Edward Nasser is a student at Harvard Law School.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in the Middle District of North Carolina on behalf of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) alleging that a new state law would make it all but impossible for the farmworkers’ union to continue operations. The lawsuit challenges the North Carolina Farm Act of 2017, which targets FLOC in two ways. First, the law invalidates contracts guaranteeing that employers will honor employees’ requests to deduct union dues from their paychecks. Second, the law invalidates settlement agreements negotiated by the union to advance farmworkers’ rights. The ACLU is making rights to association and equal protection arguments against the law.
More than half of US workers did not receive a salary raise in the past year, reports USA Today. A survey conducted by Bankrate.com also revealed that while Labor Department reports show average wages have gone up around 2.5% annually the last few years, most the gains are being reaped by more highly educated workers whose wages are growing faster than average. Just 17% of workers earning less than $30,000 a year got raises, compared to 43% of those earning $75,000 or more.
Jason Moyer-Lee, general secretary of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain, questions whether workers will actually get their rights after a UK appeals court ruled that Uber drivers are workers, not contractors. Mr. Moyer-Lee argues that last Friday’s ruling only reinforced what was already true: workers in Britain’s on-demand economy have always been entitled to employment rights under UK law. He concludes, “the fundamental problem of employment rights is a lack of enforcement of existing law.”
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
March 22
In today’s news and commentary, a resurgence in salting among young activists, Michigan nurses go on strike, and states explore policies to support workers experiencing menopause. Many unions have historically sprung up as the result of workers organizing their own workplaces. Young people drawing on that tradition have driven a resurgence in salting, or the […]
March 20
Appeal to 9th Cir. over law allowing suit for impersonating union reps; Mass. judge denies motion to arbitrate drivers' claims; furloughed workers return to factory building MBTA trains.
March 19
WNBA and WNBPA reach verbal tentative agreement, United Teachers Los Angeles announce April 14 strike date, and the California Gig Workers Union file complaint against Waymo.
March 18
Meatpacking workers go on strike; SCOTUS grants cert on TPS cases; updates on litigation over DOL in-house agency adjudication
March 17
West Virginia passes a bill for gig drivers, the Tenth Circuit rejects an engineer's claims of race and age bias, and a discussion on the spread of judicial curtailment of NLRB authority.
March 16
Starbucks' union negotiations are resurrected; jobs data is released.