As reported by CBS News, a new bill introduced into the California State Legislature aims to give employees the “right to disconnect” from their job when they’re off the clock, protecting workers from having to answer after-hours emails or calls from supervisors.
Assemblymember Matt Haney of San Francisco introduced Assembly Bill 2751 in February. According to CBS News, this legislation would require both public and private employers to create a workplace policy that allows employees to ignore employer communications during their off time. Non-working hours would need to be established by a written agreement. If there is a violation, employees could file a complaint with the California Labor Commissioner, which may be punishable by a fine.
The bill has not been signed into law yet, but it will be heard by the assembly labor committee. If passed, California would be the first state to create a law that would give workers the “right to disconnect” during non-working hours.
Tesla to Cut 10% of its Global Workforce
Tesla is laying off more than 10% of its global workforce, according to a Reuters report. According to an internal memo seen by the news agency, the layoffs are a result of falling sales and an intensifying price war for electric vehicles (EVs).
Two senior leaders, battery development chief Drew Baglino and vice president for public policy Rohan Patel, also announced their departures.
CEO Elon Musk last announced a round of job cuts in 2022, after telling executives he had a “super bad feeling” about the economy. Still, Tesla headcount has risen from around 100,000 in late 2021 to over 140,000 in late 2023, according to filings with U.S. regulators.
Volkswagen Workers in Tennessee in Midst of Union Vote
Approximately 4,300 hourly workers at a Volkswagen automobile assembly plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are voting this week on whether to join the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.
NPR reported hourly employees at the plant started casting ballots on Thursday, April 17. The vote, which closes at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 19, is one of the most closely watched labor events this year. That’s because of the significance of the Chattanooga plant itself, which the UAW had tried and failed to unionize twice over the past decade.
The plant, which produces Volkswagen’s Atlas SUV and the ID.4 electric SUV, is the only Volkswagen manufacturing facility in the world without worker representation.
Google Fires 28 Employees for Protesting Israel Cloud Deal
According to CNN, Google has fired more than two dozen employees who protested this week against the company’s cloud computing contract with the Israeli government.
The workers were dismissed after an investigation found they had staged protests inside Google’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California. In Sunnyvale, they entered the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, according to a post on X by the group that organized the demonstration, No Tech For Apartheid.
A Google spokesperson told CNN Thursday the protests “were part of a longstanding campaign by a group of organizations and people who largely don’t work” at the company.
Google and Amazon have a $1.2 billion contract to provide cloud computing services, known as Project Nimbus, to the Israeli government and military, according to No Tech For Apartheid, who have strongly condemned the dismissals.
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