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☆ One New Yorker won $150,000 when she found out her landlord had been overcharging her. Now a bunch more tenants are using stabilization laws to get money back and pay cheaper rent.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

AdvertisementAs TikTok becomes the new town square for all things economic transparency, the latest target of populist ire is New York City landlords. Several videos that have recently gone viral show viewers how to look into their rent histories and call out examples of potentially illegal hikes. Wait times for rent histories are now at 20 business days, up from 10 in late January, as a result of "social media activity." Klenkar has made TikToks about her old apartment and rent histories and has had "lots" of people reach out with their own rent histories. More may be on their way as New Yorkers seem to be requesting their rent histories en masse.

Persons: they've, —, Danielle —, Danielle, TikTok, it's, There's, they're, Allia Mohamed, She's, Mohamed, They've, he's, Carla —, Carla, Thomas Trutschel, Anna Klenkar, Klenkar, I've, Gothamist, DHCR, overcharge, Esteban Girón, shouldn't, It's Organizations: New York, Tenants, Service, Business, BI, Yorkers, New, US, Division, Housing, Community, Rent Administration, Rent, New York State Homes, Community Renewal, Tenant Union, Tenants PAC, Directors Locations: New York State, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn , New York, York City, New York, New York City, New, Washington Heights, Manhattan, Long Island City, Lower, Side, backpay

☆ A McDonald's manager sexually harassed a 17-year-old worker until she was 'forced' to resign, a federal agency says
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

An Oklahoma McDonald's manager sexually harassed a teenage worker until she resigned, the EEOC says. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementAdvertisementA McDonald's manager in Oklahoma sexually harassed a 17-year-old worker until she felt that she had no choice but to resign, a federal agency says. This subjected her to a hostile work environment and amounted to constructive discharge because she was "forced" to resign, the EEOC says. The EEOC is seeking backpay, punitive damages, and other compensation from Arch Fellow for the worker.

Persons: —, Arch Fellows Organizations: Service, Commission, Arch, Arch Fellows Locations: Oklahoma, Checotah, Tulsa

☆ A Chipotle manager repeatedly asked a teenage worker to remove her hijab and partially pulled it off when she refused to show him her hair, federal prosecutors say
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A Kansas Chipotle manager repeatedly asked a Muslim teenage worker to remove her hijab, the EEOC saidThis culminated in the manager "forcibly" pulling it off her head to see her hair, the EEOC said. AdvertisementAdvertisementA Chipotle manager in Kansas repeatedly asked a Muslim worker to remove her hijab and "forcibly" pulled it off her head when she refused to show him her hair, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says. The assistant manager "continually" asked the worker, then 19, to remove her hijab and show him her hair despite her asking him to leave her alone, the EEOC wrote. The harassment reached a peak when the assistant manager tried to forcibly remove the worker's hijab, according to the EEOC. In August 2021, when staff were closing down the restaurant, the assistant manager "reached out, grabbed her hijab, and yanked," the EEOC said.

Persons: —, Chipotle didn't, Chipotle Organizations: Chipotle, Service, Commission, Kansas City Star Locations: Kansas, Lenexa

☆ UAW strike chaos isn't all good news for Tesla
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-01 | by ( Tim Levin | Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Big gains in the UAW strike could bolster another organizing drive at Tesla. The UAW is looking to remake its reputation among auto workers. AdvertisementAdvertisementA new contract could spur union attempts elsewhereThe UAW strike comes amid a rejuvenated labor movement post-Covid, and after a summer jam-packed with union activism. About 54% of Americans support the UAW strike, according to a recent Morning Consult poll. AdvertisementAdvertisementOrganizing at Tesla still won't be easySome Tesla workers are in the early stages of forming a union, a UAW official told The New York Times.

Persons: —, Elon Musk's Tesla, they're, Arthur Wheaton, Tesla, Shawn Fain, paydays, Fain, Jake Rosenfeld, Louis, Kate Andrias, Andrias, Rosenfeld, Musk, backpay Organizations: UAW, Volkswagen, Honda, Toyota, Service, General Motors, Ford, Elon, United Auto Workers, GM, Cornell University, Detroit, Washington University, Columbia University, New York Times, EV, National Labor Relations Board Locations: Wheaton, Illinois, Michigan, St, New York , California , Nevada, Texas

☆ The U.S. federal government is headed into a shutdown. What does it mean, who’s hit and what’s next?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-23 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Federal agencies will stop all actions deemed non-essential, and millions of federal employees, including members of the military, won't receive paychecks. A shutdown happens when Congress fails to pass some type of funding legislation that is signed into law by the president. Millions of federal workers face delayed paychecks when the government shuts down, including many of the roughly 2 million military personnel and more than 2 million civilian workers across the nation. Nearly 60% of federal workers are stationed in the Defense, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security departments. Beyond federal workers, a shutdown could have far-reaching effects on government services.

Persons: Samuel Corum, Kevin McCarthy's, Goldman Sachs, General Merrick Garland, Donald Trump, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, Trump, Republicans defund, Benjamin Civiletti, Bill Clinton's, Newt Gingrich Organizations: Getty, Democratic, Republican, Defense, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security, Transportation Security, Postal Service, U.S . Travel Industry Association, Lawmakers, U.S . Chamber, Commerce, Republicans, U.S, Democrats Locations: Washington , DC, shutdowns

Persons: Kevin McCarthy's, Goldman Sachs, “, General Merrick Garland, Donald Trump, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, Trump, Republicans defund, Benjamin Civiletti, Bill Clinton's, Newt Gingrich, isn't, Fatima Hussein, Lindsay Whitehurst, Josh Boak, Lisa Mascaro Organizations: WASHINGTON, Democratic, Republican, WHO, Defense, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security, Transportation Security, Postal Service, U.S . Travel Industry Association, Lawmakers, U.S . Chamber, Commerce, Republicans, U.S, Democrats, Senate, Associated Locations: shutdowns

☆ What could happen if the government shuts down
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Clare Foran | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle are hoping to pass a short-term funding extension to keep the lights on and avert a shutdown. What could happen during a shutdownIn the event of a shutdown, many government operations would come to a halt, but some services deemed “essential” would continue. Once a shutdown is over, federal employees who were required to work and those who were furloughed will receive backpay. Employees deemed “essential” and required to work were already guaranteed backpay after a shutdown prior to the passage of that legislation. And federal employees aren’t the only ones who can feel the effects of a shutdown.

Persons: it’s, furloughed, Sen, Ben Cardin, Trump, you’re, ”, Maya MacGuineas, It’s, White Organizations: CNN, Congressional, Federal, Maryland Democrat, Employees, Park Service, Senate, Democrats, Republicans, White House, Department of Health, Human Services, TSA, Food and Drug Administration Locations: Ukraine, Maryland, shutdowns

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)on Tuesday accused Walmart Inc of failing to put an end to severe sexual harassment of female workers by the manager of a West Virginia store and of firing a woman after she complained to the commission. Debra Lawrence, the EEOC's regional attorney in Philadelphia, said preventing sexual harassment requires employers to act "promptly and forcefully." The EEOC filed Tuesday's lawsuit on behalf of a class of female workers who were allegedly harassed by the manager. The commission is seeking an order requiring Walmart to revise its policies on preventing sexual harassment and retaliation, along with backpay and other money damages for the class of women. The case is EEOC v. Walmart Stores East LP, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, No.

Persons: groped, Debra Lawrence, Lawrence, Delaney Anderson, Jason Bailey, Daniel Wiessner Organizations: Walmart, Opportunity Commission, Walmart Inc, Southern District of, Thomson Locations: West Virginia, Lewisburg, Bentonville , Arkansas, Philadelphia, Southern District of West Virginia

☆ Nike urged to backpay garment workers ahead of annual meeting
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Katherine Masters | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The investors want Nike to provide $2.2 million in allegedly unpaid wages to more than 4,000 workers at two suppliers in Cambodia and Thailand. The investor request could add more pressure to sportswear giant Nike (NKE.N), which is set to hold its annual shareholder meeting on Tuesday. Before the factory's closure in July 2020, Violet Apparel was owned by global textile manufacturer and Nike supplier Ramatex, according to WRC. WRC alleges that Violet Apparel made clothing for Nike as a subcontractor until 2020, citing what it said was testimony from factory workers and photographs taken inside the factory. Nike said it found "no evidence to support the claims" that Violet Apparel made Nike items after 2006.

Persons: John Donahoe, Kees Gootjes, Violet Apparel, Violet, Katherine Masters, Josie Kao Organizations: Nike, Reuters, Canadian, ABN AMRO, Washington, D.C, Workers Rights Consortium, Violet, Violet Apparel, Ramatex, WRC, Apparel, Hong Seng, Thomson Locations: Cambodia, Thailand

☆ A Hooters restaurant in North Carolina has been accused of racial discrimination in a lawsuit, which said managers made jokes about Black workers' hairstyles and appearances
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The EEOC has sued a Hooters in North Carolina, accusing the restaurant of racial discrimination. Managers joked about the appearance of staff who were Black or had dark skin tones, the suit alleged. AdvertisementAdvertisementWhen the pandemic hit in March 2020, the restaurant laid off its roughly 43 Hooters Girls, the lawsuit said. The restaurant began recalling some of the Hooters Girls, and by about mid-May 2020, 13 of them had been asked to return to work, the lawsuit said. Prior to lockdown, 51% of the Hooters Girls at the restaurant were Black or dark-skinned, but of the workers who were recalled, only 8% were, the lawsuit said.

Organizations: Hooters, Service, Employment, Hooters Girls, Court, Middle, Middle District of Locations: North Carolina, Wall, Silicon, Greensboro, Middle District, Middle District of North Carolina

☆ American Airlines boosts pilot contract offer by $1 billion after United deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

An American Airlines plane takes off from the Miami International Airport on May 02, 2023 in Miami, Florida. American Airlines raised its offer for a new pilot contract by more than $1 billion to match a preliminary deal last week between rival United Airlines and that carrier's aviators. Airlines and pilot unions had been negotiating new deals for years. Delta Air Lines pilots approved a new agreement in March for a deal that includes 34% raises over four years. The new offer includes 21% pay bonuses and pay on par with United and Delta, the Allied Pilots Association, their union, said Friday.

Persons: Robert Isom, Ed Sicher, Isom Organizations: American Airlines, Miami International Airport, Miami , Florida . American Airlines, United Airlines, United, . Airlines, Unions, Delta Air Lines, Delta, Allied Pilots Association Locations: Miami , Florida

☆ US, Mexico agree on labor rights plan for Mexican Goodyear plant
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MEXICO CITY, July 19 (Reuters) - The United States and Mexico reached an agreement to remedy violations of workers' rights at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (GT.O) plant in the Mexican city of San Luis Potosi, both countries said on Wednesday. The Mexican government has committed to carry out a number of measures under the agreement, the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) office said in a statement. Goodyear must also inform workers of their labor rights and respect union activity, the USTR said. Mexico will carry out periodic inspections of the plant, and if warranted, could impose sanctions on people, labor organizations or the company, the USTR said. The remediation plan comes after a petition from a Mexican independent union, which found Goodyear was offering employees fewer benefits than an industry-wide agreement required.

Persons: Goodyear, Raul Cortes, Valentine Hilaire, Kylie Madry, Brendan O'Boyle, Sonali Paul Organizations: MEXICO CITY, Goodyear Tire &, U.S . Trade, Goodyear, Thomson Locations: MEXICO, United States, Mexico, Mexican, San Luis Potosi, U.S

☆ Dancers at a topless bar in LA are set to become the first unionized strippers in the US in a decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Employees at Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood California voted to unionize. Employees including dancers, entertainers, and DJs want to be represented by the Actors Equity Association. They will become the first union of strippers in the US in a decade. "I'm excited that all of my beautiful coworkers will finally have a seat at the table and a voice to discuss safety and other issues," Sinder, a Star Garden dancer told CNN. Insider reached out to Star Garden, the NLRB, Actors Equity Association, and Stripper Strike Noho but did not immediately hear back outside of regular working hours.

☆ Elon Musk broke the law with a tweet about Tesla stock options, court rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( Ryan Hogg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk broke labor law with a 2018 tweet about Tesla employees' stock options, a court ruled. The US 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said Musk threatened staff in the wake of a unionization drive. But why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing? Tesla argued that because Musk said there was nothing stopping Tesla workers joining a union, it couldn't be regarded as a threat. "Because stock options are part of Tesla's employees' compensation, and nothing in the tweet suggested that Tesla would be forced to end stock options or that the UAW would be the cause of giving up stock options, substantial evidence supports the NLRB's conclusion that the tweet is as an implied threat to end stock options as retaliation for unionization," the panel wrote in its conclusion.

☆ Norfolk Southern, in wake of toxic derailment, gives in on sick days for one of its unions
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Norfolk Southern has agreed to give one of its unions the paid sick days it demanded for members in negotiations last year, and is in talks to grant sick days to its other unions as well. Norfolk Southern has about 19,000 employees total and about 15,000 of whom are union members. Norfolk Southern’s concession comes two weeks after another railroad, CSX (CSX), reached a deal with two of its unions to provide four sick days a year. The Norfolk Southern deal provides up to seven sick days per employee. Norfolk Southern and the nation’s other major freight railroads all faced criticism last year for refusing the unions’ demands for paid sick days for their members.

Woolworths and smaller rival Coles Group Ltd (COL.AX) have experienced wild swings in Australian consumer behaviour since COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 sparked grocery stockpiling. As with Coles' interim result reported on Tuesday, the Woolworths profit gain was helped by a sharp decline in COVID-19 related expenses. Woolworths shares were up 2% by midsession, against a 0.3% dip in the broader benchmark(.AXJO), as analysts cheered the prospect of profit margin growth at a company exposed to rising supply costs. "Momentum in the key Australian Food business remains solid, with sales growth rates better than expected in early 2H23," E&P Financial retail analyst said Phillip Kimber in a client note. Woolworths declared an interim dividend of 46 Australian cents per share, compared with 39 Australian cents a year earlier.

New York CNN Buiness —With a crippling freight rail strike looming in two weeks, leaders of four railroad unions and management of the major US freight railroads are due back at the negotiating table Tuesday afternoon. It will be the first joint negotiating session for the four unions, whose rank-and-file members rejected the five-year labor agreements similar to deals accepted by the eight other rail unions in recent months. If any one of the unions goes on strike, it would be honored by all 12 unions, which would bring US freight rail service to a halt. Union members also would receive cash bonuses of $1,000 a year. All told, the backpay and bonuses would give union members an average payment of $11,000 per worker once the deal is ratified.

New York CNN Business —A third railroad union has rejected a tentative labor deal, a move that further raises the odds that America’s 110,000 freight railroad workers will go on strike early next month. It is the smallest of 13 unions that represent more than 100,000 union members at the nation’s major freight railroads. The union’s brief statement on the vote said it “fully expects to continue negotiating further toward a satisfactory contract” with railroad management. A freight railroad strike would create massive problems for the US economy, snarling still-struggling supply chains and triggering widespread bottlenecks and shortages. Congress can also prevent or end a strike by extending a cooling-off period during which the unions cannot strike, or by imposing a contract on union members.

"Protected activities" are actions that workers can take without fear of employer retaliation under U.S. labor law. Musk in a series of tweets on Friday said Twitter workers who were laid off were offered 90 days of severance pay, which could satisfy Twitter's obligations under the notice laws. Cornet in the complaint said that late last month, amid rumors of mass layoffs at Twitter, he developed a Google Chrome extension to allow employees to download emails from their Twitter accounts. That would ensure workers could save important documents such as statements reflecting their stock in Twitter, performance reviews, and other human resource documents, he said. Cornet says he was fired on the same day that he published the extension and posted a link to it on an internal Twitter messaging channel.

☆ 300 business groups call on Biden to intervene in rail unions contract vote
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-27 | by ( Vanessa Yurkevich | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Washington CNN Business —Three hundred business groups are calling on President Joe Biden to intervene in the ratification of the national tentative agreement he helped broker last month between rail unions and US freight railroads. In a letter sent to the president Thursday, retail, agricultural, manufacturing, and trucking associations jointly asked the president to ensure that the tentative agreement is ratified. Sick time is unpaid in the current tentative agreement. They also give union members cash bonuses of $1,000 a year. All told, the backpay and bonuses will give union members an average payment of $11,000 per worker once the deal is ratified.

They also give union members cash bonuses of $1,000 a year. All told, the backpay and bonuses will give union members an average payment of $11,000 per worker once the deal is ratified. After BMWED rejected their tentative deal, union leadership proposed adding paid sick days during a bargaining session, only to have management reject the motion out of hand. Congress can also prevent or end a strike by extending a cooling-off period or imposing a contract on union members. Union members working in other industries have recently balked at approving deals, even when recommended by their leadership.

Things will remain status quo with the union’s contract until then. The engineers and conductors union votes are cause for “apprehension on all sides,” said the source. Online chatter among the conductors union and engineers union members signal they want a strike before even seeing the contract, while some are calling for reason, the source said. Conductors union and engineers union members will be mailed ballots at the end of this month with a 21-day voting period. Although most union contracts are ratified, there have been some very high-profile examples of angry union members voting no.

☆ Next up for US unions: Major contracts for 700,000 workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-18 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

In terms of big US labor contracts, however, this is just the opening act. And as with the rail unions, members are focused on staffing shortages and scheduling problems that they say have brought many employees to a breaking point. And soon after the Teamsters contract for UPS ground workers expires, contracts for UPS pilots and aircraft mechanics become amendable. That’s a major concern for unions whose members build engines and transmissions. But that settlement did not address the looming question of what a switch to EVs will mean for union workers going forward.

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