Punching In: 1,000 Lawyers to Help Federal Workers (Correct)

Monday morning musings for workplace watchers.

Lawyers for Federal RIF Fights |Uber Driver Unionization Bills

Rebecca Rainey: With mass reductions in force across the federal government on the horizon, the AFL-CIO, federal workers’ unions, and advocacy groups have mobilized a network of more than 1,000 volunteer attorneys to provide legal services to laid off federal employees.

Leaders behind the new Federal Workers Legal Defense Network launched last week say they saw a need for more federal-sector labor law resources based on the sheer number of federal workers being let go and the Trump administration’s response to lawsuits seeking to restore these jobs. More than 100,000 federal workers have left or been fired from the federal government so far.

Craig Becker, general counsel at the AFL-CIO, said advocates recognized the need for more individual legal representation because “the administration is arguing that cases have to be brought before the agencies and therefore can’t proceed on a class action basis in federal court.”

For federal workers looking to access the service, Deborah Greenfield, executive director of the legal network, said applicants will fill out a brief questionnaire online and then receive written materials explaining their legal rights. After a screening call, workers are then matched with a pro-bono attorney who can help them explore options to appeal their layoff.

The network is actively recruiting attorneys, Greenfield said, with at least 1000 lawyers in 42 states participating so far.

“We see ourselves as providing vulnerable workers with at least some of the knowledge they need to be in control of their own lives here, and to push back against the labor rights violations that we’re seeing,” Greenfield added.

The timing of the network’s launch coincides with deadlines for federal agencies to produce their second phase of mass reorganization plans, which should include targets for “large-scale RIFs.”

At the DOL, while total layoff numbers haven’t been publicly shared, the exodus has already begun. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer gave most staffers until April 18 to decide if they wanted to opt into deferred resignation or early retirement programs. And on April 16, the Trump administration also put a majority of the enforcement staff at the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs on administrative leave.

Uber signage on a vehicle in New York on Aug. 8, 2024.

Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Chris Marr: Drivers for Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. in California and Minnesota would gain access to state-managed collective bargaining, similar to their Massachusetts counterparts, under bills pending in each state’s legislature.

The bills’ backers seek to largely emulate the ballot measure that Massachusetts voters approved in November, establishing a regulatory scheme for rideshare drivers to form a union and bargain for industry-wide standards around pay, benefits, and working conditions. Labor organizers are still working to get a drivers union off the ground in Massachusetts and meet the required thresholds of driver support before they can start bargaining.

Rideshare drivers, like other workers classified as independent contractors, aren’t eligible for the traditional model of unionizing and bargaining that employees use under the National Labor Relations Act.

It remains to be seen whether the California (AB 1340) or Minnesota (SF 3229) bills have enough support to win passage through the legislatures and the governors’ desks. But their introduction shows a growing effort by labor unions—particularly the Service Employees International Union—to advance the concept of sectoral bargaining, initially for rideshare drivers and potentially for other kinds of gig workers in the future.

Minnesota’s legislature enacted minimum pay rates for rideshare drivers in 2024, while also requiring companies to provide insurance to cover on-the-job injuries and restricting how companies deactivate drivers.

The law was a good start, but drivers need the ability to negotiate pay, benefits, and working conditions directly with the companies now and in the future, said Greg Nammacher, president of SEIU Local 26, at a February press conference endorsing the Minnesota legislation.

Massachusetts drivers likewise were guaranteed minimum pay rates and other protections in a 2024 settlement agreement Lyft and Uber reached with the state attorney general, resolving litigation in which the AG accused the companies of misclassifying the drivers as independent contractors. Others including Washington state and New York also have mandated driver pay and benefits through legislation or legal settlements.

The growing effort to let independent contractors collectively bargain with state oversight is a concept that business groups and management-side lawyers see as troubling—both for its practical effects and potential conflicts with federal antitrust and labor law.

The Massachusetts law and the similar Minnesota legislation call for workers’ representatives and companies in the rideshare industry to negotiate pay and working conditions. If both sides agree on a contract, it then would go to a state agency to implement as a regulation that the state would enforce on the entire industry, not just those involved in negotiating, said Alexander MacDonald, a management-side attorney at Littler Mendelson and co-chair of the firm’s Workplace Policy Institute.

“The largest entities in the industry get to set the terms and conditions, effectively,” he said, potentially putting smaller players at a competitive disadvantage in any industry that might eventually operate under sectoral bargaining.

Sector-based bargaining is rare in the US but more common in other parts of the world, including Germany. California lawmakers enacted legislation in 2023 to establish a state-run sector council for the fast-food industry and a $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers.

We’re punching out. Daily Labor Report subscribers please check in for updates during the week, and feel free to reach out to us.