The Fight for $15 is changing its name to Fight for a Union

With Not Nearly Enough Workplace Safety Protections, Latino Worker Deaths Are Surging

Latinos have the highest fatality rate. In 2022, 1,248 Latino workers were killed on the job in the U.S., a 57% jump from a decade earlier.
inthesetimes.com/article/latino…

OSHA fines Mar Jac in MS, the same chicken plant where a 16 year old was killed last fall- for not providing required bathrooms toilets for their workers. This is a rare citation- and so stunning for a food company. Inhumane. osha.gov/ords/imis/esta…

Amazon has been fighting a subpoena to produce documents related to in-house expenditures on union-busting at the JFK8 warehouse (e.g., travel expenses for corporate officers to hold captive meetings).

A federal judge just ordered the company to comply:
big.assets.huffingtonpost.com/athena/files/2…

I went on PBS NewsHour tonight to talk what I heard at the Starbucks hearing at the Supreme Court today.

It appears likely that the court will side with Starbucks, making it more difficult for union activists to get reinstated when companies retaliate.
washingtonpost.com/business/2024/…

Major win today for labor: A non-compete ban

'The FTC estimates that banning noncompete agreements could create jobs for 30 million Americans and raise wages by nearly $300 billion per year.'

washingtonpost.com/business/2024/…

Two big things happened today that are extremely popular:
--FTC moved to ban non-competes
--Labor Dept moved to expand overtime protections to millions more workers
Both reforms happened because of Biden and in spite of Republicans. And both could die before GOP-appointed judges.

NEW: 5 major pension funds have now committed more than $1 trillion in assets requiring robust labor standards in private equity investments, the WH announced today.

That includes CalPERs & as of today, the New York State Common Retirement Fund

washingtonpost.com/business/2024/…

TODAY: Starbucks is challenging a federal judge's order to reinstate the Memphis 7 organizers from Starbucks Workers United before SCOTUS today.

A victory for Starbucks could have have a chilling effect on union organizing the US, advocates say.

washingtonpost.com/business/2024/…

I sat down with Zach Costello, one of the victorious Volkswagen UAW members, to talk about making history, problems in the plant, and what comes next. jacobin.com/2024/04/chatta…

HUGE NEWS: Workers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee have voted to unionize, according to the UAW.

They are the 1st Southern auto factory to vote to unionize since the 1940s.

washingtonpost.com/business/2024/…

Scoop: The NLRB plans to seek an injunction in federal court against the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette over labor law violations. Petition likely to be filed in coming days.

Workers at the newspaper have been on strike for 18 months.
huffpost.com/entry/pittsbur…

NEW: 13 workers at Petco in Michigan are forming a union and seeking to join UFCW.

Find me at Labor Notes!

Today could be a historic day for labor, with VW workers in Tennessee expected to vote in favor of unionizing, making it the 1st foreign-owned auto plant in the South to unionize—“This would be the biggest breakthru in private-sector organizing in decades'
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/a…

I've been wanting to do this story for years and am thrilled it's finally out: inside the surprisingly small, highly specialized industry that repairs the internet cables on the bottom of the ocean theverge.com/c/24070570/int…

Today is an important day for labor—4,300 workers at VW in Chattanooga begin voting on whether to unionize with the UAW

Lisa Elliott—a VW worker—is confident of victory: “We’re going to win. We have the momentum. THIS WILL BE A HISTORIC EVENT'

My story:
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/a…

As I reported for In These Times last year, toxic silica dust is fueling a black lung crisis among young coal miners in Appalachia. This long-awaited new rule cuts the legal silica exposure limit *in half* and will save so many lives inthesetimes.com/article/coal-m…