Catherwood LibraryILR School

A famous Chicago restaurant, Signature Room, shut down operations and released a statement to employees and the public the same day the restaurant closed its doors permanently. Unite Here, the union representing over a hundred Signature Room workers has filed a lawsuit against Signature Room management, claiming that the restaurant violated state laws regarding layoffs and restaurant closures. Illinois state law requires employers to provide workers a 60-day notice of mass layoffs and store shutdowns, and workers state that they were shocked and betrayed by the abrupt store closure with no provided no warning. Many workers have been at the restaurant long-term, with some employees having 30 years of experience at Signature Room. The restaurant’s closure announcements stated that the company was unable to overcome economic hardships and other challenges related to the pandemic.

University of Pennsylvania undergraduate resident advisors successfully voted to unionize this week and will be represented by the Office and Professional Employees International Union. University of Pennsylvania RAs state that they feel undervalued and underpaid by the university, and they chose to unionize to have the ability to negotiate with university administration for fair compensation and more employee protections and benefits. Many university presidents around the country have stated that institutions view these positions as training, rather than jobs, and the University of Pennsylvania management opposed the unionization movement. The university claimed that undergraduate RAs were not covered by federal labor laws regarding collective bargaining, but have expressed their support after the union organization election was held. University of Pennsylvania management and the newly formed union will begin contract negotiations soon, and resident advisors hope that an agreement can be reached in the coming months.

Two Subway franchisees who owned several Subway restaurants in Northern California allegedly used illegal child workers in stores and committed several wage violations. Previous employees also claimed that the working conditions in the restaurants were dangerous, and they were intimated and threatened by the owners to stay silent. It is alleged that child workers were as young as 14 years old, and had to operate dangerous machinery, such as industrial ovens, industrial toasters, trash compactors, and cardboard balers. Tips and overtime pay were allegedly withheld from employees, and oftentimes their paychecks would bounce and they wouldn’t be paid. A federal judge ruled that the franchisees have to sell or close all the Subway locations, as well as pay over a million dollars in back wages and damages to store employees. The Subway franchisees have been in a previous lawsuit regarding income reporting violations and were convicted of income tax evasion for hiding the earnings from Subway stores.

Epic Games, the company known for the game Fortnite, recently announced hundreds of layoffs after the company has been facing consistent financial challenges, and the company’s expenditures have far outweighed its revenue. Over 800 Epic Games employees will lose their jobs, and this will reduce the company’s workforce by around 16%. Epic Games will also sell various company technologies that focus on audio and digital media, including Bandcamp and SuperAwesome. The company has attempted to cut costs throughout this past year and was hoping to not have to lay off any workers, but the company’s financial deficit was too large that it could not retain all of its employees. Epic Games is providing workers affected by layoffs with severance packages, six more months of employee healthcare, career transition services, and flexibility regarding employee stock options.

Unionized Las Vegas hospitality workers represented by the Culinary union and the Bartenders union successfully voted to authorize strike action. Contract negotiations between management at various Las Vegas management and the unions will continue next week, and the unions stated that if negotiations do not progress workers will strike. The unions are seeking increases in wages and improvements in safety measures, as well as protections against new technology and employment recall rights. Las Vegas is preparing for various upcoming events, such as the NFL Super Bowl and a Formula 1 race. Las Vegas hotels and casinos are experiencing growth in revenue due to increases in tourists and players in recent months, and workers are seeking increases in wages to match the increases in revenue.

St. Nobert College, a small private liberal arts college located in De Pere, Wisconsin, announced upcoming layoffs that will affect over 40 employees. A majority of the employees who will be let off are university staff, and a few professors will lose their jobs as well. The college employs around 2,000 workers, ranging from lecturers, tenured professors, and other staff members, and the cuts will reduce 5% of St. Norbert’s staff. St. Norbert College stated that the institution is financially stable, but needed to reorganize and restructure to meet budget requirements. The institution has experienced decreasing enrollment in the past few years, a challenge that many smaller colleges around the country are facing. St. Nobert College is a private college that receives no state funding, so in order to improve revenue tuition needs to be increased. St. Nobert’s president has stated that the institution wants to keep tuition flat, but declining enrollment and increasing inflation will most likely cause a rise in tuition costs.

The months-long writers’ strike in Hollywood is finally coming to an end as the Writers of Guild America union reaches a resolution with entertainment studios. The tentative deal between the two parties was reached earlier this week, and the union’s governing board and committees successfully voted to approve the new contract. The union’s approval of the deal puts an end to strike action, but the writers themselves will vote on the contract in October. Writers will begin to return to work on Wednesday, and productions that were paused due to the strike will resume production. It is predicted that late-night talk shows will be the first productions to resume, while other scripted productions will be slower to return, because the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, which represents actors in Hollywood, is still on strike.

The Washington D.C. Metro system has announced that there is a significant budget gap in next year’s budget, and if the budget gap isn’t closed, the Metro will experience cuts in service. The Metro will also freeze the hiring process and lay off hundreds of jobs because of the budget gap. Metro management states that the budget gap is currently $750 million, and is largely due to rising inflation, decreases in metro riders, as well as lack of local government funding. Riders could experience a decrease in over 60% of metro services, lengthened wait times, and decreases in bus lines along with the reductions in metro lines. The metro system has until July 2024 to find solutions to the budget problem, but management is planning to announce layoffs in late 2023 if the problem has not been resolved.

The United States Labor Department is investigating alleged labor violations committed by Tyson and Perdue. Tyson and Perdue and major companies in the United States poultry industry, and produce over a third of America’s poultry products. The two companies allegedly employed child workers in slaughterhouses, and these children were responsible for cleaning various industrial meat machines. The working conditions in slaughterhouses are notoriously dangerous, and workers under the age of 18 are not allowed to work in slaughterhouses due to the extremely high risk of injury. The labor violation claim states that some workers were as young as 13 years old, and the claim details how an eighth-grade worker at Purdue had his arm angled in a meat processing machine. Tyson and Perdue stated that outside companies are contracted to do cleaning work at the meat processing plants, and company management was unaware that child workers were being employed by these cleaning companies.

Workers at three liquefied natural gas plants in Australia have been on strike since early September to demand greater wages and higher employee benefits. These plants account for over five percent of the world’s liquefied natural gas supplies, and strike action has affected the global price of natural gas. Workers at these plants are represented by the Australian Workers’ Union and the Maritime Union of Australia, and these two unions form the Offshore Alliance. An arbitrator has been involved in the negotiations between the Offshore Alliance and Chevron, and both parties accepted the arbitrator's proposed contract. Chevron will establish an Enterprise Bargaining Agreement, which sets an employment contract detailing wages and working conditions for individual organizations. All of the other major gas companies in Western Australia have already established Enterprise Bargaining Agreements with their employees.