Adi Kamdar is a student at Harvard Law School.
While it has been covered many times in the past week, Marketplace further explores why labor had weakened support for the Democrats this election. While Trump did not win a majority of union households, “he did cut into President Barack Obama’s margin.” Various union members weigh in on why the ground game was not as effective as it was in past elections, and why various union members flipped from Clinton to Trump. For example, autoworkers, whose jobs the Obama administration restored, found themselves with lower pay and fewer benefits—a fact that Trump promised to fix.
Veterans made up 44% of all full-time federal government job hires, according to the Washington Post. Just over two-fifths of these hires were disabled veterans. This news isn’t all positive: former servicemembers do not stay in government in jobs as long as non-veterans. Furthermore, the preferred hiring of veterans has “fueled culture clashes in some federal offices” and “resentment from job candidates who did not serve and see their prospects for getting hired diminish.” Several federal agencies—including the Pentagon—have complained that they cannot hire the skilled candidates they want because of the veteran-hiring constraints.
As the Guardian and Bloomberg BNA note, Trump’s administration poses threats to union rights: erasing Obama’s overtime pay regulations, promoting right-to-work laws (perhaps even on a federal level), and filling the Supreme Court with an anti-union justice, threatening to tip the balance in the next Friedrichs-like case.
Oh, and Donald Trump is now hiring. The New York Times weighs in on his plans and choices for top spots.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
September 1
California legislature passes a bill banning AI workplace surveillance of workers' emotional states; Labor Department repeals decades-old farmworker protection rules; Sixth Circuit upholds a $1.4 million verdict for farmworkers.
August 31
Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians stave off first-ever strike; Cleveland Public Library workers ratify new contracts; New York State AFL-CIO makes endorsements
August 30
Seattle teachers vote to authorize a strike days before the school year begins; BNSF Railway’s AI dispatching system puts workers in danger; and a California court finds that the DOL’s pay cuts for non-citizen farmworkers are unlawful.
August 28
Calls for a “token tax” on AI consumption grow and the number of Amazon workers on federal aid explodes.
August 27
NLRB GC targets Biden-era precedent; Starbucks Workers United calls for boycott; Encore Boston Harbor workers authorize strike
August 26
Trump administration proposes $103,000 H-1B visa fee after court blocks earlier attempt; Illinois governor signs law enabling state investment in AFL-CIO housing trust; Deloitte pays $21.5 million to settle DOJ probe alleging DEI-related discrimination in federal contracts.