Posts tagged paid family leave
Testimony: Rachel Greszler: Labor Law Reform Part 1: Diagnosing the Issues, Exploring Current Proposals
October 10, 2025 // SummaryToday’s challenges—from the rise of artificial intelligence to the expansion of independent work and the growing demand for flexibility, autonomy, and new skills—necessitate modernized labor laws that are pro-worker and pro-employer, regardless of the type of workplace. Heavy-handed government interventions and attempts to bring back the 1950s’ ways of work are not the answers. American labor laws should preserve the freedom, dignity, and opportunity that make American work exceptional.
CA requires public school unionization lessons, bans mandatory anti-union work meetings
January 2, 2025 // Two new laws — AB 800, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023, and now SB 399, signed into law by Newsom this year, are set to help maintain or even increase union membership in the state. AB 800, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2023, requires California high school juniors and seniors to be taught about their workplace rights, the achievements of organized labor, and students’ right to join a union. Education site Chalkboard News used public records requests to discover what exactly this new law is having teachers cover.
Costco rejects 98% of Teamsters’ demands
December 17, 2024 // With the current contract – ratified in October 2022 -- set to expire in 7 weeks, the union is negotiating for paid family leave, bereavement policies, sick time, safeguards against surveillance, and establishing critical language in the contract on seniority. If the company does not present a collective bargaining agreement before Jan. 31, Costco (COST) employees who are members of the union will go on strike.
Proposed Biden-Harris Apprenticeship Rule Would Exacerbate Skills Gap
August 14, 2024 // PROPOSED RULE WOULD DISCOURAGE WORKERS AND DISINCENTIVIZE BUSINESSES FROM PARTICIPATING IN APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS Under the Biden-Harris Administration, the U.S. Department of Labor has proposed a nearly 800-page rule that would burden apprenticeship programs with red tape, extra costs, and more bureaucracy. The rule includes several problematic new requirements, including
Walz will address union members in first solo campaign stop
August 13, 2024 // As Minnesota governor, Walz signed a variety of pro-worker laws supported by labor — most significantly paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave. He also supported laws that banned noncompete agreements, prohibited employers from holding mandatory meetings intended to persuade workers against unionizing, raised safety standards in warehouses and meatpacking plants, and expanded unemployment benefits to hourly school employees who do not work during the summer.
Op-ed: Watch out — California’s damaging gig workers law is going nationwide
February 20, 2024 // The rule is slated to take effect on March 10. U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) have both declared they will use the Congressional Review Act to have this rule rescinded. Previous legislation has been tendered in support of small businesses and the self-employed. The “Fight for Freelancers” group of female writers and editors has filed a lawsuit challenging this rule, which serves to appease Big Labor in the same manner as AB5.
How Public Employees Learned to Stop Worrying and Love to Strike
August 22, 2023 // The issues in all these cases aren’t the same and dynamics are different between government and the private sector. Government strikes are illegal in 39 states and there are a bunch of hoops — arbitration, mediation, fact-finding — that are mandated prior to strikes even in some states where strikes are legal.
OPINION: Public sector union employees deserve more power over their leadership
May 15, 2023 // The attempt to alter the Pennsylvania Constitution by passing HB 950 will further diminish the rights of union members in favor of union executives. According to an analysis by the Commonwealth Foundation, government unions have spent more than $190 million on politics in Pennsylvania since 2007. In 2021-2022, government union PACs spent over $20 million in Pennsylvania, including $13.1 million directly to candidates and partisan PACs. More than 99% of the contributions to candidates for statewide office went to Democrats.
New Illinois law mandates paid leave ‘for any reason’
March 14, 2023 // Starting Jan. 1, Illinois employers must offer workers paid time off based on hours worked, with no need to explain the reason for their absence as long as they provide notice in accordance with reasonable employer standards. Just Maine and Nevada mandate earned paid time off and allot employees the freedom to decide how to use it, but Illinois’ law is further reaching, unencumbered by limits based on business size. Similarly structured regulations that require employers to offer paid sick leave exist in 14 states and Washington, D.C., but workers can only use that for health-related reasons.
First Apple store union vote set to start June 2 in Atlanta
May 6, 2022 // Apple store employees will vote to potentially form the first unionized Apple retail location staring on June 2nd, according to an NLRB filing reviewed by CNBC.