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.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
October 16
Department of Labor reduces wage-and-hour enforcement at unionized workplaces; Fain's victory poses question of federal monitor's extension.
October 15
New reporting examines the rollback of child labor protections; California tries to block a strike; NLRB charges Wisconsin mental health provider with firing workers during union drive.
October 14
Eleventh Circuit overturns ERISA exhaustion rule; DHS finalizes removal of automatic renewal for work permits; AFGE challenges SSA over flexible scheduling policy.
October 13
Chicago hotel workers remain on strike; a coalition of Democratic states sues the Labor Department over canceled unemployment insurance grants; the Federal Labor Relations Authority establishes a new mediation framework for federal worker disputes.
October 12
Workers at the Obama Foundation begin organizing; MLB submits its latest collective bargaining agreement proposal; Brigham & Women's nurses postpone strike.
October 11
UAW President Shawn Fain succeeds in his reelection bid, and Spanish unions call for a general strike.