Although it appears the MTA is run and maintained by union workers, somehow non-union trades have begun to slip through the door to do construction work in Metro-North’s office spaces. At a recent job awarded to a non-union contractor at 420 Lexington Avenue, non-union carpenters and laborers are bringing up sheet rock and preparing to…
SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Lyft, Uber, and DoorDash have gotten an initiative on the November state ballot that would redefine their taxi drivers and delivery workers as independent contractors instead of employees, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced July 1. The Proposition 22 initiative would exempt app-based drivers from Assembly Bill 5, the state law enacted last fall…
Queens, New York – Dozens of airport workers that are members of 32BJ SEIU were in a social distancing outdoor rally in the simmering heat at the Katch Astoria Gastropub & Bar in Queens on Thursday, to advocate for the Healthy Terminals Act.? Since the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, the union lost over…
NEW YORK, N.Y.—The coronavirus-austerity budget passed by the City Council July 1 could result in one out of every 15 city workers being laid off if labor costs aren’t cut by $1 billion within three months—and the unions representing them aren’t happy about that. “That’s a thank-you we get for fighting the virus,” Uniformed Sanitationmen’s…
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court won’t decide whether to take the case dubbed “Janus II” until at least this fall. Mark Janus, plaintiff in the Court’s 2018 Janus v. AFSCME Council 31 decision that ruled public-sector workers could not be required to pay “fair-share fees” to the union representing them, filed a follow-up suit demanding that Council…
New York, NY – Hundreds of Amalgamated Transit Union [ATU] members rallied in front MTA Headquarters Wednesday because they’ve been working without a contract since May 2019, even though the union that represents the largest number of employees at NYC Transit, TWU Local 100, negotiated a new contract in December 2019. According to Danny Casella,…
New York, NY – Two organizations, Jobs with Justice and UnionBase, have come together during the coronavirus pandemic to offer a new website, WorkersMemorialWall.org, where people can post pictures of their co-workers who have been lost to COVID-19. LaborPress recently talked with Jobs with Justice Executive Director Erica Smiley to learn more about the project,…
NEW YORK, N.Y.—With subway and bus ridership recovering from its early-April nadir, Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Tony Utano says his main concerns are “the crowding situation and social distancing.” Subway trains are cleaner and transit workers now have adequate personal protective equipment, Utano told LaborPress, but they are still at risk of being…
New York, N.Y.—A tentative contract deal has been reached to end a 13-day-old strike by paratransit workers in Brooklyn and Staten Island, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181 announced June 9. The agreement with the Dallas-based contractor MV Transportation, which describes itself as the nation’s leading provider of paratransit services for elderly and disabled people, was…
New York, NY – Phase 1 of the city’s reopening plan begins this week, but as social distancing restrictions ease, labor leaders are pushing a new order meant to protect people of color from systemic threats to their safety on the job and outside of work. While the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated just how vital…
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