Julia Rock is a reporter for the Lever.
The Department of Justice is backing railroad giant Norfolk Southern’s attempt to limit where workers and consumers can bring cases against corporations, making it easier for the firm to block future lawsuits.
In the wake of a disastrous rail accident in Ohio, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg says he doesn’t have the power to compel the rail industry to upgrade its safety equipment and procedures. But he does.
The recent train derailment in Ohio shows the need for more stringent safety rules for train brakes, especially for trains carrying hazardous materials. Transportation regulators are instead bending to the interests of rail industry lobbyists.
For years, rail companies have resisted federal safety regulations to cut costs. The major train derailment in Ohio last weekend, which resulted in the emergency evacuation of residents nearby, is the fruit of such profit maximization.
At the October 2022 summit of the National Restaurant Association’s legal wing, union-busting lawyers shared their latest strategies for shutting down workplace democracy. Recent food service union successes, it seems, have worried industry executives.
Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case with high-stakes consequences for the labor movement. Corporate lobbying groups are pressuring the court, vilifying unions as violent and harmful so as to combat the national labor organizing surge.
Big pharma justifies its exorbitant prices by arguing that the huge profits it nets from price markups will be spent on research. Yet the industry clearly prefers to funnel its profits to shareholders — which means enriching the already rich rather than spurring medical innovation.
A new federal proposal would punish banks that have committed crimes by preventing them from managing retirement funds. Wall Street disagrees — and is deploying an army of lobbyists to block the proposal.
After forcing a contract on exhausted railworkers last week, President Joe Biden vowed to keep fighting for them to have paid sick leave. If he’s serious, here is how he and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg could fulfill that promise.
Joe Biden is standing with railroad barons to force a deal on workers who are demanding a reasonable amount of paid sick leave. It’s the latest and possibly starkest example of the chasm between his pro-worker rhetoric during his campaign and his presidency.
A massive tax loophole created by state legislatures currently allows tax breaks to Americans who make over $1 million a year, amounting to an estimated $50 billion by 2025. Joe Biden now has an easy opportunity to close that loophole.
The Department of Justice has announced it will stop opposing efforts to discharge student debt through bankruptcy — a victory for the advocacy groups who have continuously made this demand on the Biden administration.
Progressive and leftist voters are always told we’re too extreme. The midterm results should quash that narrative.
Minnesotans vote for attorney general tomorrow, with progressive Keith Ellison facing Republican former finance lawyer Jim Schultz. Schultz is trying to frame the election around crime — to avoid the race’s high stakes for consumers’ and workers’ rights.
Intel Corp. successfully pushed for congressional approval of a $76 billion subsidy for the chip industry. Now, it is laying off workers in an austerity regime while continuing to give shareholders massive payouts.
A “clean power” group with ties to the fossil fuel industry is touting a new bill, backed by senators Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin, that will accelerate oil and gas pipeline construction — and claiming it as a climate victory.
A just-released deal crafted by senators Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer is being touted as a way to fast-track clean energy development. A closer look at the details reveals the main outcome will be speeding up natural gas pipeline projects.
The Inflation Reduction Act has been widely touted as a big step on climate. But to pass it, Democrats struck a deal with Joe Manchin to accelerate oil and gas pipeline construction — and no one is discussing how much it might increase emissions.
In June, the Biden administration announced it would reinstate a rule empowering states and tribes to protect waterways from pollution by energy development. Now it’s supporting Joe Manchin’s secret deal designed to expedite approval of those energy projects.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Joe Manchin struck a deal to fast-track approval of new gas and oil pipelines as part of a must-pass spending bill. House progressives have the ability to block it — but most won’t say whether they will.