Doug Bloch, Political Director
Political Director's Report
This month, Working Partnerships USA and the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education released a groundbreaking report entitled “Driverless? Autonomous Trucks and the Future of the American Trucker.” The author is Steve Viscelli, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania who also spent time as a long-haul truck driver. He captured that experience in a book called The Big Rig: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream. Steve presented his report findings and signed copies of his book at our Joint Council seminar in June.
... Read more »The Sacramento Report
The Legislature is back in full swing in Sacramento, and we expect an eventful session with both the Senate and Assembly poised to take on some very weighty issues.
Sexual harassment is the issue of the day; the scandals that first came to light in Hollywood are coming to roost in California politics. A handful of legislators have already been forced to resign or take leave, and there certainly will be more to come.
... Read more »Legal Update
The Supreme Court issued its Janus decision, allowing public employees to opt out of paying fair share fees, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time June 27. By early afternoon that same day, right wing anti-union organizations were taking action to encourage employees to stop paying fees and some public employers were already encouraging their employees to do so.
Organized labor, however, was already primed to respond. Within about 24 hours of the Court’s release of the Janus decision,
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