Posts tagged New York
COMMENTARY: If Mamdani Wins, the Gig (Work) Is Up
October 3, 2025 // California shows the answer. In 2019, California passed a law attacking independent work. The state’s many photographers, freelance writers, translators, and designers quickly discovered that their once-lucrative work had dried up. Company after company cut jobs. The Mercatus Center found that one out of 10 self-employed jobs disappeared in short order. Even worse job losses were surely on the horizon. Recognizing the danger, California voters almost immediately passed a ballot measure that gave app-based workers and app-based companies the freedom to once again enter into freelance arrangements. The legislature then passed another law to carve out a dozen more professions. But those carve-outs didn’t apply to many other freelancers, like independent truckers, whose ability to work in California remains much more difficult. To this day, because politicians strangled freelance work, Californians have fewer of the jobs they want and need.
Zohran Mamdani joins Starbucks workers picketing for better pay in NYC
October 2, 2025 // Over a dozen Starbucks workers raised their voices and picketed outside a store in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday morning. It comes as New York City officials said they are aware of dozens of Starbucks that are closing as part of a $1 billion restructuring plan that will shutter more than 400 stores nationwide. The baristas were joined by mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as they highlighted their demands for fair contracts.
California to weigh in on private labor disputes if NLRB can’t
October 2, 2025 // AB 288 expands the state Public Employment Relations Board's powers over private sector labor disputes like unfair labor practice charges and enforcing collective bargaining agreements. Other blue states, including New York, are trying to expand their state labor agencies' powers over issues that would normally be decided under the National Labor Relations Act, citing Trump's antipathy to organized labor.
Editorial: The MTA needs to end insane union privileges at the commuter railroads
September 30, 2025 // In the latest sign of how badly the MTA’s labor contracts serve the public as a whole, last week brought a fresh Metro-North Railroad scandal: Two now-suspended fraudsters allegedly faked commuter station safety and equipment checks — with one “worker” dining out while on the clock. Managers discovered the scam after noticing that forms claiming the work got done at a particular time didn’t jibe with GPS records showing the inspectors’ vehicles were elsewhere.
Nurses At Long Island Jewish Medical Center To Vote On Unionizing
September 27, 2025 // The National Labor Relations Board will set the in-person vote for the nurses at the New Hyde Park hospital.
Union launches vicious $1M ad campaign against Eric Adams’ push for NYC horse carriage ban
September 25, 2025 // TWU Local 100, which reps the 170 horse carriage riders and other industry workers — many of whom are immigrants — endorsed Adams’ successful 2021 bid for mayor. Overall, the influential union represents 41,000 mostly city subway and rail workers and bus drivers.
Columbia GRADS (Graduate Researchers Against Discrimination and Suppression) Hit UAW Union With Federal Labor Board Charges
September 25, 2025 // While federal law conditions union bosses’ monopoly bargaining powers on a nebulous “duty of fair representation,” union officials often ignore this duty and discriminate against those who oppose the union’s control.
Amazon sues New York over union protections
September 24, 2025 // In a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New York City, Amazon argues that a newly minted state law giving the New York State Public Employment Relations Board authority to oversee union elections and resolve unfair labor practice charges is an "unconstitutional power grab" that's preempted by federal labor laws. Amazon was seeking a temporary restraining order blocking the law, but U.S. District Court judge Eric R. Komitee rejected that request in an order issued late Tuesday, citing a lack of notice to defendants named in the lawsuit. Lawyers for Amazon said the New York law "flips U.S. labor law on its head" by giving the state's PERB jurisdiction over every private-sector employer "until the NLRB gets a court to hold otherwise."
Update: Labor Peace Agreements, the Cannabis Industry, and the NLRB
September 23, 2025 // The intersection of LPAs, the cannabis industry, and the NLRB presents a legal landscape marked by uncertainty and rapid change. As states continue to require LPAs as a condition of licensure, and as the NLRB remains without a quorum, employers and unions must navigate a patchwork of state regulations without clear guidance. Until federal legalization or NLRB functionality brings greater clarity, businesses should work closely with legal counsel to ensure compliance with state requirements while preparing for potential shifts in federal enforcement. Ultimately, the future of labor relations in the cannabis sector will depend on how courts, regulators, and industry participants respond to these unprecedented challenges.
National Labor Relations Board sues to block New York labor law
September 22, 2025 // The suit claims that S8034A/A8590A creates a regulatory system in conflict with the National Labor Relations Act, alleging that it usurps the NLRB’s authority to regulate the private sector. It wants the court to declare the law invalid because it’s preempted by the NLRA under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The complaint also asks the court for an injunction to stop the state from enforcing the law. S8034A/A8590A, signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) at the New York City Labor Day Parade, amends the State Labor Relations Act to allow the PERB to enforce collective bargaining agreements and certify bargaining representatives. It took effect immediately upon being signed.