News & Commentary

December 1, 2019

Lolita DePalma

Lolita De Palma is a student at Harvard Law School.

Fiat Chrysler and UAW have reached a tentative deal on a new labor contract. Fiat Chrysler has agreed to add $4.5 billion in investments, which should provide 7,900 jobs over the course of four years. Local union leaders will meet Wednesday to decide whether to recommend Fiat Chrysler’s proposal to the membership. While their prior contract expired September 14th, Fiat Chrysler workers have continued to work on a contract extension.

On Saturday, former Vice President Joe Biden’s field organizers for his presidential campaign announced that they will be unionizing. The campaign released a statement in support of the workers. “We look forward to working with our field organizers, as the newest members of Teamsters Local 238, who are helping power this campaign to victory,” said Biden’s campaign manager Greg Schultz.

The Star Tribune spotlights Serving Those Serving, a Minnesota nonprofit that connects bar and restaurant employees with free mental health services. Employers pay an annual fee of $45 per person to provide their workers, as well as their partners and dependents, four free therapy sessions per issue per year, and a bilingual, 24/7 hotline. “If you have a successful and mentally sound culture, you’ll have a successful, mentally sound restaurant,” said Adam Borgen, one of the nonprofit’s founders.

A new study, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, has found that life expectancy for Americans is declining. Deaths among Americans ages 25-64 are increasing, causing the United States to be ranked in the mid-40s globally in terms of life expectancy. Howard Koh, a professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, believes that income inequality may be the source of the decline. “Forces like income inequality and unstable employment cause psychological distress and drive conditions by which diseases and deaths occur.”

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