As reported yesterday, there is continuing coverage of the fast food workers’ strikes planned in over 100 U.S. cities tomorrow.
Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel took the first step towards securing a higher minimum wage this week by signing an executive order requiring Chicago contractors and subcontractors to pay workers $13/hour. The order is only expected to affect about 1,000 of the approximately 400,000 workers who make the minimum wage in Chicago. Emanuel has proposed an ordinance that would raise the entire city’s minimum wage to $13/hour by 2018; a vote on that ordinance is expected after the November elections.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. government announced a joint initiative with the government of Myanmar to improve labor standards there and help U.S. companies avoid labor market pitfalls while investing. The U.S. eased economic sanctions against the country in 2012. Myanmar is looking to update its labor laws to encourage foreign investment, after “[h]uman rights groups and foreign governments, including the U.S., have [expressed concern] over alleged human rights violations, including allegations of forced and underage labor in [Myanmar’s] underdeveloped economy.”
The New York Times reports that a new OECD report found that the current high unemployment rates in much of the developed world are the result of the slow economic recovery, rather than a lack of skilled workers. According to the article, “The findings could hold significant implications for policy makers aiming to reduce unemployment, while adding fuel to arguments of economists who say that eurozone governments need to abandon austerity budgeting and instead take steps to stimulate their economies.”
Thomas Edsall writes on the New York Times opinion page that political polarization has damaged our ability to examine objectively the root causes of poverty. He argues that doing so is necessary to mount a united domestic response to poverty and inequality, problems which, because of a globalizing workforce, are becoming increasingly harder for American to remedy unilaterally.
Daily News & Commentary
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September 14
Workers at Boeing reject the company’s third contract proposal; NLRB Acting General Counsel William Cohen plans to sue New York over the state’s trigger bill; Air Canada flight attendants reject a tentative contract.
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.