The Pope is in NYC, offering a takedown of “exclusion and inequality” while also jamming up traffic. A skilled practitioner in the art of direct action? You decide. In other news:
- John Boehner resigns from his congressional seat and position as Speaker of the House. (via The Nation)
- Pharmacy workers at a Target store in Brooklyn have voted to form a “microunion” — making it the first unionized store in Target’s history. Just a day later, the retailer announced a “plan to develop automation systems and replace workers with robots in their retail locations.”
- Activists in NYC and beyond demonstrated to mark the 4th anniversary of Occupy Wall Street — and to continue the fight for social and economic justice.
- Meanwhile, prominent human rights activists in Uzbekistan have been beaten and detained for documenting forced labor in the country’s cotton fields. (via HRW.org)
- New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo named Roberta Reardon, former official with the AFL-CIO, as the new Labor Commissioner. (via CapitalNewYork.com)
- Also in New York State, “recent investigations to protect exploited workers […] have led to nearly $3.3 million in back wages, damages and settlements for 800 workers.” (via LaborPress.org)
- The California waste workers at the center of the NLRB’s joint employer ruling have voted by more than a 4-1 margin to join the Teamsters Union. (via Teamster.org)
- The struggle continues: more class action complaints have come in regarding the treatment of workers in the on-demand economy, this time at food delivery companies DoorDash and GrubHub in California state court. (via Wired)
- Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart) relaunched last week. A minor schism has appeared between the alt-labor organizing effort and the United Food and Commercial Workers, the original backers of the drive — marking an interesting (if confusing) development in the fight.
