
Iman Masmoudi is a student at Harvard Law School.
After an exciting labor day weekend, there is still much good news to celebrate! An article in the Hill pointed out yesterday that this Labor Day weekend was perhaps “the most promising” for unions in many years, because of very high public support, dynamic grassroots organizing campaigns at several massive corporations, and a President who “wants to be remembered as the most pro-union President in history.”
This positive outlook did not appear unfounded this weekend as yesterday, Governor Newsom of California signed the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act. The bill creates a council across California’s Fast Food industry composed of industry members and union representatives who will negotiate directly over wages, health & safety, and other benefits. Many have celebrated the bill as “the most significant legislation since the New Deal to bring sectoral bargaining to scale in a major private-sector industry.” The United States’ labor playing field has traditionally been organized at the individual franchise or store level, but for fast food workers in particularly, this has meant little bargaining power, even when an individual store does manage to organize. Sectoral bargaining assuages this issue and is an exciting development in US labor law.
Finally, the Washington Post reported yesterday that thousands of cafeteria workers across Google’s “campuses” have unionized over the past two years to hopefully address low wages and poor health care benefits. This has happened “quietly” in the report’s words, because these workers are often employed by contractors brought in by Google to staff its campuses, and Google has reportedly maintained a “neutral” position towards their unionization. It also shows an increase in the geographic disbursement of unionization, traditionally a coastal privilege, into Southern states like Georgia.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
October 15
An interview with former NLRB chairman; Supreme Court denies cert in Southern California hotel case
October 14
Census Bureau layoffs, Amazon holiday hiring, and the final settlement in a meat producer wage-fixing lawsuit.
October 13
Texas hotel workers ratify a contract; Pope Leo visits labor leaders; Kaiser lays off over two hundred workers.
October 12
The Trump Administration fires thousands of federal workers; AFGE files a supplemental motion to pause the Administration’s mass firings; Democratic legislators harden their resolve during the government shutdown.
October 10
California bans algorithmic price-fixing; New York City Council passes pay transparency bills; and FEMA questions staff who signed a whistleblowing letter.
October 9
Equity and the Broadway League resume talks amid a looming strike; federal judge lets alcoholism ADA suit proceed; Philadelphia agrees to pay $40,000 to resolve a First Amendment retaliation case.