Illinois’ new law gives 640k ‘temp’ workers a raise. About 640,000 temporary workers in Illinois are immediately in line for average hourly raises of four dollars for long-term “permatemp” work. And their agencies won’t legally be able to force them to scab, either. The Temp Worker Fairness and Safety Act took effect Aug. 4, when Gov. Pritzker signed the measure — just the second such statute in the nation, after New Jersey. There is no pending federal legislation to protect temps.
Google subcontractor fires most staffers for unionizing. In the latest evidence that Silicon Valley bosses hate workers who stand up for themselves, a Google subcontractor, Accenture PLC, fired more than two-thirds of its Google Help staffers (80 of 119) for unionizing efforts with Alphabet Workers Union/Communications Workers of America — which filed a labor law-breaking complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
“It’s interesting that Google claims they’ve got no responsibility to us as workers, even though we spend every day working on Google products, under conditions set by the company,” Accenture and Google writer Tahlia Kirk said. “The timing is suspicious and shows a clear disregard for the organizing rights of workers.
“Our union remains strong and we’re confident we’d win an election no matter what, but we’d prefer if all our coworkers had a chance to have their voices heard. We cannot force Google and Accenture to follow labor law, but we can and will continue to organize.”
Dozens of nurses represented by the Illinois Nurses Association are fighting short-staffing and unsafe working conditions at the state-run Elizabeth Ludeman Center for adults with developmental disabilities in Park Forest. The facility has more than 800 workers, but most are represented by AFSCME.
The Illinois Department of Human Services admitted the Ludeman Center was one of two coronavirus “hot spots” among DHS facilities in the south suburbs. The center has more than 300 residents.
“Staffing ratios are deplorable. There are fewer nurses for more individuals, and they (nurses) are getting hurt,” said union steward Marika Loftman-Davis.
Amid costly strike, Warner Bros. bosses get bonuses. Strikes by Hollywood actors and writers could cost Warner Bros. Discovery up to $500 million, according to a regulatory filing reported by Forbes magazine — and the unions’ demand would have cost the company $47 million, reported the Hollywood Reporter. That 93-year-old trade magazine also disclosed that WB’s board recently changed executive compensation to reward CEO David Zaslav and other corporate honchos new bonuses of “performance stock units.”
The paper reported Zaslav last year was paid $241 million in compensation; the new deal will add $12 million.
“Absolutely villainous behavior from Hollywood executives,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “How about prioritizing a fair contract with the pay and AI (Artificial Intelligence) protections for the workers who make your profits possible?”
Labor Dept. proposes increasing OT pay coverage by $20k/worker. The Biden Administration’s Labor Department wants to increase overtime pay coverage, by setting a higher limit — $55,068 a year — below which full-time salaried workers would be eligible for overtime pay. At least 3.6 million workers could benefit. But even that number (about $20,000 more than the current overtime-pay limit of $35,568) is low, DOL concedes, because it’s based on median wages from 2022. Adjusted to this year, the OT pay limit would be $59,285.
“The overtime threshold has not been properly updated for nearly 50 years, robbing millions of workers of their basic wage and hour rights under the Fair Labor Standards Act,” said Economic Policy Institute President Heidi Shierholz. “Currently, a worker making just $36,000 a year can be required to work 50- or 60-hour work weeks with no additional pay.”
Labor Board limits employers’ use of rules, handbooks. The National Labor Relations Board voted 3-1 to curb bosses’ use of work rules in “employee handbooks” as reasons for discipline or discharge, reversing two Trump-era NLRB rulings that gave bosses wide latitude in imposing work rules and using them to discipline or fire workers. Those rules were so wide, the board said, that reasonable workers could legitimately fear running afoul of them when trying to exercise their legal rights to organize — in unions or not — for mutual benefit and protection.
“The primary problem with the standard from [the Trump-era cases] is it permits employers to adopt overbroad work rules that chill employees’ exercise of their rights,” Board Chair Lauren McFarren wrote.
This ruling returned to the pre-Trump standard, where a work rule dispute will be decided case by case, with much narrower standards.
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