Every week I try and find a wide array of articles that cover a host of topics so that readers have a variety of topics to read. Some weeks I find more than others. This week, in particular, I think we have a little something for everyone: Labor law, paid leave, a labor union endorsement in the race for President, allegedly unpaid wages for undocumented workers, and Congressional intern pay rates. For those looking for even more variety, bear with me. There is always next week!
As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.
The NLRB Might Soon Weigh In on Whether Unpaid Interns Can Organize
Unpaid interns have long been a topic of much debate, on both sides of the argument. Ruth McCambridge at Nonprofit Quarterly wrote a well thought out article on Tuesday in which she speculated that the National Labor Relations Board might take up a case that addresses whether or not unpaid interns can organize. (The case involves the executive director at Amnesty International USA allegedly making unlawful threats against employees after being presented with a petition from interns that were seeking to be paid. Amnesty International has argued that the interns were not employees and therefore could not organize under the National Labor Relations Act.) This is an issue for readers to keep an eye on going forward.
As Dallas Approves Paid Sick Leave Ordinance, Texas Legislature Moves to Block These Local Ordinances
Readers might recall that the City of Austin had previously approved a citywide paid sick leave ordinance, despite opposition by employers (and Republican politicians in the state.) With the Texas Legislature currently in session (and considering several pieces of legislation that would ban local ordinances providing for paid sick leave), Dallas passed an ordinance last week that would require employers in the city to provide paid sick leave to their employees. This ordinance, approved by the Dallas City Council in a 10 - 4 vote, would require one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours an employee worked, capped at up to 64 hours per year. (For employers in the city with fewer than 15 employees, the amount of paid sick leave that could be accrued would be capped at 48 hours per year.) As Alex Samuels at The Texas Tribune notes, however, there appears to be widespread support on both sides of the aisle (including 56% of Republican voters in the state) for paid sick leave for workers in the state. Whether that apparent bipartisan approval among voters will result in the legislation in the Texas Legislature stalling out remains to be seen.
International Association of Fire Fighters Backs Joe Biden: Is This Round 1?
This past Monday, the International Association of Fire Fighters announced it was backing former
Vice President Joe Biden in the race for President in 2020. (Notably, this union did not endorse a candidate during the last Presidential election.) Not long after that endorsement was announced, President Donald Trump went on a tweet storm, suggesting that labor leaders were not backing the candidate that its members actually supported. Now as many might have guessed, labor union support (or perhaps lack there of) has been pointed to as one reason why President Trump prevailed in 2016. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was criticized for not rallying sufficient support among labor unions while President Trump noteably peeled away blue collar/working class voters in the heartland, which helped him narrowly win several toss up states on the way to the Oval Office. Next year’s election is thought to be a major test of labor union support for the Democratic candidate for President. As such, depending upon the Democratic nominee, President Trump will likely try and appeal to the same group of working class voters that helped propel him to victory previously (after all, he did receive the endorsement of the Fraternal Order of Police and the National Border Patrol Council in 2016.) As evidenced by President Trump’s sharp rebuke of labor leaders after Monday’s endorsement, I would suspect that this is not the last time we hear of a union endorsement ruffling a few feathers.
New York Attorney General’s Office to Investigate Claims of Unpaid Wages at Trump National Golf Club
Earlier this week, the New York Attorney General’s office announced an investigation was being launched into claims by undocumented workers at the Trump National Golf Course in Westchester that they routinely were instructed to work off the clock and were not paid overtime wages. Now I will preface this with a note that an investigation does not necessarily mean there is any validity to these allegations. Rather, this is a matter of the New York Attorney General’s office doing its due diligence here and determining whether these allegations warrant pressing ahead and charging the Trump National Golf Course with a violation of state and/or federal law. This has a ways to go before we are likely to know the findings of this investigation.
House Intern Pay Act Proposes Paying Congressional Interns a “Livable Wage”
Earlier this week, the House Intern Pay Act was introduced in Congress by Democratic Representative Adam Smith (and three dozen other Democratic Representatives) and seeks to provide Congressional interns with a livable wage...namely an hourly pay rate of $15 that would subsequently rise with the Consumer Price Index. Readers might have heard that last year, Congress approved $20,000.00/Representative and $50,000.00/Senator to pay their interns. However, as Representative Scott notes in his press release, that averages out to a pay rate far short of a livable wage needed to get by in the District. With at least one other high profile Representative (I am looking at you, Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) coming out earlier this year in support of a higher pay rate for Congressional staffers, it will be interesting to see what kind of traction this legislation gets in a House of Representatives controlled by Democrats...before inevitably stalling out in the Republican controlled Senate.
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