Martin Drake is a student at Harvard Law School.
Writing in Salon on Saturday, former Department of Labor Secretary Robert Reich urged workers to join and form unions. Reich asserted that since the 1980s, anti-worker corporations and politicians have been allied in a fierce fight against worker organizing. Reich also argued that, due to declining unionization, middle-class incomes are shrinking and corporations have tremendous power over our lives, and he posited unions as the answer to a technologically evolving workplace where up to 60 million non-union workers have interest in joining a union.
In an article last week, the Wall Street Journal editorial board highlighted recent strike authorizations by workers at both the SEIU and the AFL-CIO to suggest that unions are exploiting their employees. The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) argues that SEIU has “SEIU spent $21.6 million outsourcing work to non-union consultants in 2017, much of which should have been done by union workers.” SEIU worker are also concerned about the union’s push to undermine tenure protections. Additionally, OPEIU has gotten a trike authorization from workers at the AFL-CIO, where it has also filed a claim for unfair labor practices with the NLRB.
Vice president and New Jersey district director of 32BJ SEIU Kevin Brown wrote yesterday in the New Jersey Star-Ledger that the REAL ID Act, soon to be implemented in New Jersey, will significantly increase barriers to obtaining driver’s licenses for New Jersey residents. According to Brown, these increased barriers will be particularly stark for people from marginalized communities who are more likely to have limited or lost documentation, such as the formerly incarcerated, undocumented immigrants, victims of domestic violence, and low-income individuals. The article advocates for standard drivers licenses, that would be available regardless of the applicant’s ability to prove lawful residency, as a solution to the implementation of the REAL ID Act.
Graduate students went on strike last week at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reports. Leaders of the Graduate Employees Organization, which represents more than 1,500 graduate student university workers, said that their members are living close to poverty, “despite being highly educated professionals providing skilled labor for a multibillion-dollar institution.” The workers’ previous contract expired in September, and 99.5 percent of members formally authorized a strike in February. The union is seeking a 24 percent increase in pay over three years, plus increased tuition waivers.
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July 15
The Department of Labor announces new guidance around Occupational Safety and Health Administration penalty and debt collection procedures; a Cornell University graduate student challenges graduate student employee-status under the National Labor Relations Act; the Supreme Court clears the way for the Trump administration to move forward with a significant staff reduction at the Department of Education.
July 14
More circuits weigh in on two-step certification; Uber challengers Seattle deactivation ordinance.
July 13
APWU and USPS ratify a new contract, ICE barred from racial profiling in Los Angeles, and the fight continues over the dismantling of NIOSH
July 11
Regional director orders election without Board quorum; 9th Circuit pauses injunction on Executive Order; Driverless car legislation in Massachusetts
July 10
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds UW Health nurses are not covered by Wisconsin’s Labor Peace Act; a district judge denies the request to stay an injunction pending appeal; the NFLPA appeals an arbitration decision.
July 9
the Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass firings; Secretary of Agriculture suggests Medicaid recipients replace deported migrant farmworkers; DHS ends TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras