Eight hundred warehouse workers in Toronto are the first Walmart employees to be represented by a union. They began organizing a year ago, over issues including low pay, pressure to work dangerously fast, workplace accidents, and high indoor temperatures.
Boeing machinists have ended a 53-day strike with a new contract that raises wages 38 percent. Just two weeks prior that had rejected a contract that would have raised wages 35 percent over four years. The new agreement also substantially increases 401(k) matches and improves mandatory overtime rules, but does not restore a defined benefit pension plan, which was a big demand of many of the strikers.
Massachusetts voters have approved Question 3, which would allow Uber and Lyft drivers to organize and collectively bargain. Under federal law, the drivers cannot collectively bargain if they are classified as independent contractors, but the ballot measure gives the drivers in the state a right under state law. Massachusetts is the first state to take this approach and it could be a blueprint for other states.