Posts tagged wages
UPDATE: Union submits counteroffer after Volkswagen makes final contract public
October 21, 2025 // The contract includes a 20% wage increase over four years, a $4,000 ratification bonus, the company’s first-ever cost-of-living allowance and lower health care costs. If approved before Oct. 31, employees would receive an additional $1,500. Employees could make nearly $80,000 each year, before overtime and benefits, according to a contract fact book released by Volkswagen. Withdrawn portions of the contract include random drug testing and a tentative agreement about onsite childcare, after disagreements on a weekly subsidy amount.
Amazon Sued by NJ Top Cop Over Delivery Driver Employment Status
October 20, 2025 // Amazon is misclassifying thousands of New Jersey “Flex” drivers who use their own vehicles to deliver packages, the state attorney general claimed in a state lawsuit filed Monday.
The Cannabis Labor Crossroads: Historic Strikes, Labor Peace Agreements (“LPAs”), and What Comes Next
October 18, 2025 // The strikes at Exclusive Brands in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and at Green Thumb Industries’ RISE dispensary in York, Pennsylvania, now stand as the longest in the legal cannabis market. While both actions reflect shared themes—demands for better wages, a voice in the workplace, and concerns about bargaining conduct—they are unfolding in starkly different market contexts and with different strategic aims.
Thousands of Michigan home health care workers vote to unionize
October 14, 2025 // The Mackinac Center of Public Policy is leading that lawsuit. Senior Attorney Derk Wilcox said the state can’t just label people as state employees for the sake of unionizing them. “The state constitution specifically says that all employees of the state government go through the civil service. The civil service manages them and sets the terms of employment. And this is an attempt to bypass that,” Wilcox said. The complaint cites language in Article 11, Section 5 of the state constitution, which details who counts as a part of the state civil service and falls under the Michigan Civil Service Commission’s purview.
UAW President Shawn Fain: “We Need More Than A Party – We Need A Movement”
October 14, 2025 // Fain, Speaking At A Center For Working-Class Politics & Jacobin Event, ‘Emphasized The Need For A Political Program That Addresses Workers’ Most Basic’ Issues - And ‘How A Broad Strike In 2028 Could Put Them Front & Center’
Uniting Behind the American Franchise Act: A Bipartisan Effort to Clarify the Joint Employer Standard
October 10, 2025 // Seven Republican and seven Democratic Congressional members introduced the bipartisan act and limited its application to future proceedings only, preventing retroactive implications. If approved, the American Franchise Act only applies to joint employer matters regarding franchising; it is not a universal modification to all employer relationships.
NY sisters who own DQ franchise hit with $6M lawsuit for paying workers every 2 weeks — they helped change the loophole but it was too late for them
October 10, 2025 // New York's Frequency of Pay law (2) requires “manual workers” to receive their pay on a weekly basis. It’s a law that the sisters said they’d never heard of, which is why they paid their employees biweekly — a process that they said was never flagged by anyone, including during an audit conducted by the state’s Department of Labor. Robey told CBS that the lawsuit was “ridiculous,” adding, “we knew we paid every employee every dime that they were owed." But her sister noted that the former employee, who’d been laid off, “would say all the time, 'I'm gonna get you, I'm gonna get you,' and she did.”
Commentary: When fighting Trump, take union claims with a grain of salt
October 7, 2025 // Government unions faced another momentous reform seven years ago when the Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME. The court held that public sector workers have a First Amendment right to completely withdraw from union membership and dues. In essence, the court created a nationwide right-to-work law for all public sector workers, including teachers, police officers, firefighters, and all other federal, state, and local government workers. No longer would they have to join or pay a union to keep their job. Government unions hated this ruling, of course. In a desperate attempt to sway the Supreme Court, union-paid prognosticators predicted massive negative economic effects if the court ruled against unions.
Marriott, Hilton workers strike in Philadelphia
October 7, 2025 // Union employees at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown and the Hampton Inn Philadelphia Center City are calling for higher pay and improved benefits.
Newsom signs bill giving 800,000 Uber and Lyft drivers in California the right to unionize
October 7, 2025 // California is the second state where Uber and Lyft drivers can unionize as independent contractors. Massachusetts voters passed a ballot referendum in November allowing unionization, while drivers in Illinois and Minnesota are pushing for similar rights.