With the dog days of summer upon us, we’re bringing back our news roundup to check in on what’s been happening in labor, in our cities and in our wild and changing world:
- The Fight for Fifteen held a national convention last weekend. It’s been a remarkable four years: from New York to the nation; from fast food to a diversity of sectors. And the wins just keep on coming. Looks like organizing might just work after all. Meanwhile, Fight for 15 organizers are turning on their primary funder, SEIU, which, according to some, doesn’t pay its own organizers $15/hr.
- On the heels of investigations revealing the inhumane conditions in private prisons, the Justice Department is closing all federal private prisons. All…13 of them. An important first step, but hardly a solution to the widespread problem of mass incarceration.
- Donald Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort resigns amid investigations into his pro-Russian lobbying in the Ukraine.
- Gawker.com, whose staffers were the first digital newsroom to unionize and successfully bargain a contract earlier this year, will be shuttering its doors following a devastating lawsuit waged by Terry Bollea (aka Hulk Hogan) and secretly backed by billionaire Peter Thiel. Gawker Media is being bought by Univision for $135m, but the flagship site — known for incisive political commentary and no-holds-barred investigations — will be shutting down at the end of next week. Once a gossip site for the NYC media landscape, over the years, Gawker.com became one of the last and most beloved/hated bastions of real journalism on the web, covering social movements and politics and fearlessly taking on power. Lots of swan songs being sung on this particularly sad day for independent journalism.
- What happens when you don’t pay your workers? Well, sometimes they don’t show up: a lesson learned by the International Olympic Committee in the lead up to this year’s games in Rio. Relying in 50,000 unpaid volunteers to produce the games, organizers saw an “average attendance rate of just over 70 percent.”
- Berkeley issued a historic wage theft ordinance after 21 construction workers found themselves unpaid following 5 months of work. The measure adds new conditions to contractors seeking permits, mandating that they outline their capacity to pay workers and subjecting them to periodic audits.
- Speaking of wage theft: Alex Rosenblat, fellow at Data & Society here in New York City, studies and writes about how the design of Uber facilitates it.
- Is Rite Aid management attempting to weaken its workers’ bargaining power while withholding health benefits? That’s what employees are saying.
- Who’s got the power when it comes to housing development in New York City? Inwood residents and housing advocates voiced opposition to the Sherman Plaza affordable housing project, arguing that it wouldn’t be affordable enough. They made an impression of City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, who ultimately voted the project down — sending Mayor Bill de Blasio back to the drawing board on building more affordable housing in the northern Manhattan community.
- This week marked the 60th anniversary of the Federal Highway Act of 1956, which charted a defining course for this country and its cities, contributing to the defunding of public transportation networks and facilitating the decades-long suburbanization that reshaped the American landscape. End-of-summer road trip, anyone?
