Mackenzie Bouverat is a student at Harvard Law School.
The House will vote again this week on the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which expands the H-2A visa program and provide a path to legal status for undocumented agricultural workers. The bill also freezes farmworker wages for one year; increases would then be capped for most of the country at 3.25% per annum for the following nine years. The first agriculture labor reform legislation to pass the House of Representatives since 1986, the Bill passed the House of Representatives with strong bipartisan support in the 116th Congress. Despite support from over 300 agriculture organizations, the bill expectedly failed in the then Republican-controlled Senate.
After three decades of bustling operations, Jing Fong, an iconic Manhattan Dim Sum banquet hall and one of the few unionized restaurants in the city, has announced its closure, citing an inability to pay rent due to coronavirus-related loss of revenue. Before coronavirus ravaged the communal-style eatery, it drew in approximately ten thousand customers per week and employed roughly one hundred people. But workers and community organizers have proposed to take over the restaurant’s lease and establish a workers’ collective ownership plan under a new name, although the feasibility of the plan remains contingent on the city’s willingness to subsidize the lease takeover and pay the back-rent owed to the owners of the restaurant.
The Northern District of California has permitted a case initiated by two former Morrison & Foerster LLP attorneys, Sherry William and Ashley Klayman, who claim that they were discriminated against because of their sex, to proceed to a jury trial set for August 16 this year. William and Klayman were formerly part of a group of attorneys that sued the 1000-plus lawyer firm in April 2018 for systemic discrimination against women; as five of the women settled their individual claims, the classwide suit was dropped. In the present case, William v. Morrison & Foerster LLP, both women claim to have been withheld promotions and billable hours, given to their similarly-situated male counterparts, because they availed themselves of their right to take maternity leave.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
September 3
Treasury releases draft list of tipped positions eligible for tax break; Texas court rules against Board's effort to transfer case to California; 9th Circuit rules against firefighters seeking religious exemption to COVID vaccine mandate.
September 2
AFT joins Target boycott, Hilton workers go on strike in Houston, and the Center for Labor & A Just Economy releases a new report
September 1
Labor Day! Workers over Billionaires protests; Nurses go on strike, Volkswagen ordered to pay damages.
August 31
California lawmakers and rideshare companies reach an agreement on collective bargaining legislation for drivers; six unions representing workers at American Airlines call for increased accountability from management; Massachusetts Teamsters continue the longest sanitation strike in decades.
August 29
Trump fires regulator in charge of reviewing railroad mergers; fired Fed Governor sues Trump asserting unlawful termination; and Trump attacks more federal sector unions.
August 28
contested election for UAW at Kentucky battery plant; NLRB down to one member; public approval of unions remains high.