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Workers’ Rights in a Post-Proposition 22 World
By: Andrew MorinAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 This past election, California voters decided on an issue that may have far-ranging consequences for the future of employment and worker’s rights across the country. Proposition 22, approved by 56% of California voters, excludes gig companies such as Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and others from…
Standing under Title VII: Legal Allyship & Hostile Work Environment as a Concrete Injury
By: Eve HillmanAssociate Editor, Vol. 26 In Childress v. City of Richmond, seven white male police officers sued their employer on hostile work environment grounds under Title VII.[1] Their claim stemmed from allegedly racially discriminatory and sexually harassing conduct by their lieutenant directed towards Black female…
What the 2018-19 Teacher Walkouts Mean for Labor in a Post-Janus World
By Donna Cao Associate Editor, Vol. 24 The 2018 teacher movement, monikered “Red for Ed,” is the first post-Janus demonstration of the future of the U.S. education labor movement. Educators wear the color red to represent their advocacy for increased funding for public schools, many of which operate in the red, and to describe the teacher walkouts which began in states with Republican-controlled legislatures.[1] In June 2018, the Supreme Court held in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees that public-sector union workers must affirmatively opt-in to paying dues for union representation, a decision that was predicted to decrease union membership, financing, and organizing.[2] Prior to Janus, public-sector unions were entitled to collect “fair-share” or “agency” fees from employees who declined to join the union. Such fees paid for the non-political activities that benefited all employees covered by the union contract. In the wake of Janus, teachers’ unions feared decreased organizing power and influence at the bargaining table.[3] “Red for Ed” exemplifies teacher union activism in the face of Janus and the continued, adaptable strength of teachers unions when educators are committed, active, and aware. The movement transcends union demands for higher pay and school funding to represent a cry for a more equitable U.S. public education system, one which can create access and opportunity to those groups which are most disproportionately impacted by disparities in education funding, including women and minority educators and students.[4]The Guest Worker Visa Program and the Need for Reform
By Luis Arias Associate Editor, Vol. 21 Executive Editor, Vol. 22 Employers in the United States sponsor thousands of temporary guest workers every year through the H-2 visa program. Employers that meet the specific regulatory requirements can either sponsor agricultural (H-2A) or non-agricultural (H-2B) guest workers. In order…In the News: Building Local Economies
This article takes up the issue of creating local economies that are not driven by global capital but instead respond to community needs and are democratically controlled by residents. It highlights that local economies as currently constituted consistently marginalize people of color, and gives a blueprint for…In the News: Minimum Wage
The ongoing labor movement to win a living wage for fast food workers implicates both race and law. A recent article in Salon speaks to the way in which the minimum wage level allows corporations to pass off the basic well-being of their employees–many of whom are racial…The Legal Arizona Workers Act and Preemption Doctrine
in recent years, a spate of states passed laws regulating the employment of undocumented immigrants. This Note argues that laws that impose civil sanctions on employers that hire undocumented immigrants are preempted by both federal immigration law and federal labor law. The Note focuses specifically on the Legal Arizona Workers Act because it went into effect in 2008 and has amassed more than two years' worth of data on its enforcement, and because it is touted as the harshest state anti-immigration measure to date. This Note examines the law's impacts and argues that practitioners nationwide should challenge the Legal Arizona Workers' Act, as well as the proliferation of similar state laws that threaten civil rights, business and labor interests, and the supremacy of the federal Constitution.Education and Labor Relations: Asian Americans and Blacks as Pawns in the Furtherance of White Hegemony
Asian Americans and Blacks have been, and continue to be, racialized relative to each other in our society. Asian Americans and Blacks have come to occupy marginalized positions as the polarized ends on the economic spectrums of education and labor relations, with an expanding "Whiteness" as the filler in the middle as Whites manipulate the differing interests of both subordinated groups to align with White (the dominant group's) interests. Although Whites purport to champion the interests of one subordinate group over the other, in reality the racialization of Asian Americans and Blacks in our country is rooted in the preservation of White hegemony; this racialization is harmful to both subordinate groups and serves to reinforce White hegemony by exploiting areas of White privilege and domination, particularly in the context of education and labor relations. However, many mainstream theories and historical attempts to characterize the racialization of Asian Americans and Blacks (the theory of a monolithic form of racism that just happens to result in differing effects on Asian Americans and Blacks, the theory of a Black- White binary, the racial triangulation of Asian Americans against Whites and Blacks, and the "model minority" myth) fail to fully describe and capture the different positions within a multidimensional social hierarchy that Asian Americans and Blacks occupy. Therefore, we must look beyond these theories in order to fully understand race relations and the position of Asian Americans and Blacks in our society.The Tension Between the Need and Exploitation of Migrant Workers: Using MSAWPA’s Legislative Intent to Find a Balanced Remedy
This Comment concludes that the recent Maine federal district cases represent an irreconcilable spike in a national and international trend to afford more protection to a vulnerable class whose resources are the object of urgent demand. However, the search for a proper remedial weight in the balance between migrant worker protection and the provision of competitive farm labor is not a new problem.