These are some noteworthy labor headlines we read this week.

Weekend Labor Reads:

TOP NEWS

U.S. Moves to End a Minimum Wage Waiver for Disabled Workers

This week, the Biden administration proposed a rule that would bar employers from obtaining certificates to pay workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. For decades, some American workers with disabilities have been legally paid less than the minimum wage as a result of a statue in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. According to a report conducted by the U.S. Labor Department, roughly 40,000 workers are currently impacted with a significant portion earning less than $3.50 an hour. If enacted, the proposal would assert the equal value of workers with disabilities and ensure all workers receive fair compensation regardless of ability. 

The New York Times

Danielle Kaye

C.A. WORKERS

With bird flu cases on the rise, staff at California lab say they are overworked and burned out

Los Angeles Times

Suhauna Hussain

UNIONS

Your Amazon delivery driver doesn't actually work for Amazon. A union drive in Southern California is challenging that

LAist

Libby Rainey

UNIONS

Unions score a major win in Wisconsin with a court ruling restoring collective bargaining rights



AP News

Scott Bauer

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Belgium becomes first country to give sex workers robust labor rights and protections



NPR

Juliana Kim

IRLE In The News:

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Labor Nominee Chavez-DeRemer: More Trump Loyalist Than Union Ally

The American Prospect

Hassan Ali Kanu

Ft. Trevor Griffey, UCLA Labor Studies lecturer

WORKER SOLIDARITY

How Can U.S. and Mexican Workers Build Cross-Border Solidarity?

LaborNotes

Henry Salazar and David Bacon

Ft. UCLA Labor Center

CIVIL RIGHTS

Dolores Madrigal, lead plaintiff in landmark sterilization case, dies at 90

Los Angeles Times

Gustavo Arellano

Ft. Virginia Espino, UCLA Labor Studies lecturer

LABOR HISTORY

Community archive project documents historic UC strike

UCLA IRLE

Willa Needham

Memory Work Los Angeles:

Memory Work Los Angeles is a project of UCLA IRLE. We bring the past to the present to highlight the diverse experiences and perspectives of working people in Southern California, the changing world of work, and the continuing struggle for equality.

Photo: “Turkey of the Year”



In this photograph from an SEIU Justice for Janitors campaign action in the late 1980s, an employer is awarded “Turkey of the Year,” a title meant to embarrass those who fired workers for organizing.The award was presented by a human-sized turkey, pictured here. The event also ceremoniously distributed holiday turkeys to 30 fired janitors. Learn more about the Justice for Janitors campaign on the Memory Work Los Angeles website.

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UCLA's Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) advances labor research and education for workplace justice. Through the work of its units – the UCLA Labor Center, the Human Resources Roundtable, the Labor Occupational Safety and Health program (LOSH) and its academic program, UCLA Labor Studies – the Institute forms wide-ranging research and agendas that carry UCLA into the Los Angeles community and beyond.