News & Commentary

October 6, 2019

Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren’s labor plan, which she unveiled Thursday, is reviewed by labor organizations and business organizations. The Services Employees International Union offered their full support for the plan. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) called it a “full-scale renovation” of the labor system and one that will “strengthen democracy”. Meanwhile, several business organizations expressed disapproval. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce called the plan bad for American workers and the International Franchise Association claimed it could wipe out the franchise business model. Warren’s plan includes initiatives to raise wages and bolster the presence of labor unions.

Full- and part-time Forever 21 employees are in the early stages of organizing, following the company’s recent filing for bankruptcy. The labor rights group United for Respect is advising employees seeking to ensure they receive severance packages and damages for other labor grievances. These early organization efforts aim to follow the precedent set by Toys R Us workers who organized and won $20 million in severance this Summer after the toy company filed for bankruptcy. Forever 21 has 6,400 full-time employees in the U.S. and more than 26,000 part-time employees.

This morning UAW representatives of General Motors workers announced that GM rejected the latest proposal package. The proposal package addressed a minimum of 35 hourly proposals and three salaried proposals. GM did not offer any explanations for its rejection. This announcement is released after several days of otherwise “good progress” in the negotiation process.

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