Category Archives: Social Justice

‘Tragic Outcome’ for Gig Workers as California Supreme Court Hands Win to Uber, DoorDash

“Today’s ruling only strengthens our demand for the right to join together in a union so that we can begin improving the gig economy for workers and our customers,” the case plaintiff said.

By Brett Wilkins Published 7-25-2024 by Common Dreams

*Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and other members and allies of the California Gig Workers Union rally outside the California Supreme Court in San Francisco on May 24, 2024. (Photo: SEIU 1021/X)*

Labor advocates on Thursday decried a ruling by the California Supreme Court upholding a lower court’s affirmation of a state ballot measure allowing app-based ride and delivery companies to classify their drivers as independent contractors, limiting their worker rights.

The court’s seven justices ruled unanimously in Castellanos v. State of California that Proposition 22, which was approved by 58% of California voters in 2020, complies with the state constitution. Prop 22—which was overturned in 2021 by an Alameda County Superior Court judge in 2021—was upheld in March 2023 by the state’s 1st District Court of Appeals.

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‘Economic and Moral Failing’: It’s Been 15 Years Since Last Federal Minimum Wage Hike

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“Voters understand that raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do, even if their elected officials in state legislatures and Washington, D.C. remain inactive.”

By Jake Johnson. Published 7-24-2024 by Common Dreams

Former U.S. President Barack Obama had been in office for just over six months when the federal minimum wage was raised to a paltry $7.25 an hour—where it remains today, 15 years later.

Wednesday marked exactly a decade and a half since the federal wage floor was last lifted, an occasion that advocates used to tout state-level pay hikes and make the case for a long-overdue national increase, particularly as the nation’s billionaires and corporations do better than ever.

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‘Woah!’: FTC Applauded for Launching Inquiry Into Surveillance Pricing

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“Firms that harvest Americans’ personal data can put people’s privacy at risk,” FTC Chair Lina Khan said. “Now firms could be exploiting this vast trove of personal information to charge people higher prices.”

By Edward Carver. Published 7-23-2024 by Common Dreams

*FTC Chair Lina Khan. Photo: New America/flickr/CC*

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday launched an investigation into surveillance pricing and requested information from eight companies on the practice.

The FTC inquiry will look at the effect of surveillance pricing—using data on consumers’ behavior or characteristics to manipulate the price for them as individuals—on privacy, competition, and consumer protection.

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Calls to Boycott Netanyahu Speech Grow as Israeli PM Heads to DC

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A new coalition of advocacy groups—some of them Jewish-led—are urging lawmakers to “amplify the voices of those in Israel, Palestine, and around the world who reject Netanyahu’s failed leadership.”

By Brett Wilkins. Published 7-22-2024 by Common Dreams

*Members of the peace group CodePink hold a demonstration calling for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, D.C. on July 22, 2024. (Photo: CodePink/X)*

Pressure is mounting on U.S. lawmakers to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled address to Congress later this week, as a newly formed coalition of civil society groups announced a protest against the far-right leader—whose policies and actions in Gaza are on trial for genocide at the World Court.

As Netanyahu “brings to Congress his message of extending and expanding the devastating war in Gaza, neglecting the safety of Israeli hostages, and ensuring impunity for the actions of his government, an alternative message must be heard,” the new coalition said in a statement Monday. “To amplify a message of safety, freedom, just peace, collective liberation, and human rights for ALL Palestinians and Israelis, nine diverse groups have come together to form the Peace and Justice Protest Bloc.”

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Until 1968, presidential candidates were picked by party conventions – a process revived by Biden’s withdrawal from race

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By Philip Klinkner, Hamilton College. Published 7-21-2024 by The Conversation

*President Joe Biden address the crowd and nation during the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. Photo: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff/flickr/CC*

Now that Joe Biden has dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the nominee, it will ultimately be up to Democratic National Convention delegates to formally select a new nominee for their party. This will mark the first time in over 50 years that a major party nominee was selected outside of the democratic process of primaries and caucuses.

Many Democrats had already begun discussing how to replace Biden. They worried that having the convention delegates, the majority of whom were pledged at first to Biden, select the nominee would appear undemocratic and illegitimate.

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‘Ticking Time Bomb’: International Alarm as Poliovirus Found in Gaza Sewage

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“Detecting the virus that causes polio in wastewater heralds a real health disaster,” Gaza’s health ministry said.

By Edward Carver. Published 7-19-2024 by Common Dreams

Poliovirus has been detected in sewage samples at six locations in the Gaza Strip, the World Health Organization said on Friday, following announcements from both the Israel and Gaza health ministries.

Vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 was found in samples taken on June 23 from sites in Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah.

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Student Loan Payments Paused for Millions Amid Court Fight Over Relief Plan

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While praising the Biden administration’s move “to stave off this reckless attack from extremist politicians and judges,” advocates stressed that “broad-based debt cancellation is the only solution.”

By Jessica Corbett. Published 7-19-2024 by Common Dreams

The Biden administration responded to an appellate court temporarily blocking one of its student debt relief programs by pausing payments for the 8 million borrowers already enrolled—a move welcomed by advocates, even as some called for further action.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona acknowledged in a statement that the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling against President Joe Biden’s Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan “could have devastating consequences for millions of student loan borrowers crushed by unaffordable monthly payments if it remains in effect.”

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CFPB Aims to Protect Workers From Paycheck Advance Fees

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“The CFPB’s actions will help workers know what they are getting with these products and prevent race-to-the-bottom business practices,” said the director of the bureau.

By Julia Conley. Published 7-18-2024 by Common Dreams

*Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra. Screenshot: CNBC*

With inflation rising in recent years, driven by corporate greed according to numerous analyses, the number of people in the U.S. who have relied on paycheck advance products has skyrocketed—but a rule introduced Thursday by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is aimed at ensuring that lenders who provide these products are transparent with financially struggling workers about the fees they can incur.

The CFPB proposed a rule clarifying that paycheck advances, sometimes marketed as “earned wage” products, are consumer loans and are therefore subject to the Truth in Lending Act.

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Sightings of Uncontacted Tribe Spur Calls to End Logging in Peruvian Amazon

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“This is a humanitarian disaster in the making—it’s absolutely vital that the loggers are thrown out, and the Mashco-Piro’s territory is properly protected at last,” said the director of Survival International.

By Brett Wilkins. Published 7-16-2024 by Common Dreams

*Mashco-Piro people gather on a riverbank in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest in this July 2024 photo. (Photo: Survival International)*

A leading rights group on Tuesday called for loggers to be “thrown out” of a remote part of the Peruvian Amazon following recent sightings of people belonging to what is believed to be the world’s largest uncontacted Indigenous tribe.

London-based Survival International published video and photos of dozens of Mashco-Piro people taken near the village of Monte Salvado in southeastern Peru near the Brazilian border. The group said that in recent days, more than 50 Mashco-Piro have appeared near the village, which is inhabited by the related Yine people. A group of 17 Mashco-Piro were also recently sighted near the neighboring village of Puerto Nuevo.

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Targeting Corporate Landlords, Biden to Unveil National Rent Control Plan

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“The rent is too damn high—and rent control is a real fix,” one group said, praising the proposal.

By Jessica Corbett. Published 7-15-2024 by Common Dreams

*Rent control rally in Seattle, 2019. Photo: Seattle City Council/flickr/CC*

As former U.S. President Donald Trump secured the Republican nomination and announced his running mate on Monday, Democratic President Joe Biden prepared to unveil a proposal that would cap annual rent increases at 5% for tenants of major landlords.

After Biden briefly previewed the proposal during a press conference last week, The Washington Post reported on the planned announcement Monday, citing three people familiar with the matter. The Associated Press separately confirmed the plan.

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