The Weekly Download

“In this blogcast, Burnes Center for Social Change Senior Fellow Seth Harris is joined by Andres Chavez, Executive Director of the National Chavez Center, to celebrate his grandfather’s birthday–Cesar Chavez Day. Watch now to hear Andres share stories about labor activist and icon, Cesar Chavez, Andres’ work in preserving his grandfather’s legacy, and what we can learn from Cesar’s story to continue promoting worker power in the present.”

“Ezra Klein argues in his recent op-ed (and at greater length in his compelling new book with Derek Thompson) that a central problem facing Democrats is the crisis of scarcity. According to Klein, the places where Democrats govern are unaffordable because rules and political cultures constrain production and provision of housing, public transit, childcare, clean energy, and other valuable goods and services—and ultimately hobble effective government. He contends we can solve the pressing problems facing Americans—and offer a retort to Elon Musk and Donald Trump—with a new policy and politics of ‘abundance.’ Abundance, as Klein describes it, is a political movement of supply: Instead of focusing on the (re)distribution of scarce existing resources, politicians should focus on expanding supply.”

“The Democratic Party is hemorrhaging support among the working-class voters who once formed the bedrock of its electoral support. Some analysts argue that parties of the Left and center left should embrace this shift and focus instead on the rising class of progressive professionals. But turning away from the traditional working class risks conceding vast swaths of the electorate to the far right and relegating progressives to the status of semipermanent opposition. Working-class dealignment — turning away from the Democratic Party, in the United States — is real, and a really big problem.”

“The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo has significantly altered the landscape of administrative law – but the decision’s impact on the National Labor Relations Board’s authority may be less sweeping than many initially feared. In [Anne Marie Lofaso and Fred Jacob’s], Beyond Loper Bright: Iterative Construction at the National Labor Relations Board, [they] review the Supreme Court’s decision in the Loper Bright case to understand its effect on judicial review of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB or Board) interpretation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRA guarantees the right of most private-sector employees in the United States to organize unions, engage in collective bargaining, and carry out strikes and other forms of collective action.”

“A union that represents 150,000 U.S. government employees filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to block President Donald Trump from stripping hundreds of thousands of federal workers of the ability to collectively bargain with government agencies through their unions. The National Treasury Employees Union said in the lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C. federal court that Trump's executive order, opens new tab last week exempting more than a dozen agencies from collective bargaining obligations violates federal workers' labor rights and the U.S. Constitution and threatens the union's very existence. The NTEU said the order applies to more than 100,000 of its 158,000 members and would require agencies to stop deducting union dues from those workers' paychecks, a major blow to the union's revenue and bargaining power.”

“A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals issued a favorable ruling for President Trump, staying a recent district court decision that ruled his termination of National Labor Relations Board (‘NLRB’ or the ‘Board’) Member Gwynne Wilcox was unlawful. Thus, it appears that the Board again is left without statutory quorum, which under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) requires at least three members.”

“United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain earned a reputation as one of Donald’s Trump most ruthless critics during last year’s presidential race. Now Fain, the powerful union leader, is seeking to make inroads with the Trump administration on tariffs that could boost the autoworkers’ union. The UAW lauded the Trump administration in a statement this week after the White House announced sweeping tariffs Wednesday on automobiles and auto parts, with the union declaring the move a ‘victory’ and a ‘major step in the right direction for autoworkers and blue-collar communities.’ But for Fain, who rose to national prominence during a historic strike against the Big Three automakers in 2023, finding common ground on trade policy with the president brings risks as the Trump administration pursues policies that could weaken the labor movement.”

“The emergence of gig work is putting pressure on traditional notions of who is an employee and who is the employer. Workers classified as independent contractors rather than employees can lose state and federal protections for wages, overtime, whistleblowing, discriminatory firing, and more. They also lose federal labor law protections for group protest activity, union organizing, and collective bargaining. It is generally assumed that workers not classified as employees under federal labor law also face liability under the antitrust laws if they form unions, go on strike, or try to bargain collectively with those who hire them. In a recent article, we challenge the assumption that only workers covered as employees by federal labor law are antitrust-exempt: employer classification of workers as ‘independent contractors,’ whether well-founded or not, is irrelevant to the antitrust inquiry. As long as workers provide only their personal services without significant, non-fungible capital investment, they remain laborers for purposes of the exemption from the antitrust laws that permits collective action by workers.”

“A Florida Republican lawmaker sponsoring a bill that would make it harder for public employees to form a union defended herself on Tuesday in part by claiming her bill would actually help public employees, not hurt them. The bill (HB 1387) was advanced by the House Government Operations Subcommittee in a 10 to 7 vote Tuesday, with three Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. ‘My goal with this bill is not to be anti-union. It's not to weaken unions. It's to strengthen the voice of our public employees,’ said Florida Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka, R-Fort Myers, speaking to the subcommittee ahead of the vote. Yet, her bill — like another major union reform bill approved in 2023 — explicitly exempts unions representing police and firefighters, many of which reliably endorse (and throw campaign contributions to) Florida Republicans like Persons-Mulicka for office. These unions directly lobby Florida’s Republican-controlled legislature on criminal justice, labor and other issues.”

“Summer is rapidly approaching in the U.S., bringing dangerously hot conditions for many workers. Last summer, in the face of rising temperatures, the Biden administration proposed landmark workplace standards that would protect workers from dangerous exposure to extreme heat both inside and outside. The proposed rule would use heat index readings to trigger enforceable requirements for employers, including providing their employees water and rest areas and 15-minute breaks. The change in president has thrown into question the future of federal heat standards. But there are other levers for protecting workers exposed to heat. We recently returned from the India 2047: Building a Climate-Resilient Future conference organized by our Harvard colleagues. After spending four days in New Delhi with over 150 experts in many disciplines from around the world – in addition to visiting the workers organizing with the Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) in Ahmedabad – we return to Cambridge with a greater understanding of how to work across disciplines to find creative ways to protect workers. As SEWA’s Mansi Shah put it, ‘we can’t keep working in silos.’”

“U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine, introduced a bipartisan bill Tuesday that would overturn an executive order from President Donald Trump that ends collective bargaining with federal labor unions in agencies with national security missions across the federal government. ‘These are really important jobs for our national security,’ Golden said in an interview with Maine's Total Coverage. ‘It's just not true that these unions' collective bargaining rights in any way undermine national security.’”

“Union leaders have accused Donald Trump of union-busting in a ‘blatant’ attempt to silence them after the president stepped up his attacks on government unions on Thursday, signing an executive order that attempts to eliminate collective bargaining for hundreds of thousands of federal workers. The order limits the departments and classifications of federal workers who can organize a union and instructs the government to stop engaging in any collective bargaining. The office of personnel management issued a memo following the directive, providing guidance to the departments and subdivisions on the order, which includes terminating their collective bargaining agreements and ending voluntary union dues collection through payrolls.”

“For Lynn Chan, a 20-year-old nutrition major at Sacramento State University, it’s not her classes that occupy most of her time during the day or homework that keeps her up all night. Instead, as a resident advisor, or RA, in a large apartment-style dorm on campus, she says she sometimes spends more than 40 hours a week organizing events, mediating conflicts and otherwise tending to the needs of 56 fellow students…That’s why Chan and other RAs are seeking to unionize 1,400 RAs across California State University’s 20 campuses, and join a swell of unionization among RAs nationwide. They are now waiting on CSU’s response to a March petition to join an existing union, with a deadline of April 9.  A response supporting the petition would likely result in the RAs being folded into the existing undergraduate student union. If CSU opposes the petition, however, state labor officials would conduct an investigation and, if necessary, a hearing before issuing a final decision.”

“Labor researchers have long argued that America needs unions to preserve and strengthen the middle class. But now, when American democracy is hanging in the balance, we also need unions to stand up for democracy. And for unions to be effective agents for democracy, they need to truly practice it. If my experience as a public school teacher in New Hampshire is any guide, these challenging times present us with an opportunity to increase engagement within our unions, a first step to re-democratizing the voices of workers everywhere. Unions without democratic structures or cultures become fatigued and moribund, or develop an entrenched status quo that makes organizing more difficult. But a culture of debate and a steady infusion of leaders from rank-and-file members on the ‘shop floor’—or in my sector’s case, the classroom—can keep unions engaged with their members in a way that is not only responsive and effective, but can make unions a social and political pillar of democracy.”

“Amazon spent $12.7 million last year on consultants who specialize in defeating labor organizing campaigns, reflecting the online retailer’s determination to keep unions out of its warehouses and delivery hubs. Disclosures that Amazon filed with the Labor Department on Monday show the company increased its anti-union spending significantly in 2024 as it faced organizing efforts from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and other groups. Amazon had doled out $3.1 million to such firms in 2023. Federal law requires employers to disclose how much money they spent the previous year on the services of “persuaders,” or consultants who try to dissuade employees from forming unions. Amazon appears to have become the country’s biggest investor in persuaders ever since warehouse workers in Alabama and New York started organizing four years ago.”

“Starbucks Corp. broke the law when it closed a South Carolina store for two days and disciplined workers for their union activities, a National Labor Relations Board judge held. NLRB Administrative Law Judge Lisa Friedheim-Weis said in a ruling Thursday Starbucks violated federal labor law by suspending 11 baristas who participated in a ‘March on the Boss’ in August 2022. But she held that the company’s subsequent firing of five workers, three of whom were in the march, was lawful. The South Carolina cafe unionized in March 2022. In July, the employees walked off on strike to protest failing equipment and declining hours. After the two-day strike was over, five workers re-entered the store after hours to perform a deep clean and prepare it for reopening the following morning.”

“Nurses of the UnityPoint Health hospitals in Des Moines doubled down on their demands for hospital leadership to cease actions they say are trying to bust their efforts to unionize. In the months since nurses first began organizing, they have accused the health system of taking coercive steps to undermine their union efforts, including hiring third-party consultants to deter nurses from voting to form a union.”

“On Cesar Chavez Day, the United Farm Workers, the California Federation of Labor Unions, and SEIU California will assemble over 5,000 of their members and fellow workers to march in Delano, a place deeply rooted in movement history- in solidarity with immigrant workers and denouncing Trump’s mass deportation policies as an attack on the entire Latino community and working people. This demonstration will be the largest mobilization of union workers on behalf of immigrant rights since President Trump’s election. The March’s theme is ‘Con Estas Manos / With These Hands’ to highlight the role of immigrant workers as the backbone of the American economy.”

“From big cities to small towns, postal workers organized hundreds of rallies across the country in the past week to defend a beloved public service—and the nation’s largest union employer—against privatization and DOGE attack. ‘Whose Postal Service?’ workers chanted in New York: ‘The people’s Postal Service.’ ‘U.S. Mail Is Not for Sale’ was the rallying cry March 20 at 250 rallies organized by the Postal Workers (APWU). ‘Fight Like Hell’ was the theme March 23 for another 210 rallies led by the Letter Carriers (NALC). A hundred people came out to the NALC rally in St. Petersburg, Florida, covering all four corners of the busiest intersection in town, said Roger Ezra Butterfield, a recently minted steward in APWU.”

“The Chicago Teachers Union’s team of 65 educators voted in favor of a proposed settlement Monday evening that wrapped up close to a year of negotiations with the school district. Tuesday morning, CTU celebrated its hard-fought gains for students and educators…Notably, the third-largest teachers union in the nation wrapped up bargaining for the first time in 15 years without a strike vote or strike. A vote from the 730-member House of Delegates on Wednesday is the next step in ratification. A full 30,000 membership vote and approval from the Chicago Board of Education will seal the deal.”

“After holding strong on the picket line for nearly two and a half years, striking members of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh (TNG-CWA Local 38061) have won a core demand for the restoration of their healthcare benefits through a rare federal injunction. A federal court has ordered the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette to restore the workers’ healthcare and bargain with the workers upon their request. Though still on strike, the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh has already submitted demands for the restoration of healthcare and for bargaining dates.”

“Wisconsin Watch journalists, represented by Wisconsin Watch Union and Milwaukee NewsGuild Local 34051, have secured their first union contract, which includes meaningful gains in wages, job security and workplace protections.”

“Harvard’s graduate student union agreed to negotiate its third contract with the University without ground rules on Friday, after the two sides were unable to agree on policies for bargaining observation. Without formal policies, the Harvard Graduate Students Union-United Auto Workers has not ruled out bringing rank-and-file members to sessions. But the decision to forgo basic bargaining policies also sets the stage for an even more contentious set of negotiations than for the union’s two previous contracts, which were both negotiated with ground rules and both resulted in a strike.”

“New York State Nurses Association nurses at Mohawk Valley Health System Wynn Hospital have overwhelmingly voted to ratify a three-year contract. The agreement includes stronger safe staffing enforcement and break coverage to ensure safety at all times, wage increases, and reduced costs for health insurance, according to the union representing 42,000 members in New York State. ‘This is the first contract agreement for NYSNA nurses at Wynn since the hospital moved to its new location over a year ago, and nurses from the former MVHS-St. Elizabeth Medical Center and MVHS-Faxton St. Luke’s merged into one union–NYSNA,’ according to the union.”