Labor Relations INK - Labor Relations News, Analysis and Insight
Labor Relations INK December 2019
In this issue: Laboring Toward 2020 AI, Technology & Labor Union Corruption UAW Deal Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be Insight, Union Bailout Update and more… The bottom of each story contains a link to the individual post on our site. ********** Labor Relations...
Labor Relations Insight
by Phil Wilson NLRB Ends 2019 with a Bang What a difference a year makes. In the last seven days the NLRB has issued several hugely important rules and decisions, and it looks like the Ring Board is just getting started. It took a while for this Board to hit its...
Union Bailout Update
A few more details on the final Elections Rule posted by the NLRB, due to take effect April 16, 2020. The board did not completely rescind the Obama-era rule but makes fundamental changes. Changes have been made in the following areas (read article for details):...
Laboring Toward 2020
Canvassers for the Joe Biden campaign joined the Teamsters, adding to the list of unionized campaigns, which include Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, and Julián Castro to date. At the time of this writing, it remained to be seen whether tonight’s...
AI, Technology and Labor
As of today, Amazon has 200,000 mobile robots working alongside its 1.1 million employees. Though the robots have saved human stowers and pickers from having to walk 12-20 miles per day across the concrete landscape of an Amazon warehouse, the facilities with the...
Tech/Media Unions
As we reported last month, the Writers Guild of America East is looking to organize Hearst, one of the largest media companies in the country. But they may have hit a roadblock. Shortly after WGA-East’s petition to organize was filed, another organization claiming to...
Union Corruption
The UAW scandal just keeps getting thicker. The FBI is investigating whether the fire at UAW’s Solidarity House headquarters, which started in the IT department, was arson, and if so, would be considered obstruction of justice. As late as this month, the U.S. Attorney...
It’s All Academic
Members of the Harvard Graduate Student Union (represented by UAW) have been on strike since December 3rd. The purpose of the strike is to move the university to bargain with the union and settle on a contract. Negotiations for HGSU’s first contract have been ongoing...
Gig Economy
New York lawmakers are proposing a bill that would allow Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize. This would essentially extend union rights to gig workers under state law. The main question here is whether the NLRB, which enforces labor law nationally, will allow it. And...
UAW Deal Not All It’s Cracked Up To Be
Late last month, the UAW succeeding in reaching its final deal with all Big Three Automakers. While some reviews are positive, many industry experts are saying more changes should have been made. In particular, critics of the deal say that the contracts "fall short of...
Minimum Rising
Over the last few years, each New Year has brought with it state minimum wage increases. Click here to review the expected increases by state in list form, or here to view the Economic Policy Institute’s interactive Minimum Wage Tracker map. Some other notable changes...
Labor Around The World
The pension strike in France has reached its fourteenth day and some of the country’s unions don't plan to stop until they see results. The main complaint about the pension system is the governments' plan to combine the country’s 42 pension schemes into “a single,...
Wilson Quoted On NLRB Elections Rule Changes
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reached out to Phil Wilson for clarification on the announced changes to the NLRB union election rules changes coming soon. Phil clarified one of the contentious aspects of the rule that the changes will rectify:...
Labor Relations INK November 2019
In this issue: AI, Technology, and Labor Union Corruption Manufacturing/Industrial/Transport Right-to-Work Insight, Scoreboard, Sticky Fingers and more… The bottom of each story contains a link to the individual post on our site. ********** Labor Relations Insight by...
Labor Relations Insight
by Phil Wilson Who Watches the Watchmen? “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” (Translated: “Who will guard the guards themselves?”) Juvenal’s Satire IV One of my favorite graphic novels (what we grownups call comic books to make them sound more serious) is The Watchmen by...
Union Bailout Update
As of January 21, 2020, all affidavits, correspondence, position statements, and documentary or other evidence in connection with unfair labor practice and representation cases pending before the NLRB must be e-filed via the NLRB website. Mailed or emailed submissions...
Laboring Toward 2020
Bernie Sanders beat out Elizabeth Warren for the endorsement of National Nurses United, the country’s largest nurses union. The NNU backed Sanders in 2016, and despite Warren’s own Medicare for All plan, the NNU went with Sanders for 2020. This also brings to Sanders...
AI, Technology and Labor
AI hiring software is becoming more prevalent and those in the industry say we should get used to it. HireVue is one of the companies getting the most spotlight for its offerings with more than 100 employers, including Hilton and Unilever, now using this system....
Tech/Media
A former Kickstarter employee has launched a new project on Kickstarter that is designed to help workers unionize the tech industry. It’s called “Solidarity Onboarding” and it’s essentially an onboarding kit (booklet, pin, pencil, sticker) for tech workers who are...
It’s All Academic
Wisconsin Representative, Mark Pocan, introduced a bill this month that would officially change the classification of graduate student workers to be that of employees with the ability to unionize. This bill, if passed, would potentially block the NLRB’s recent...
Get INK Free!
Total Victory
Left of Boom
