The New York Times profiles initiatives to raise the minimum wage via referendum in Republican-controlled states where legislatures have otherwise refused to support an increase. Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota’s ballots will all feature binding referendums to raise the minimum wage above the current federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. The measures in each of these states would set the minimum wage lower than the $10.10 an hour that President Obama has proposed for the federal increase. Measures are up for a vote in both San Francisco and Oakland.
The Atlantic features a piece on the National Nurses United union. Despite national trends of flagging union membership, Nurses United has organized 20,000 new nurses across 50 hospitals in the last five years. The Nurses plan to strike on Nov. 12, 2014 in response to insufficient Ebola protections in hospitals. Nurses United has thrived using rhetoric inclusive of the needs and safety of their patients in addition to their own working conditions.
Haaretz reports on the decrease in teachers unions in U.S. Jewish day schools. In August, the Philadelphia NLRB dismissed a complaint filed by teachers at the Perelman Jewish Day School after the administration refused to negotiate with them. In a decision that could have far reaching implications for parochial schools of all forms, the NLRB stated that it lacked jurisdiction because Perelman is a religious institution. The teachers have appealed the decision.
In immigration news, President Obama was heckled by immigration advocates in Connecticut yesterday as he stumped for Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy. According to Fox News Latino, the protestors were organized by United We Dream, a pro-immigration reform group demanding expansion of executive action to halt the deportation of undocumented immigrants.
Daily News & Commentary
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September 12
Zohran Mamdani calls on FIFA to end dynamic pricing for the World Cup; the San Francisco Office of Labor Standards Enforcement opens a probe into Scale AI’s labor practices; and union members organize immigration defense trainings.
September 11
California rideshare deal advances; Boeing reaches tentative agreement with union; FTC scrutinizes healthcare noncompetes.
September 10
A federal judge denies a motion by the Trump Administration to dismiss a lawsuit led by the American Federation of Government Employees against President Trump for his mass layoffs of federal workers; the Supreme Court grants a stay on a federal district court order that originally barred ICE agents from questioning and detaining individuals based on their presence at a particular location, the type of work they do, their race or ethnicity, and their accent while speaking English or Spanish; and a hospital seeks to limit OSHA's ability to cite employers for failing to halt workplace violence without a specific regulation in place.
September 9
Ninth Circuit revives Trader Joe’s lawsuit against employee union; new bill aims to make striking workers eligible for benefits; university lecturer who praised Hitler gets another chance at First Amendment claims.
September 8
DC Circuit to rule on deference to NLRB, more vaccine exemption cases, Senate considers ban on forced arbitration for age discrimination claims.
September 7
Another weak jobs report, the Trump Administration's refusal to arbitrate with federal workers, and a district court judge's order on the constitutionality of the Laken-Riley Act.