector council to establish industry-wide standards for wages and working conditions. On Tuesday, for instance, labor groups in the state coordinated a demonstration at a fast food franchise at which workers had walked off the job to protest triple digit temperatures in the facility.
This morning, President Biden nominated Jennifer Sung, a former labor lawyer and union organizer, to the Ninth Circuit. The news is timely, given Jon’s recent observation on this blog that Biden has faced criticism from some progressives for nominating management-side lawyers, prosecutors, and corporate attorneys to the federal bench. Although the president has so far appointed several former public defenders and civil rights lawyers, Sung’s nomination constitutes his first of a union-side labor lawyer.
Daily News & Commentary
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June 17
NLRB finds a reporter's online criticism of the Washington Post was not protected activity under federal labor law; top union leaders leave the Democratic National Committee amid internal strife; Uber reaches a labor peace agreement with Chicago drivers.
June 16
California considers bill requiring human operators inside autonomous delivery vehicles; Eighth Circuit considers challenge to Minnesota misclassification law and whether "having a family to support" is a gendered comment.
June 15
ICE holds back on some work site raids as unions mobilize; a Maryland judge approves a $400M settlement for poultry processing workers in an antitrust case; and an OMB directive pushes federal agencies to use union PLAs.
June 13
Termination of grants promoting labor standards abroad at the District Court; Supreme Court agrees to hear case about forced labor; more states pass legislation to benefit striking workers
June 12
An administrative law judge holds that Yapp USA violated the NLRA; oral arguments for two labor cases before the Eighth Circuit.
June 11
DOJ charges David Huerta; unions clash with the administration on immigration; general counsel says Humphrey's Executor doesn't apply to the NLRB.