Amazon workers across Europe went on strike over Black Friday, protesting their punishing work schedules, low wages, and dangerous working conditions. Workers walked out in protest in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Spain, where the AP reports that about 90 percent of workers at an Amazon depot near Madrid walked out this week. A spokesperson for UNI Global Union, an international organization that works with unions representing Amazon workers across Europe, told Gizmodo that 2,600 workers went on strike. Amazon disputes the figure. Striking Amazon workers in England emphasized unsafe working conditions after a Freedom of Information Act request that ambulances had been called to Amazon UK facilities approximately 600 times over the last three years. Workers picketing Amazon Europe said they chose to walk out on Black Friday because it is one of the busiest days of the year for the retail giant; one striking worker told the AP that they hope that by affecting Amazon’s bottom line, they can “make ourselves be heard because the company has not listened to us.”
The Washington Attorney General’s office announced an agreement with four more chains to eliminate so-called “no-poach clauses” from their employment contracts nationwide. As OnLabor’s own Sharon Block and Terri Gerstein wrote this summer, under no-poach agreements, “franchisees pledge not to hire job applicants who are current or recent employees of the company or any of its franchisees, without the approval of the applicants’ employers.” These agreements mean that workers applying to jobs with better pay, benefits, and hours may not even make it to an interview, no matter how good their work is. Worse, the clauses generally aren’t disclosed to workers — so they have no idea that secret no-poach agreements are locking them out of better jobs. This summer, the Washington State AG cracked down on no-poach agreements, getting many fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Arby’s to quit using the secret agreements to avoid a lawsuit. Since then, the AG’s office has signed legally enforceable agreements with 34 corporations to end their use of no-poach clauses.
A new study from the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) and the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive thinktank, shows that New York state added restaurant jobs after the state rose the tipped minimum wage — belying fears that raising the tipped minimum wage would inevitably lead to job losses for restaurant workers. The study found that in the two years after New York raised the tipped minimum wage from $5 per hour to $7.50 per hour, job growth at full-service restaurants increased while workers’ take home pay “increased significantly.” The report found “no statistical evidence” that the increased wage negatively impacted job growth and the state’s number of restaurants rose at more than twice the rate of neighboring states. The study was published as state lawmakers consider eliminating the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers and providing for one, equal minimum wage for tipped and non-tipped workers alike.
The Washington Post reports that employers are using artificial intelligence to “police workers’ social media,” analyze potential hire’s personality, and “reveal hidden aspects of [potential employees’] private lives.” One service, Predictim, offers employers “advanced artificial intelligence” to assess a potential hire’s personality, offering an automated “risk rating” that an individual uses drugs, is disrespectful, or has “a bad attitude,” using an undisclosed process and based on a potential hire’s social media posts. HireVue, another recruitment-technology firm, purports to analyze job applicants’ “tone, word choice, and facial movements during video interviews” to predict their demeanor and skills. The systems rely on opaque algorithms and are largely unproven, but employers still rely on them for hiring decisions.
This weekend marks the 109th anniversary of the “Uprising of 20,000,” in which more than 20,000 immigrant garment workers — mostly young women — launched a massive general strike of New York’s shirtwaist industry. The historic, women-led walkout challenged poverty wages and dangerous working conditions in the city’s sweatshops and trade unionists bias against organizing women.
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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.