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What I've Been Reading This Week


This week turned into one of my busier ones with several work trips out of town. While that enabled me a bit of time to read through some articles on my flights, it has been a non stop week with little time to write a proper What I’ve Been Reading This Week post.  With that being said, I did come across a couple good articles that I wanted to highlight, in particular the Bloomberg article about a rise in union influence at airports across the country. 

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


Does a Lack of Paid Sick Leave For Many Employees Actually Hurt Employers?

Christopher Ingraham at The Washington Post published an article this past Tuesday which addressed the negative impact that a lack of paid sick leave can actually have on employers (not just employees).  When these sick employees lack paid sick leave, they inevitably decide to go into work rather than forgo a day's pay.  That leads to these sick employees infecting other employees which in turn leads to decreased work production, lowered morale, and a decrease in actual productive work being done.  Food for thought, while paid sick leave might "cost" some employers upfront, there is a potential long term value to providing paid sick leave if it helps minimize harming your labor force.


A Bright Spot For Shrinking Union Influence: Airports

It is no secret that unions have been faced with a major threat over the past few years:  Decreased union membership which had translated into shrinking influence in the workplace.  However, there appears to be a bright spot among this downward union membership, as noted by Josh Eidelson at Bloomberg.  The one beacon of hope for unions and labor friendly groups?  Airports.  Or to be more specific, service employees at airports.  As Eidelson writes, service employees at airports ranging from Philadelphia to Los Angeles and everywhere in between have started to see victories in wage hikes and collective bargaining fights as they have sought to unionize.  In fact, since 2014, unions have managed to secure rules that require higher labor or safety standards that impact over 100,000 workers at airports across the country. Will this reverse the prolonged downturn in union membership?  Probably not, but at the very least, it gives pro union groups some positive news to embrace.

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