Jason Vazquez is a staff attorney at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 2023. His writing on this blog reflects his personal views and should not be attributed to the IBT.
Hundreds of dock workers at one of the largest ports in the United Kingdom walked off the job on Tuesday, launching a two-week strike in demand of higher wages. Since thousands of firms, including several transnational giants, rely on the port, the strike threatens to intensify the pressure on an already-strained global supply chain. What’s more, the dock strike may portend a wave of labor agitation across the British economy, for hundreds of thousands of U.K. workers are prepared to strike in the coming weeks. This includes, among others, bus drivers, garbage collectors, college lecturers, and workers at airports, railways, and docks.
In the latest organizing news, employees at a Home Depot in Philadelphia filed an election petition with the Board on Monday for a prospective bargaining unit encompassing nearly 300 store associates. The organizing drive represents the latest in the ongoing surge of “independent unionization,” embodied in the recent high-profile efforts of the Amazon Labor Union, Starbucks Workers United, Trader Joe’s Union, Apple Retail Union, Chipotle United, REI Union, and Geico United, to name a few. Home Depot remains the world’s largest home improvement retailer, and if the organizing drive proves successful, the union would be the first certified at any of the company’s more than 2,000 U.S. stores.
New Jersey’s labor agency announced on Tuesday that Chipotle will pay the state $7.7 million to settle “alleged widespread and persistent violations” of the state’s child labor laws. The news arrives less than a month after New York City secured a $20 million agreement from Chipotle to settle wage and hour violations, the largest in the city’s history (which I discussed here).
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June 5
Nail technicians challenge California classification; oral arguments in challenge to LGBTQ hiring protections; judge blocks Job Corps shutdown.
June 4
Federal agencies violate federal court order pausing mass layoffs; Walmart terminates some jobs in Florida following Supreme Court rulings on the legal status of migrants; and LA firefighters receive a $9.5 million settlement for failure to pay firefighters during shift changes.
June 3
Federal judge blocks Trump's attack on TSA collective bargaining rights; NLRB argues that Grindr's Return-to-Office policy was union busting; International Trade Union Confederation report highlights global decline in workers' rights.
June 2
Proposed budgets for DOL and NLRB show cuts on the horizon; Oregon law requiring LPAs in cannabis dispensaries struck down.
June 1
In today’s news and commentary, the Ninth Circuit upholds a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration, a federal judge vacates parts of the EEOC’s pregnancy accommodation rules, and video game workers reach a tentative agreement with Microsoft. In a 2-1 decision issued on Friday, the Ninth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration […]
May 30
Trump's tariffs temporarily reinstated after brief nationwide injunction; Louisiana Bill targets payroll deduction of union dues; Colorado Supreme Court to consider a self-defense exception to at-will employment