A long weekend beckons, with many New Yorkers trying to get out of town. Meanwhile, for many low-wage workers, a long weekend means lost wages, or going to work while so many others relax.
Here’s a sampling of what’s been happening around NYC and beyond over the past few weeks…
- At the Nation this month, Jeremy Brecher makes a case for climate protection as the new labor solidarity, exploring the evolution of the alliance between labor and climate justice activists, and arguing that “we will survive and prosper only if we look out for one another…protecting our brothers and sisters as well as ourselves from destruction.”
- Since the chilling expose on nail salons and their exploitative labor practices by Sarah Maslin Nir in the NYTimes a couple weeks ago, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio has vowed to investigate and “shield nail salon workers from deplorable conditions.”
- The Los Angeles City Council voted to pass a $15 minimum wage, set to take effect in 2020, in what John Cassidy at the New Yorker calls “a fascinating minimum wage experiment.” Ben Casselman at FiveThirtyEight asks how far $15 in LA in 2020 will really go.
- Last week’s tragic train Amtrak train crash in Philadelphia, ending in the death of 8 people and injury of over 200, has opened chilling questions about the corruption behind a failure to implement safety measures.
- A grand jury has brought charges against six Baltimore police officers in connection with the death of Freddie Gray, while
- Nationwide protests are bringing attention to black women who have been killed by police. #SayHerName
- Meanwhile, over at TheRoot, Kimberly Freeman Brown and Marc Bayard asks how black women can rescue the labor movement.
- Missouri Republicans are revealing a fissure in the GOP around unions, as a bloc of 24 GOP legislators blocked a law against making Missouri right-to-work state. Lydia DePillis makes an argument as to why this is happening.
‘Til next week, folks.
Photo by Shortcuts Smarter Business Technology via flickr (CC-BY).
