Agricultural employers in California are scrambling to harvest their crops before they wither and perish as a blistering heat wave descends on the west coast.  Working conditions in the region’s vast agricultural fields — miserably exploitative in the best of times— have deteriorated dramatically in recent days, as employers demand increasingly long hours in the scorching sun while failing to provide adequate access to breaks, shade, or water.  Thousands of agricultural workers are sick and exhausted.  Some, tragically, have died. 

Relatedly, labor groups in the state are attempting to leverage the brutal conditions intensified by the soaring temperatures to galvanize support for the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act, a bill that would empower a governor-appointed council to establish minimum standards in the fast food industry.

In Article III news, President Biden nominated Jennifer Sung, a former labor lawyer and union organizer, to the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  The timing is interesting, as Jon coincidentally observed last week that the President has faced mounting criticism from progressive advocates for naming a string of management lawyers, prosecutors, and corporate attorneys to the bench.  While Biden has also appointed several public defenders and civil rights attorneys to serve as federal judges, Sung is the first former union lawyer he has tapped.