Ross Evans is a student at Harvard Law School and a member of the Labor and Employment Lab.
West Virginia teachers are expected to continue striking for the third consecutive school day on Monday, in the state’s second-ever teacher strike. The first strike, which occurred in 1990, lasted for eight school days, did not include non-teacher personnel, and never obtained the support of all fifty-five counties (the strike started with eight counties, eventually extending to to forty-seven counties). This time, workers are more united, as both teaching and non-teaching personnel are striking across all counties. While West Virginia Governor Jim Justice signed a bill on Wednesday to raise teachers’ pay for the first time since 2014–an increase of two percent next school year, and one percent in the two school years thereafter–those striking assert that more important than raising the state’s forty-eighth-ranked teacher pay is preventing cuts to their health-care and benefits plans.
Despite recent free agent deals for All-Stars such as Yu Darvish and Todd Frazier, Major League Baseball Players Association Executive Director Tony Clark remains concerned, as “one-third of the 166 players who exercised free agency rights last November have not reached a contract agreement.” This group includes star players such as World-Series Champion Jake Arrieta. While Clark did not go so far as to mention collusion among owners, an accusation that has been suggested by players’ agents, he did express worry about teams purposefully fielding non-competitive teams. The current collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLBPA remains valid through the next four seasons. We’ve covered this continually developing story in prior “News & Commentary” columns on February 5 and February 13, respectively.
Oral arguments before the Supreme Court begin tomorrow (Monday) in Janus v. AFSCME. At issue is the constitutionality of mandatory union fees for public employees who, while part of a collective-bargaining unit, are purposefully not union members. In advance of Monday’s arguments, union workers from across the country rallied on Saturday, including thousands in Columbus, Ohio and hundreds in St. Paul, Minnesota. In New York City, rallying union members were joined in support by Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo. See all of our coverage of Janus here.
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July 11
Regional director orders election without Board quorum; 9th Circuit pauses injunction on Executive Order; Driverless car legislation in Massachusetts
July 10
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds UW Health nurses are not covered by Wisconsin’s Labor Peace Act; a district judge denies the request to stay an injunction pending appeal; the NFLPA appeals an arbitration decision.
July 9
the Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass firings; Secretary of Agriculture suggests Medicaid recipients replace deported migrant farmworkers; DHS ends TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras
July 8
In today’s news and commentary, Apple wins at the Fifth Circuit against the NLRB, Florida enacts a noncompete-friendly law, and complications with the No Tax on Tips in the Big Beautiful Bill. Apple won an appeal overturning a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that the company violated labor law by coercively questioning an employee […]
July 7
LA economy deals with fallout from ICE raids; a new appeal challenges the NCAA antitrust settlement; and the EPA places dissenting employees on leave.
July 6
Municipal workers in Philadelphia continue to strike; Zohran Mamdani collects union endorsements; UFCW grocery workers in California and Colorado reach tentative agreements.