Alexander W. Miller is a student at Harvard Law School.
The Democratic National Committee elected former labor secretary Thomas Perez as the first Latino chairman of the party. The race for who would lead the rebuilding Democratic Party had been unusually contentious, going to a second ballot after the strong showing of Representative Keith Ellison. Perez immediately named Ellison his deputy, expressing a desire to present a united front against President Trump with progressive activists who had strongly supported the Minnesota Congressman’s bid.
Yesterday afternoon, after hours of impassioned testimony by workers and union members, the New Mexico House of Representatives killed a bill that would have made the state the 29th with so-called right-to-work laws on its books.
The New York Times looks at the career of Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor who made much of his fortune through business decisions that embraced free trade and moved jobs overseas, but will now be tasked as commerce secretary with overseeing President Trump’s protectionist agenda.
The Lincoln Journal Star has an in-depth feature this weekend about the struggles of employers in Nebraska’s second-largest city to attract and retain workers. With an unemployment rate of just 3.4% and a dearth of young college graduates, new businesses are having to look further and further afield to fill vacancies.
Finally, the Guardian has a pair of articles covering potential impacts of Brexit on vulnerable sectors of the UK economy. The first addresses the potential for automation to replace EU workers involved in food production, but concludes that robots would be unable to fill the roles currently occupied by foreign employees. The second looks at the crucial roll immigrants from other EU nations play in staffing the country’s social care system.
Daily News & Commentary
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January 18
Met Museum workers unionize; a new report reveals a $0.76 average tip for gig workers in NYC; and U.S. workers receive the smallest share of capital since 1947.
January 16
The NLRB publishes its first decision since regaining a quorum; Minneapolis labor unions call for a general strike in response to the ICE killing of Renee Good; federal workers rally in DC to show support for the Protecting America’s Workforce Act.
January 15
New investigation into the Secretary of Labor; New Jersey bill to protect child content creators; NIOSH reinstates hundreds of employees.
January 14
The Supreme Court will not review its opt-in test in ADEA cases in an age discrimination and federal wage law violation case; the Fifth Circuit rules that a jury will determine whether Enterprise Products unfairly terminated a Black truck driver; and an employee at Berry Global Inc. will receive a trial after being fired for requesting medical leave for a disability-related injury.
January 13
15,000 New York City nurses go on strike; First Circuit rules against ferry employees challenging a COVID-19 vaccine mandate; New York lawmakers propose amendments to Trapped at Work Act.
January 12
Changes to EEOC voting procedures; workers tell SCOTUS to pass on collective action cases; Mamdani's plans for NYC wages.