Labor Relations INK - Labor Relations News, Analysis and Insight
Labor Relations Ink March 2020
In this issue: Unions Capitalizing On CoVid-19 Laboring Toward 2020 Union Corruption Scoreboard, Insight, Sticky Fingers and more… The bottom of each story contains a link to the individual post on our site. ********** Labor Relations Insight by Phil Wilson What a...
Labor Relations Insight
by Phil Wilson What A Difference A Month Makes Many of you are reading this sheltering in place somewhere in the US. I write this as I shelter in place at home in Oklahoma, where the COVID-19 crisis is taking hold. I am very grateful that my family (including my...
Union Bailout Update
All NLRB elections have been suspended through at least April 3rd, including mail ballots. The Board noted that it will monitor the situation and potentially extend the postponement. As we notified you on March 24th, the Board announced that it is pushing...
Laboring Toward 2020
Who does Big Labor want for a candidate? The current approximate tally stands at 26 union endorsements for Bernie Sanders against 11 for Joe Biden. Biden currently holds the majority of delegates, and folks are beginning to wonder how much longer Sanders will stay...
Union Corruption
The hammer finally fell on Gary Jones, former President of the UAW, as federal prosecutors charged the disgraced union leader with plotting to embezzle over $1 million in the widespread scandal. Ironically, just as the Teamsters finally emerged from three decades of...
It’s All Academic
Fifty-four graduate assistants received an unwelcome letter in the last week of February from University of California, Santa Cruz, notifying them they will no longer have teaching appointments for the spring semester. The grad assistants had started a strike, which...
Manufacturing + Logistics
Auto companies have shut down production for various lengths of time, including Ford, GM, FCA, Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Hyundai. A couple of workers were sent home with the virus from an FCA plant in Sterling, Michigan sparking a set of wild cat strikes in protest,...
Labor Around The World
France provided another blow to gig-economy companies by claiming Uber drivers were employees, not contractors. Services like Uber, Lyft, Just Eat-Takeaway and Deliveroo are facing legal challenges from Brazil to Colombia, as they have been in the U.S.
Breaking News: The NLRB pushes back implementation of new election rules.
The Board announced that it is pushing the effective date of the new union election rules to June 1, coming on the heals of postponing all union elections until at least April 3rd. The Board has signaled it may extend the election postponement further if conditions...
SHRM Asks “Will Unions Make A Comeback?” Wilson responds.
A recent spate of somewhat high-profile union organizing campaigns among younger workers seems to indicate a new spark of life for organized labor, despite decades of steady membership decline. In a March 14th online article article for a SHRM (Society for Human...
Labor Relations Ink February 2020
In this issue: Revisioning of Labor Law Did Chino Valley nurses make gains in their new contract? Janus Ruling Effects Political Spending Insight, Sticky Fingers, Scoreboard and more… The bottom of each story contains a link to the individual post on our site....
Labor Relations Insight
by Phil Wilson Is the PRO Act a Mate in One? This week the NLRB issued its highly anticipated rulemaking on joint employer, overruling the controversial Browning Ferris decision. If you haven’t read through the 53-page final rule (and why would you – that’s what...
Did Chino Valley nurses make gains in their new contract?
by Lori King On December 12 Chino Valley Medical Center nurses ratified their first union contract. Prior to the ratification, the hospital and nurses suffered through several months of contentious negotiations – requiring mediation, an informational picket in August,...
Union Bailout Update
The NLRB released several Advice Memoranda at the end of January, going back several years and addressing a range of topics. Due to the age of many of the memoranda, several of the issues addressed have since been outdated by further actions of the Board or the...
Laboring Toward 2020
Biden’s support of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) puts him at odds with Big Labor, while union support for Bernie Sanders is snowballing. Although the international unions have been slow to pick a favorite, many local, regional and statewide unions are jumping...
Revisioning Labor Law
The Clean Slate for Worker Power is the most recent liberal revisioning of labor law. This effort was spearheaded by former NLRB member Sharon Block and Harvard professor Benjamin Sachs, and hosted by Harvard Law School. If you’re up for some heavy reading, download...
Tech + Media Unions
The staff at crowdfunding platform Kickstarter voted to join the Office and Professional Employees Union this month, making it one of the first tech companies to opt into a representative labor relationship. Meanwhile, executives at Hearst Magazines sat down for the...
Union Corruption
One former UAW employee is suing the union for forcing him to pay dues to a local that he was not even a part of; and furthermore, that he’s not even sure exists as an actual representative unit. More here. This kind of organizational leadership is no doubt at the...
Janus Ruling Affects Political Spending
Within the first year of Janus, 33 percent of Oregon’s state employees and over 40 percent of home care workers represented by SEIU 503 have chosen to opt out of dues deduction. In effect, the union’s 2019 LM-2 shows a drop in political spending for the year of more...
It’s All Academic
Back in 2012, adjunct professors at Duquesne University (a Catholic institution) voted to join the Steelworkers Union. Since then, the university has refused to bargain based on its status as a religious institution, which exempts them from NLRB jurisdiction. At the...
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