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Workers at London-based Atomik Architecture are preparing to ballot for strike action, following a dispute over pay and conditions at the firm. Workers at the firm informed management on Tuesday of their intention to ballot for what could become the first ever strike by private-sector architecture... View full entry
Legislators in California have passed a bill strengthening the state’s pay transparency requirements. Elements contained in the bill, SB 1162, include a requirement for many employers to include salary ranges in job postings, disclose salary scales to employees for their current positions, and... View full entry
Workers at New York firm Bernheimer Architecture have formed the first functioning union at a private-sector architecture firm in the United States. The workers group, collectively known as BA Union, will join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), as first... View full entry
Architectural workers in Portugal have announced the formation of a new labor union following months of debate and deliberation. The group known as Movimento dos Trabalhadores em Arquitectura (MTA) is saying they have adopted a constitution and bylaws following its declaration of intent to... View full entry
A bill has passed both the New York State Assembly and Senate which would require employers to disclose salary ranges in job postings. If signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul, New York would become the latest state to pass wage transparency laws, following similar moves in Colorado, Nevada... View full entry
Oki, a qualified architect at global construction company Mace, has been chosen by an informal collective of early-career architects, students and architectural activists keen to shake-up the institute and move it beyond ‘empty slogans and self-serving initiatives’. — Architect's Journal
The campaigning collective behind Muyiwa Oki’s nomination includes grassroots organization Future Architects Front (FAF), past and current RIBA Council members, and RIBA’s Future Architects members. As previously reported by Archinect, the group announced in March its intentions to put... View full entry
The New York City Council has voted to postpone the enforcement of a new law which would have seen businesses with four or more employees in the city, including architecture firms, of including salary ranges in job advertisements. The law, which was set to take effect from May 15th, will now take... View full entry
The Department for Professional Employees (DPE), a coalition of U.S.-based unions, has launched a survey seeking to understand the unionization landscape in the architectural profession. The group’s 24 affiliated unions span from artists to school administrators as well as the IAM union which... View full entry
Architecture firms in New York City recruiting new staff may soon be required to include salary ranges in jobs postings, following the passage of a new bill through the New York City Council. The bill requires NYC employers with four or more employees to include the minimum and maximum salary... View full entry
The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) has released a statement reaffirming its opposition to unpaid internships in architecture as well as offering advice for how firms and students can help combat the issue. Under NCARB’s licensure rules, employers are required to... View full entry
In 2018, 60 workers died due to temperature extremes, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data on workplace fatalities.
Though the climate crisis is creating conditions where workers are facing hotter temperatures on a more frequent basis, there are no federal safety protections for workers in extreme temperatures, and only three states, California, Washington and Minnesota, have heat stress workplace protection standards.
— The Guardian
The Guardian's Michael Sainato takes a look at the increasingly dangerous nature of outdoor work as climate change makes extreme heat a greater danger for people who labor outside. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 783 workers in the United States died and more than... View full entry
Seven Chinese labourers who worked on the construction of a casino and resort in the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) are suing the owner of the project and two of its contractors, alleging they were victims of a forced labour scheme and had suffered injuries on site.
The labourers were working on the Imperial Pacific casino and resort in Saipan, the largest island in the South Pacific commonwealth.
— Global Construction Review
GCR covers the lawsuit seven laborers from China have brought forward against the casino's developer Imperial Pacific International, contractor MCC International Saipan Ltd Co, and contractor Gold Mantis Construction Decoration in Saipan, a U.S. commonwealth island just 120 miles north of Guam... View full entry
The culture of fear and intimidation on construction sites has led to basic safety precautions being overlooked. Nashville is currently the most dangerous city in the south for construction workers, according to a report released in May 2017 by the Partnership for Working Families, Workers Defense Project and the University of Illinois at Chicago professor Nik Theodore, titled Build a Better South: Construction Working Conditions in the US South. — The Guardian
The Build a Better South: Construction Working Conditions in the US South study examined construction industry labor conditions across six key cities in the southern United States: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and Nashville. "Among workers who had been injured during the past year... View full entry
Migrant workers constructing stadiums for the Qatar 2022 World Cup continue to be trapped in a vicious cycle of debt and exploitation, according to new research by Amnesty International.
Fifa is already under pressure from its own advisory board to act over the kafala system, used to monitor migrant labourers, which has been described as modern slavery. Now, a survey by Amnesty has found two-thirds of migrant workers have paid excessive or illegal recruitment fees.
— The Guardian
Despite promises from Qatari and FIFA officials about improved labor conditions, the situation for Nepali migrant workers building the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup remain dire. In its 2015 report Qatar: Profit and Loss. Counting the cost of modern day slavery in Qatar: What price freedom?, the... View full entry
In a landmark decision last month, Columbia University graduate students won the right to unionize in a case filed against the National Labor Relations Board. As a result, graduate students in private universities across the U.S. now have the right to collectively bargain. What effect does this... View full entry