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What I’ve Been Reading This Week


Minimum wage hikes, labor developments, and an update on a large employer’s coronavirus vaccination policy.  Even for those readers that might not be inclined to read through a particular article this week, I would encourage you to give the below three articles a quick read in your free time.  In particular, the minimum wage hike at Target is especially noteworthy, given that other large retailers will likely follow suit.

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


Target to Increase Hourly Pay Rate Up to $24/Hour

On Monday, Target announced it would be increasing hourly pay rates up to $24/hour for workers in the most competitive markets.  The company, which already has a universal hourly pay rate of $15/hour is in a tight battle with other large retailers for a small labor pool.  Offering a pay rate of up to $24/hour is certainly going to to a long way in attracting (and retaining) workers.


Labor Complaints Against Starbucks Increase

As Josh Eidelson at Bloomberg writes, Workers United (the labor union attempting to unionize several Starbucks locations across the country) has filed about 20 complaints with the National Labor Relations Board on the grounds that Starbucks has violated workers’ rights.  The complaints include allegations that Starbucks has unlawfully forced workers to attend “effectively mandatory” anti union meetings, illegally restricting workers from talking to the media, and enforcing company policies that discriminate against pro union workers.  With the ongoing unionization efforts at Starbucks, this is certainly not the last we will hear about labor complaints at the company.


Google Reverses Course; Will No Longer Require Vaccinations as Condition of Employment

Recently, Google announced that it would no longer require employees get the coronavirus vaccine as a condition of employment, backtracking on its prior mandatory policy.  Readers might recall that Google previously enacted a mandatory vaccination policy for its employees following an increase in coronavirus cases.  However with coronavirus numbers subsiding around the country and more and more employers encouraging/requiring workers to come back to the office, it is somewhat noteworthy that Google has chosen to do away with the vaccination requirement.  With that being said, unvaccinated workers that come into the physical workplace will still be required to mask and test.  For the time being, Google is one of the larger employers to do away with the mandatory vaccination requirement.  The question is who will follow?

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