Maia Usui is a student at Harvard Law School.
Sunday is World Day Against Child Labor, and a reminder of the work that still needs to be done. Despite recent successes, the International Labor Organization estimates that there are still 168 million child laborers worldwide. Nonprofit leaders are calling upon corporations to scrutinize their supply chains, noting the continued importance of partnering with unions on this front.
More American workers are being replaced with foreigners on temporary visas, and some of them are starting to speak up. According to the New York Times, some of the workers who have lost their jobs to global outsourcing are now sharing their experiences with the public — but not without running afoul of severance agreements prohibiting them from criticizing their former employers. To combat the chilling effect of these “nondisparagement” agreements, some have suggested revising the visa laws to allow former employees to formally contest their layoffs.
Are manufacturing workers paid enough? NPR reports on a recent study from UC Berkeley’s Labor Center, suggesting that over a third of American manufacturing workers and their families depend on public assistance.
Daily News & Commentary
Start your day with our roundup of the latest labor developments. See all
March 13
Republican Senators urge changes on OSHA heat standard; OpenAI and building trades announce partnership on data center construction; forced labor investigations could lead to new tariffs
March 12
EPA terminates contract with second-largest union; Florida advances bill restricting public sector unions; Trump administration seeks Supreme Court assistance in TPS termination.
March 11
The partial government shutdown results in TSA agents losing their first full paycheck; the Fifth Circuit upholds the certification of a class of former United Airline workers who were placed on unpaid leave for declining to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons during the pandemic; and an academic group files a lawsuit against the State Department over a policy that revokes and denies visas to noncitizens for their work in fact-checking and content moderation.
March 10
Court rules Kari Lake unlawfully led USAGM, voiding mass layoffs; Florida Senate passes bill tightening union recertification rules; Fifth Circuit revives whistleblower suit against Lockheed Martin.
March 9
6th Circuit rejects Cemex, Board may overrule precedents with two members.
March 8
In today’s news and commentary, a weak jobs report, the NIH decides it will no longer recognize a research fellows’ union, and WNBA contract talks continue to stall as season approaches. On Friday, the Labor Department reported that employers cut 92,000 jobs in February while the unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.4 percent. A loss […]