Posts tagged Nevada

    Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien’s mission to chart a new political path

    March 11, 2025 // The Teamsters president may not claim any vindication, but his approach is encouraging some copycats among his counterparts in other major unions. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention and aggressively campaigned for Democrats up and down the ticket while labeling Trump an anti-union “scab,” has suddenly found a soft spot for the GOP and taken steps to engage with Republican senators.

    Commentary: CalPERS takes unnecessary risks that could cost taxpayers

    February 3, 2025 // When CalPERS fails to meet its expected investment returns, California’s state and local governments—meaning taxpayers—are solely responsible for covering the resulting shortfall. Public pension liabilities are legally binding. There is no defaulting on them. Consequently, when public pension system investments underperform, government employers—again, taxpayers—must cover the gap.

    Restaurant Minimum Wage Hurting Businesses and the Workers Proponents Seek to Help

    January 10, 2025 // For fast food operators, it’s not just this latest minimum wage increase. Since 2013, their minimum wages have increased from $8 to $20, which is 2.5 times. It’s unsurprising that they’re slashing jobs, cutting hours and raising prices. This also coincides with a major turn towards automation. Of course, automation is driven by many factors, not just increased labor costs – but they certainly don’t help.

    New Study: From Gig to Gone? ABC Tests and the Case of the Missing Workers

    January 10, 2025 // The introduction of an ABC test caused significant declines in traditional (W-2) employment, self-employment, and overall employment. The ABC test reduced traditional (W-2) employment by 4.73% Self-employment fell by 6.43% Overall employment fell by 4.79% Occupations with high shares of independent contractors experienced the largest reductions in employment. These results suggest that contrary to the intended goal, ABC tests are not altering the composition of workers and leading to more workers becoming traditional W-2 employees, but they are reducing employment for both W-2 employees and self-employed workers.

    Chippendales Dancers Levy Unfair Labor Practices Complaint After Joining Union

    December 30, 2024 // Chippendales performers and their newly joined union claim the “Broadway of burlesque” stars are considerably underpaid compared with other entertainers on the Las Vegas Strip and around town. Shields is calling on Chippendales Entertainment to recognize Equity as Chippendales dancers’ representative and engage in good-faith negotiations to provide “world-class” wages and benefits fit for “world-class” performers.

    Today’s hospitality union battle is over wages. The next one might be about tech.

    December 5, 2024 // The following year, the Culinary Union added language around technology adoption to its contract. In its contracts negotiated in 2023, the union “protected and expanded” that clause, Bethany Khan, a union spokesperson, told Hotel Dive. For members of the Culinary Union, their technology-related worries go beyond robot replacements — encompassing everything from workflow-optimizing apps to artificial intelligence. And while the union’s contract language offers protections around how technology is used at hotels, it does not prevent companies from deploying new technologies in the first place.

    Culinary Union strike at Virgin Las Vegas leads to 57 arrests in peaceful protest

    November 26, 2024 // In a significant escalation of the Culinary Union's first open-ended strike in 22 years, 57 union members and striking workers from Virgin Las Vegas were arrested yesterday during a peaceful act of civil disobedience. The demonstration, which drew hundreds of participants, has maintained continuous picket lines at every entrance and exit along Harmon Avenue and Paradise Road since the strike began on November 15, 2024.

    Strike by workers at a casino near the Las Vegas Strip enters 2nd day

    November 18, 2024 // After the breakthrough deals last November, the Culinary Union quickly reached similar agreements for the rest of its members at major hotel-casinos on the Strip, downtown and at off-Strip properties — with the exception of Virgin Hotels. The contracts on the Strip alone cover more than 40,000 workers. While the union pays striking workers $500 per week for picketing shifts for at least five days, union members at the picket line on Friday said that they were expecting financial pain while being out of work.

    Commentary: More Jobs, Fewer Workers: Is the Labor Market Strong or Weak?

    November 5, 2024 // Even after factoring in the BLS’s acknowledgment that its reports overstated job gains by 818,000 from March 2023 to March 2024, there still appears to be about five times as many new jobs created over the past year as there are additional people working. While media reports and markets tend to focus on jobs reports, what matters most to the economy and to human flourishing is how many people are working. Currently only 60.2% of people ages 16 and over in the U.S. are working. This is a gap of about 2.6 million workers compared to pre-pandemic employment rates.