Vail Kohnert-Yount is a student at Harvard Law School.
Amazon’s nationwide delivery network is made up of hundreds of small companies that exert tremendous pressure on drivers to deliver hundreds of packages, one almost every two minutes, for a flat rate each eight-hour shift. Buzzfeed investigated the resulting “chaos, exploitation, and danger” from Amazon’s seemingly single-minded focus on getting packages to customers on time. As Amazon’s delivery network has jettisoned safety protocols used by other delivery services including FedEx and UPS, drivers and those who share the roads with them have experienced rampant legal violations, injuries, and even death.
Apple and its manufacturing partner Foxconn admitted to violating Chinese labor law in the world’s largest iPhone factory, according to a new report from China Labor Watch. Bloomberg reported on CLW’s latest report, which revaled findings from undercover investigators who worked for years in Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant. As of August, half of workers at the Zhengzhou iPhone factory were temporary workers, five times the legal maximum of 10%. Apple has repeatedly faced criticism for poor working conditions in its supply chain.
The Forced Arbitration Injustice Repeal Act is slated for markup by the House Judiciary Committee this afternoon. Introduced by Rep. Hank Johnson and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the FAIR Act would ban forced arbitration of employment, consumer, antitrust or civil rights disputes.
The New York Times investigated how ghostwriting papers for American college students has emerged as a lucrative online industry, particularly overseas. But as foreign writers, many of whom are from countries with many English speakers such as Kenya, India, and Ukraine, increasingly join the industry, some sites selling academic writing have begun to tout their American bona fides, “in a strange twist on globalization and outsourcing.” One ghostwriting website listed “bringing jobs back to America” as a key goal. Although U.S. writers typically charge more per page, they claim to offer more passable writing products, without suspiciously foreign spellings or idioms.
Daily News & Commentary
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November 2
In today’s news and commentary, states tackle “stay-or-pay” contracts, a new preliminary injunction bars additional shutdown layoffs, and two federal judges order the Trump administration to fund SNAP. Earlier this year, NLRB acting general counsel William Cowen rescinded a 2024 NLRB memo targeting “stay-or-pay” contracts. Former General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo had declared that these kinds […]
October 31
DHS ends work permit renewal grace period; Starbucks strike authorization vote; captive-audience ban case appeal
October 30
Sweden’s Tesla strike enters its third year; Seattle rideshare drivers protest Waymo’s expansion in the city.
October 29
9th Circuit rejects challenge to NLRB's constitutional structure; preemption challenges to state labor peace statutes
October 28
Two federal unions oppose CBA cancellations, another federal union urges Democrats to end the government shut down, and Paramount plans for mass layoffs
October 27
GM and Rivian announce layoffs; Boeing workers reject contract offer.