1800 workers in New York City are in their eighth month striking against Charter Communications. After Charter bought Time Warner Cable in May 2016, Charter sought to substitute its standard contract for the collective bargaining agreement between Time Warner and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 3. Workers—like Tanisha Smythe who is frequenting food banks to feed herself and her young son during the strike—are sacrificing substantially to preserve their union contract. The Guardian contextualizes Smythe’s struggle within the general weakening of American unions, and quotes Jake Rosenfeld’s recent OnLabor post about the impact of shrinking unions on national politics.
Workers at Boston radio station WBZ-AM are facing developments that seem ominously similar to those that prompted the strike against Charter Communications. iHeartMedia, who has just acquired WBZ-AM, announced that they would not honor pre-existing collective bargaining agreements with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. iHeartMedia also announced that all staff would have to reapply for their jobs.
The Idaho Statesman reports that local farmers highly value the H-2A and H-2B guest worker programs, even though they find the associated regulations cumbersome. Violations aren’t punished harshly or often. And even when a company is disallowed from hiring guest workers because of its misdeeds–which is currently the case for only 33 of several thousand H-2A employers nationwide–substantial federal farm subsidies continue to roll in.
Amid allegations and investigation of workplace harassment, two more leaders within SEIU’s Fight for 15 campaign have left the union. Kendall Fells, a national organizer on the campaign, resigned, and Mark Raleigh, who headed the Fight for 15 in Detroit, was fired. Last month Executive Vice President Scott Courtney resigned, and Caleb Jennings, who led the campaign in Chicago, was fired. In addition to an internal investigation, the union has convened an external advisory group to address this seemingly widespread problem.
Daily News & Commentary
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June 6
In today’s news and commentary, Governor Jared Polis directs Colorado’s labor agency to share information with ICE; and the Supreme Court issues two unanimous rulings including exempting a Catholic charity from paying unemployment compensation taxes and striking down the heightened standard for plaintiffs belonging to a majority group to prove a Title VII employment discrimination […]
June 5
Nail technicians challenge California classification; oral arguments in challenge to LGBTQ hiring protections; judge blocks Job Corps shutdown.
June 4
Federal agencies violate federal court order pausing mass layoffs; Walmart terminates some jobs in Florida following Supreme Court rulings on the legal status of migrants; and LA firefighters receive a $9.5 million settlement for failure to pay firefighters during shift changes.
June 3
Federal judge blocks Trump's attack on TSA collective bargaining rights; NLRB argues that Grindr's Return-to-Office policy was union busting; International Trade Union Confederation report highlights global decline in workers' rights.
June 2
Proposed budgets for DOL and NLRB show cuts on the horizon; Oregon law requiring LPAs in cannabis dispensaries struck down.
June 1
In today’s news and commentary, the Ninth Circuit upholds a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration, a federal judge vacates parts of the EEOC’s pregnancy accommodation rules, and video game workers reach a tentative agreement with Microsoft. In a 2-1 decision issued on Friday, the Ninth Circuit upheld a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration […]