Posts tagged wage theft
DOL Nominee Julie Su An Aggressive Enforcer, Inept Manager
March 8, 2023 // She was also a supporter of the state’s disastrous AB5 law, which was intended to force rideshare companies and other so-called gig economy businesses to treat their workers as regular employees rather than short-term workers. Su tweeted in 2019 that the law was “about preserving labor standards that are key to quality jobs in California.” There was little evidence the law wanted by or beneficial to rideshare drivers. Meanwhile numerous other traditional freelancing jobs were disrupted by the law, forcing state legislators to amend the bill to carve out many professions. Eventually state voters would pass Proposition 22 which exempted rideshare drivers from the law, stripping out the main thing its advocates wanted. The law contributed to California lagging behind the rest of the nation in jobs during the pandemic. Ironically, Su, should she be confirmed, will have another shot at it. The department already has a rulemaking in the works to go after employers for “worker misclassification” i.e., classifying them as freelancers rather than regular employees for whom the company must pay overtime and unemployment –a national version of AB5, with all the problems of that law.
Commentary: New California Law Will Cripple Its $20 Billion Fast-Food Industry
December 16, 2022 // California’s new law is in essence legislating away thousands of future jobs by preventing workers and employers from reaching employment agreements on their own terms. The law places failed union leadership above the interests of individuals who wish to work and business owners who wish to hire. And don’t be surprised if similar councils are formed in the future to organize workers in other industries. Unions are desperate for new recruits. After decades of losses, it appears that the only way that they can grow is by having legislators take away the freedoms that are crucial for individual prosperity and economic growth.
Will offshore wind bring “good-paying, union jobs”? Texas workers aren’t so sure
October 25, 2022 // The Biden administration is gearing up to turn the Gulf of Mexico, long a hub for offshore oil and gas drilling, into a new city of skyscraping offshore wind turbines. Opening up the Gulf to wind development is part of President Joe Biden's goal to employ "tens of thousands of workers" to establish 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030. But in Texas, workers are worried that the new industry will continue the low-wage, unsafe, exploitative conditions that pervade the construction and offshore oil industries there. For the past year, a coalition of Texas labor unions, along with their allies in Congress and in the environmental movement, have been lobbying the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, to make sure that doesn't happen.
Labor attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan snags government employee union endorsement in AG campaign
April 4, 2022 // The National Association of Government Employees, a Quincy-based union which represents 22,000 public-sector employees in Massachusetts and more than 40,000 nationwide, announced Tuesday that its members unanimously voted to back Liss-Riordan, who hopes to succeed Attorney General Maura Healey, who is running for governor.
U.S. Labor Agencies Strike Deal to Share Enforcement Information
January 7, 2022 // The U.S. Department of Labor’s wage regulator and the National Labor Relations Board have struck an agreement to collaborate on investigations and share information on potential violations of law, specifically targeting independent contractor misclassification and retaliation against workers.