Deanna Krokos is a student at Harvard Law School
In Skokie, Illinois, the first group of Instacart employees have unionized, voting 10-4 in favor of unionizing with the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1546. Unlike the majority of Instacart workers, some 12,000 “shoppers” are legally classified as employees and primarily pack groceries in popular grocery stores on the delivery app. With that legal status, they are eligible to unionize. The election was opposed by the company, who sent representatives to a local grocery store to distribute anti-union literature. But Vice reports that the company plans to begin negotiation pending the certification of the results.
On Monday, staffers and aides at the New York City Council will ask Speaker Corey Johnson to formally recognize a union. Politico reports that since November, organizers have collected union cards and received signatures from around 60% of the eligible staffers. Despite earlier conversations with some large international unions, the workers have elected to organize as the “Association for Legislative Employees.” Johnson has vocally supported the effort in the past, and voluntary recognition is expected.
Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, the filmmakers behind American Factory, will bring workers from the Ohio plant they filmed to this year’s Oscars. The film is nominated for Best Documentary Feature, and focused on the operation of the Fuyao glass plant in Moraine, Ohio after it opened in an abandoned General Motors Factory. The filmmakers say they will try to bring both American and Chinese workers to the awards show.
Last week, Vermont Governor Phil Scott (R) vetoed H.107, a bill creating a paid family and medical leave program for Vermont workers. The program would be funded by a payroll tax, and will require a 2/3 vote in the legislature to override. BloombergLaw notes that this raises questions over a minimum wage increase, passed on Thursday, that would bring the Vermont minimum wage up from $10.96 to $12.55 by 2022. In 2018, Governor Scott vetoed two similar wage and paid leave proposals that were not overridden by the legislature.
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November 23
Workers at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority vote to authorize a strike; Washington State legislators consider a bill empowering public employees to bargain over workplace AI implementation; and University of California workers engage in a two-day strike.
November 21
The “Big Three” record labels make a deal with an AI music streaming startup; 30 stores join the now week-old Starbucks Workers United strike; and the Mine Safety and Health Administration draws scrutiny over a recent worker death.
November 20
Law professors file brief in Slaughter; New York appeals court hears arguments about blog post firing; Senate committee delays consideration of NLRB nominee.
November 19
A federal judge blocks the Trump administration’s efforts to cancel the collective bargaining rights of workers at the U.S. Agency for Global Media; Representative Jared Golden secures 218 signatures for a bill that would repeal a Trump administration executive order stripping federal workers of their collective bargaining rights; and Dallas residents sue the City of Dallas in hopes of declaring hundreds of ordinances that ban bias against LGBTQ+ individuals void.
November 18
A federal judge pressed DOJ lawyers to define “illegal” DEI programs; Peco Foods prevails in ERISA challenge over 401(k) forfeitures; D.C. court restores collective bargaining rights for Voice of America workers; Rep. Jared Golden secures House vote on restoring federal workers' union rights.
November 17
Justices receive petition to resolve FLSA circuit split, vaccine religious discrimination plaintiffs lose ground, and NJ sues Amazon over misclassification.