Progressive legal group Democracy Forward is sending two separate letters to Trump’s Cabinet picks calling for them to enforce the Biden administration’s overtime and independent contractor rules.
“If the Trump administration breaks its promise to working Americans and chooses not to fully defend the rule, we will,” the group wrote. “One or more of our clients or their members will seek to intervene to defend the rule and protect the interests of American workers.”
The letters, sent to Pam Bondi and Chavez-DeRemer, who are being vetted to lead the Justice Department and Labor Department respectively, were sent on behalf of the Service Employees International Union, National Employment Law Project, Economic Policy Institute, and Restaurant Opportunity Centers United.
Politico Morning Shift
February 4, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute reports that as of 2023, teachers nationwide earned 26.6% less than workers with similar educational credentials, and Mississippi’s average teacher salary is just $53,354.
WLOX-TV (Mississippi)
February 4, 2025
From Dr. Josh Bivens: Pausing Federal Grants Is Reckless and Could Cause a Steep Recession
The short-run impacts of a federal grant freeze are dire and the questions they raise should make it obvious how gratuitously reckless this idea is. Will rural hospitals get Medicaid reimbursements for the services they provide? Will nursing homes receive payments for care they’re providing to elders? Will schools bounce checks and be charged late fees because Title I grants that finance ongoing operations are disrupted?
The long-term consequences would be catastrophic. They would be guaranteed to cause a steep recession—the Federal government gives $1 trillion in grants to state and local governments alone, sucking any significant portion out of the economy would represent a huge economic shock—and the valuable work done across governments could be fatally compromised.
Newsweek
February 4, 2025
Private sector workers typically receive more pay than their public sector counterparts, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Philadelphia Inquirer
February 4, 2025
The UC Santa Cruz survey is similar to a 2024 Economic Policy Institute (EPI) study of union attitudes across the nation. EPI found since 1977, American workers’ attitudes toward unionization have turned positive. In 1977, approximately 27% of nonunion, nonmanagerial workers indicated they would vote for union representation. By 2023, this figure had risen to 43%.
Forbes
January 29, 2025
“REI is committed to negotiating in good faith with our stores that have chosen union representation,” the company wrote in a statement. “The collective bargaining process—especially when negotiating a first contract—can be lengthy.”
But Margaret Poydock, a senior policy analyst at the Economic Policy Institute, expresses skepticism. Poydock tells NPQ that employers can use various strategies “to delay and lengthen negotiations—to diminish solidarity and, you know, potentially morale for workers. I think employers see first contract negotiations as, like, a way to potentially beat the union.”
Nonprofit Quarterly
January 29, 2025
Earlier this year, the Economic Policy Institute found that right-to-work laws actually hurt state economies, rather than spurring economic activity as its proponents would hope. Workers in right to work states are paid on average 3.2% less than similar workers in non-right-to-work states.
The Highlander News
January 29, 2025
The Economic Policy Institute noted that “although the latest BLS data show a decline in the unionization rate, many workers continued to make organizing gains within auto manufacturing, hospitality, public education, and healthcare.”
Common Dreams
January 29, 2025
Margaret Poydock, senior policy analyst for the Economic Policy Institute, told Newsweek: “Employer opposition to unions and weaknesses in federal labor law are the contributing factors to the decline in unionization. This impacts all workers, and is not specific to demographics, industry, and occupational shifts.”
“Compared to the overall unionization rate (11.1%), the difference between men (11.3%) and women (10.8%) is small. The larger issue is there are far more workers who want a union than currently have union representation: surveys indicate that more than 60 million workers would join a union if they could.
Newsweek
January 29, 2025