Skip to main content

What I've Been Reading This Week


One of the better articles that I have come across lately was Evan Simon's analysis of the historical implications of the minimum wage fight over the years.  He does a great job tracing the roots of this fight by hourly workers across several decades, through the good and bad and the ups and downs.  For those interested in how we got to the "Fight for $15" movement, look no further. 

As always, below are a few articles that caught my eye this week.


A Closer Look at What Could Be on the NLRB's Radar

Jon Hyman always has some great articles and this one is no exception.  As Jon writes, those interested in what the NLRB might focus on in the coming months could look to the NLRB General Counsel Memo 16-01 for some insight.  Granted, this is not a crystal ball, but I think the Memo might be a foreshadowing of the types of cases we will see the NLRB rule on during the course of this year.  Stay tuned. 


Democrats Seek to Make Inroads on Equal Pay Day While Republicans Appear Content to Sit Out

The AP had an interesting article that pointed out the steps that Democrats have taken recently to advocate for equal pay in the workplace while Republicans have largely side stepped the matter.  Given the increased attention that equal pay has gotten this election cycle, it is a smart play for Democrats to take steps to promote equal pay in the workplace.  As for the Republicans who have either not acted on the issue or failed to advance legislation on the matter...perhaps they do so at their own peril...


An Overview of the Fight Over the Minimum Wage

Evan Simon over at ABC News has a great overview of the history of the minimum wage fight in the country.  I point readers to this article to provide a better background over how long hourly workers have been fighting for higher wages (and how far things have progressed over the years).  This is well worth a review for those interested in the historical background of the minimum wage fight.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum, it was noted that emplo
Post a Comment
Read more

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa
Post a Comment
Read more

Utah Non-Compete Bill Falters in House

Last month, a non-compete bill sponsored by Representative Brian Greene (Republican from Pleasant Grove) & up for vote in the Utah House failed to make it through the Legislature.  The bill sought to ban enforcement of non-competes if they came after a worker was already employed, given no compensation (such as a bonus or promotion) for signing the non-compete, and laid off within six months.  However, by a 22 - 49 vote, the bill was resoundingly defeated after some business groups lobbied to kill the non-compete bill.  One group in particular, The Free Enterprise Utah coalition, argued that the Utah State Legislature should hold off on any changes to non compete laws in the state until a survey about non competes was done among Utah businesses.  Representative Greene had countered this claim and argued that a survey was not needed to show that the current non compete laws in the states allowed many businesses, including some small high tech companies in the state, to per
Post a Comment
Read more