Maddy Joseph is a student at Harvard Law School.
In New York City, more people are taking Uber than traditional yellow cabs, the New York Times reports. Uber’s growth has been fueled by new riders in the outer boroughs; a similar trend–new customers outside the city center–is also taking hold in other cities.
Meanwhile, the UK, whose capital city recently declined to renew Uber’s license, is considering new protections for gig workers. At a parliamentary hearing this week, an Uber representative told policymakers that making the company classify its workers as employees would spur changes to the company’s labor model and would significantly raise its costs. Also earlier this week, a detailed Bloomberg story outlined the five ongoing criminal investigations against Uber, including two investigations that had previously been unreported. Based on interviews with current and former employees, Bloomberg describes Uber’s legal culture–its legal department’s “mandate” was to “test” the boundaries of the law–and the controversial “arsenal” of programs for which the company is under investigation.
A New York Times analysis talks to experts and examines past NLRB actions relevant to whether the NFL players’ protests are concerted activity protected under federal labor law. Read more about the question from Benjamin Sachs on this blog here.
Finally, California Governor Jerry Brown signed several worker-related measures yesterday, including a law requiring smaller employers to provide 12 weeks of parental leave and a ban on employers’ asking for the salary history of prospective workers, a move designed to help improve the gender pay gap.
Daily News & Commentary
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September 20
Culinary Workers Union members protests union leadership; lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft reveal internal concerns about the threat of AI training to human labor.
September 17
Unions push to block Google from buying Spirit Airlines employment records; U.S. Department of Labor sues Oklahoma coffee chain over alleged wage violations.
September 16
Trump nominates Catherine Eschbach as EEOC general counsel; NLRB declines to resolve union work-assignment dispute; Allina Health physicians begin four-day strike.
September 15
Documents reveal the inner workings of Amazon's union avoidance program; Washington state public sector unions reach tentative deals amid a difficult bargaining cycle; hundreds of Nevada Culinary Union members protest their union's health care changes.
September 14
NCAA and Big Ten file motion to dismiss in former star player's NIL suit; Seventh Circuit rules against former postal worker in discrimination suit.
September 13
Documents released on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks show that city officials encouraged workers to return to Ground Zero despite knowing the risks of asbestos exposure, and new polls demonstrate continued widespread support for labor unions.