Workers in Michigan won major victories recently as a minimum-wage increase and employer paid sick time program were reinstated by court order.

In 2018, petitioners succeeded in placing a minimum-wage increase along with an earned-sick-time provision on the November ballot. In turn, the Michigan Legislature passed the measures in September to avoid a vote on the referendums, then in a lame-duck session in December the Legislature amended the bills, delaying the wage increase and denying the full hourly rate to tipped workers. The sick-time provision also was changed.

Last month, a Michigan Court of Claims judge ruled amending the original bills was a violation of the state constitution, and the $12 minimum wage will now be instituted in February.

Alicia Renee Farris, chief operations officer of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, helped organize the ballot initiative and is calling it a victory for Michigan workers.

"This is really a victory for 685,000 Michiganders that do not make $12 an hour," Farris asserted. "We see that as very important particularly for low-wage restaurant workers."

The minimum wage for tipped employees is set to gradually increase to $12 per hour by 2024.

After Judge Douglas Shapiro declared the adopt-and-amend legislative maneuver unconstitutional, the State of Michigan asked for a stay pending appeal. Shapiro denied the request but did delay implementation until Feb. 19.

Mark Brewer, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said the delay is due to the scale of the coming changes.

"This is a massive change. The paid sick time affects every employer in the state," Brewer pointed out. "Minimum wage obviously affects many employers and hundreds of thousands of employees, so the court said, 'Look, you can have a few months to make a transition here to fully implement these laws.' "

Litigation over the matter has not ended with the Court of Claims ruling, since the state of Michigan will next take its case to the Michigan Court of Appeals. Brewer noted the appeals court has agreed to speed things up.

"We did get some good news in just the last 24 hours," Brewer emphasized. "The court of appeals has agreed to expedite our appeal, and so we're hopeful to have oral argument in the court of appeals this fall, which would mean a decision early next year."

Upon implementation, the minimum wage will be indexed to inflation with adjustments made annually so long as the state unemployment rate remains below 8.5%.

California is going to need tens of thousands of workers over the next six years as we continue to build the broadband network to bring high-speed internet to underserved areas.

Now, the feds have awarded $5.8 million to the Communications Workers of America to supercharge its workforce training program.

Frank Arce, vice president of Communications Workers of America District 9, which encompasses California, Nevada, Hawaii and Guam, said the union is partnering with the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District in the Bay Area to expand its apprenticeship program.

"We're planning on focusing on underserved communities," Arce explained. "Really making sure it's a locally based workforce, people of color, women, veterans, and young people."

The plan is to open three more paid apprenticeship training programs over the next few years in the Fresno, Chico and Los Angeles areas. The state is set to allocate more than $5 billion to extend high speed internet in rural areas, and the Infrastructure Act will send hundreds of millions in federal funds to bolster the effort.

Arce pointed out the grant also will allow the union to partner with employers to bolster working families.

"It's a great opportunity for people to get some skills and set themselves into a solid middle-class job," Arce asserted. "We're taking advantage of this opportunity that we're building our infrastructure in the country to see if we can get some Californians out to work."

Arce noted in the past, unscrupulous subcontractors working for telecom companies have cut corners and treated workers poorly. But he added the publicly-funded program will raise the standards to require high-quality materials, workmanship and employee benefits.


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The largest nurses strike in U.S. history started yesterday in Minnesota. Those walking the picket lines said they want the public to know it is not just about higher wages, arguing hospital executives are putting profits first.

The three-day walkout includes 15,000 nurses from more than a dozen hospitals in the Twin Cities and Duluth. Union leaders say while they are seeking higher wages, they stressed structural issues related to staffing make it harder to provide adequate care for patients.

Brittany Livaccari, an emergency room nurse at United Hospital in St. Paul, amplified the argument when speaking to reporters.

"Staffing shortages and crises within the hospital absolutely did not start with this pandemic," Livaccari asserted. "It started with lean management and staffing cuts. The pandemic just shed light on it and made it worse."

She and other union members stressed they want to have more of a say in how hospitals are staffed. The Twin Cities Hospital Group criticized the nurses for choosing to strike before exhausting all negotiating efforts. It added several hospitals have reached tentative agreements on revised workplace safety measures. Contract talks have been dragging on for several months.

Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, chair of the House Health, Finance and Policy Committee, said the entire state needs to know each hospital needs skilled nurses to care for people's families, friends and neighbors. But she feels the message is not getting through to administrators.

"Hospitals without nurses are just buildings," Liebling emphasized. "We all know that."

The Morning Consult firm recently reported 18% of American health care workers have quit their jobs during the pandemic, while another 12% have been laid off.

Meanwhile, in Minnesota, contingency plans were put in place to avoid care disruptions during the strike. However, some patients might see scheduling changes for non-urgent care.

Labor and environmental groups are asking for a seat in the "room where it happens" as government trade representatives gather today in Los Angeles to begin negotiations on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.

The framework is a massive trade deal between states on the Pacific Rim which would govern an estimated 40% of the global economy and affect people's jobs, wages, digital privacy, climate change and more.

Will Wiltschko, director of the California Trade Justice Coalition, said the public has the right to know what measures are being proposed in the negotiators.

"In past trade negotiations, hundreds of corporate lobbyists have been given access to the negotiators, to draft texts, and the public was completely shut out," Wiltschko pointed out. "That's a system for delivering rigged trade deals that benefit only a few multinational corporations while hurting working people and the planet."

The Trade Justice Coalition is holding a rally today outside the conference in the hope future negotiations will include consumer, labor and environmental advocates.

Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce, said in a statement discussions will center on four pillars: "trade; supply chains; clean energy, decarbonization, and infrastructure; and tax and anti-corruption."

Wiltschko called for transparency to moderate the influence of big tech in particular.

"These companies are trying to use trade deals as a backdoor means of blocking regulations on consumer privacy, data security, algorithm discrimination, and gig-economy worker protections," Wiltschko asserted.

The meeting represents the initial rounds of trade negotiations between 13 countries, including the United States, Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, but not China.