
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
March 24
Duke opposing unionizing grad student workers; NLRB prosecutors find merit to ULPs against Amazon; Starbucks investors weighing outside audit of company's labor practices.
March 23
Trader Joe's workers in Oakland file a petition to form a union; a Kenyan court temporarily blocks Meta contractor’s mass layoff of content moderators; and Starbucks workers at more than 100 stores walkout ahead of shareholders’ meeting.
March 22
NLRB's General Counsel issues two memos clarifying priorities and a recent Board decision, LA teachers go on strike, and Bloomberg Law reports higher pay raises from labor contracts
March 20
Residents and fellows at Mass General Brigham hospitals prepare to unionize; divisions in the New York Times NewsGuild union deepens as contract negotiations remain ongoing; the six-month Pittsburgh Post-Gazette strike turned violent on Saturday; Los Angeles schools prepare to close this week as workers plan to strike
March 19
Ninth Circuit reinstates Uber's Equal Protection challenge to California's AB5; reduction in SNAP benefits could lead to "hunger cliff" for low-wage workers; Amazon workers start unionizing campaign at Kentucky facility; ex-Google employees ask company to honor parental leave.
March 17
Texas committee considers sweeping legislation limiting municipal power; University of Chicago graduate students unionize; Tennessee Nissan technicians reject a unionizing effort; and protestors in France take to the streets after President Macron activates nuclear option to raise retirement age.