Alisha Jarwala is a student at Harvard Law School and a member of the Labor and Employment Lab.
Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown announced that he will not run for president in 2020. Brown already completed a tour of early primary states, where he emphasized a message of economic opportunity and dignity of work. “We’ve seen candidates begin taking up the dignity of work fight, and we have seen voters across the country demanding it — because dignity of work is a value that unites all of us,” Brown said in a statement. “It is how we beat Trump, and it is how we should govern.”
The Economic Policy Institute reports that the Raise the Wage Act of 2019, which proposes raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024, would result in a pay increase for 38.1% of all black workers and 23.2% of all white workers. Black workers affected by this act are more likely to work in states with a lower minimum wage. The House Education and Labor Committee voted along party lines to advance the bill to the House floor, rejecting seven proposed Republican amendments in the process.
Six states have sued the Department of Labor, challenging the rollback of OSHA’s public reporting requirements. The complaint notes that these requirements, issued in 2016, required employers to submit information annually to three tracking forms, which would help OSHA “better target their workplace safety enforcement programs [and] encourage employers to abate these hazards.” The states allege that OSHA has failed to provide sufficient justification for the rollback under the Administrative Procedures Act.
A group of over 1,800 Amazon employees (made up primarily of working mothers) are waging a campaign to persuade the company to provide backup daycare, a service provided by comparable tech companies, including Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook. The group is scheduled to meet with senior managers in the coming weeks. Bloomberg reports that if the self-styled “Momazonians” succeed, they will have “helped engineer a major cultural shift at Amazon.”
Finally, General Motors shut down its plant in Lordstown, Ohio on Wednesday, cutting roughly 5,400 jobs. The Washington Post profiled the town and spoke with many employees who have struggled amidst the waves of layoffs. The piece notes that the most common proposed solutions — that workers should retrain and switch careers or move — have been inadequate for workers in Lordstown. It concludes that “the nation’s booming jobs market is still leaving vast segments of America behind.”
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
June 30
Antidiscrimination scholars question McDonnell Douglas, George Washington University Hospital bargained in bad faith, and NY regulators defend LPA dispensary law.
June 29
In today’s news and commentary, Trump v. CASA restricts nationwide injunctions, a preliminary injunction continues to stop DOL from shutting down Job Corps, and the minimum wage is set to rise in multiple cities and states. On Friday, the Supreme Court held in Trump v. CASA that universal injunctions “likely exceed the equitable authority that […]
June 27
Labor's role in Zohran Mamdani's victory; DHS funding amendment aims to expand guest worker programs; COSELL submission deadline rapidly approaching
June 26
A district judge issues a preliminary injunction blocking agencies from implementing Trump’s executive order eliminating collective bargaining for federal workers; workers organize for the reinstatement of two doctors who were put on administrative leave after union activity; and Lamont vetoes unemployment benefits for striking workers.
June 25
Some circuits show less deference to NLRB; 3d Cir. affirms return to broader concerted activity definition; changes to federal workforce excluded from One Big Beautiful Bill.
June 24
In today’s news and commentary, the DOL proposes new wage and hour rules, Ford warns of EV battery manufacturing trouble, and California reaches an agreement to delay an in-person work mandate for state employees. The Trump Administration’s Department of Labor has advanced a series of proposals to update federal wage and hour rules. First, the […]