
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.
On Tuesday, the Clean Slate for Worker Power released a report outlining a series of policy recommendations designed to fundamentally reform U.S. labor law and build worker power. At a high level, the policies are aimed at developing a regime of sectoral bargaining, enlarging the scope of mandatory bargaining subjects to encompass subcontracting, relocation, and capital substitution decisions, and narrowing the NLRA’s sweeping preemption doctrines which have inhibited innovation at the state and local level.
In international news, violent protests in demand of economic justice continue to rage in Colombia. The demonstrations, orchestrated by the country’s largest labor unions, commenced last week, in response to tax legislation proposed by the reactionary Colombian government which would have raised the prices of many ordinary goods and services. Although the president has since rescinded the proposal, thousands of Colombians continue to protest the nation’s poverty, inequality, and unemployment, conditions which predated the pandemic but have been aggravated by it. The protests took a violent turn on Monday night, as law enforcement officers in Cali, one of the country’s largest cities, reportedly opened fire into a crowd of protestors — some have characterized the events as a “massacre.” At least 18 protestors were killed, and hundreds more injured. Vowing to persist, the unions have declared a national strike set to start today.
On Monday, the Republican majority on the NLRB ruled that telecommunications conglomerate AT&T violated federal labor law by threatening a union steward after the individual recorded a meeting in which an employee was terminated. However, the Board declined to set aside the company policy at issue in the proceeding. In doing so, the Board overturned part of its Lutheran Heritage decision, under which an otherwise lawful employer policy would warrant facial invalidation if it was unlawfully applied to circumscribe employees’ Section 7 rights.
In an article published Tuesday, the Pittsburgh Business Times details that several local enterprises appear to have discovered a novel and innovative management strategy. The firms decided to offer higher wages after struggling with staffing shortages for several months, and they suddenly found themselves inundated with “thousands of applications.” As labor shortages reportedly persist across the country, post-lockdown wages remain stubbornly low, and some state governments have begun to limit or eliminate pandemic-era unemployment benefits, these small Pittsburgh firms may have uncovered the key to commercial success: paying decent wages and treating employees with dignity. Let’s hope employers across the nation take notice.
In sports news, unions representing athletes in the largest U.S. professional leagues offered support to the PRO Act on Tuesday. In a joint statement, the MLBPA, the NBPA, the NFLPA, and the NHLPA said that “now is the time to overcome decades of increasing obstacles to working people who choose to exercise their right to organize a union.” Moreover, the sports unions emphasized their conviction that “all workers should have the same fair chance to work together to improve their pay, benefits, and working conditions.” Although for the time being the bill remains frozen in the Senate, the backing of these major players unions may help amplify public awareness with respect to the importance of labor rights, and thereby increase pressure on Senate Democrats — some of whom are avid sports fans — to find a way to circumvent the filibuster and pass the reform legislation.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
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
July 8
In today’s news and commentary, Apple wins at the Fifth Circuit against the NLRB, Florida enacts a noncompete-friendly law, and complications with the No Tax on Tips in the Big Beautiful Bill. Apple won an appeal overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company violated labor law by coercively questioning an employee […]
July 7
LA economy deals with fallout from ICE raids; a new appeal challenges the NCAA antitrust settlement; and the EPA places dissenting employees on leave.
July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.