Passenger Air Service in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula: Overview and Analysis

[Excerpt] Rural America needs safe, efficient, reliable, and accessible passenger air service. Federal government subsidies have long been necessary to assure that residents in smaller, less profitable markets have access to the nation’s transportation network. That access is necessary for a community’s economic health, is arguably a right of all taxpayers and residents, and is in public interest. But market forces within the aviation industry are today driving a restructuring that may curtail or eliminate service to many communities in the nation. And the present political climate raises a serious question about the federal government’s continued commitment to the nation’s rural air transportation system. This report focuses on the state of passenger air service in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula [U.P.]. The U.P. is among the most geographically remote areas in the eastern half of the United States. The region’s economic, social, and cultural institutions are increasingly related to a global marketplace. These depend, in varying degrees, on access to the national and global transportation network. Scheduled, commercial passenger air service is especially critical for this area too distant from passenger rail, without adequate commercial bus service, with few four-lane highways and very limited connection to the Interstate Highway system

On-Demand Employment, Worker Misclassification, and Labor Standards

[Excerpt] On-demand platform work, like other forms of contingent and temporary employment, destabilizes industries, undermines worker protections and living standards, and significantly contributes to wealth and income inequality

Alternative Dispute Resolution [ADR] for Workers Compensation in Collective Bargaining Agreements: An Overview

This paper addresses the argued benefits for cost savings and efficiency of alternative dispute resolution [ADR] procedures for workers compensation. Particular focus is on legislative “carve-outs” that authorize collectively-bargained ADR procedures for the construction industry in New York and other states. Given the particular pressure to contain rising workers’ compensation costs—and the burden that these costs represent for the construction industry— ADR procedures are one of the most important advantages of unionized construction and, in particular, Project Labor Agreements [PLAs]. The negotiated alternative procedures, subject to Workers’ Compensation Board [WCB] approval, use an expedited and non-adversarial process that can potentially save considerable project time and costs