Airports and major-city transit authorities warn that the planned strike by Uber and Lyft drivers tomorrow may create significant travel chaos. The strike, which arose out of a dispute between Uber and its Los Angeles drivers over a rate decrease there, is expected to affect several major American cities, including New York, Washington, and Boston, as well as several international cities where drivers are striking in solidarity. The strike will be an important test of the ability of so-called “gig economy” workers to organize collectively.
In the Wall Street Journal, a former Bush economic advisor suggests that stagnant wages for workers can be traced to stalled productivity growth. He argues that blaming the highest earners in America is misguided, and says that the real solution to this problem is to provide better vocational training for non-knowledge workers. He points to Germany as an example, where vocational training is common and the wage ratio between rich and poor is much more egalitarian than in the United States.
Jacobin has an interesting interview with Alex McIntyre, a union organizer in the United Kingdom who helped low-paid bartenders form a union and eventually go on strike to get better wages and benefits. The effort is one of many burgeoning organizing drives among the worst-paid and least-organized service workers across the Western world, like McDonald’s and Starbucks.
Daily News & Commentary
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January 29
Texas pauses H-1B hiring; NLRB General Counsel announces new procedures and priorities; Fourth Circuit rejects a teacher's challenge to pronoun policies.
January 28
Over 15,000 New York City nurses continue to strike with support from Mayor Mamdani; a judge grants a preliminary injunction that prevents DHS from ending family reunification parole programs for thousands of family members of U.S. citizens and green-card holders; and decisions in SDNY address whether employees may receive accommodations for telework due to potential exposure to COVID-19 when essential functions cannot be completed at home.
January 27
NYC's new delivery-app tipping law takes effect; 31,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and healthcare workers go on strike; the NJ Appellate Division revives Atlantic City casino workers’ lawsuit challenging the state’s casino smoking exemption.
January 26
Unions mourn Alex Pretti, EEOC concentrates power, courts decide reach of EFAA.
January 25
Uber and Lyft face class actions against “women preference” matching, Virginia home healthcare workers push for a collective bargaining bill, and the NLRB launches a new intake protocol.
January 22
Hyundai’s labor union warns against the introduction of humanoid robots; Oregon and California trades unions take different paths to advocate for union jobs.