Labor Relations INK - Labor Relations News, Analysis and Insight
Wilson Quoted on NLRB Change to Protected Activity
SHRM reached out to Phil Wilson for a late January article regarding the changes the NLRB made to the definition of protected concerted activity. Wilson commented that "protected, concerted activity cases involving individual griping won't be considered. It gives...
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Labor Relations INK January 2019
In this issue: Betrayal Of Trust Lockout Pays Off For Steelworkers SEIU Plays Hardball Union Woes at Kaiser Insight, Teamster Beat, Sticky Fingers and more… The bottom of each story contains a link to the individual post on our site. ********** Labor Relations Insight...
read moreLabor Relations Insight
by Phil Wilson The worst job I ever had was waiting tables at Pizza Hut in Sapulpa Oklahoma. One of the (many) things I hated about that job was tips. In 1985 people didn't tip a 16-year old boy waiting tables at the Pizza Hut in Sapulpa Oklahoma. Almost never. Now...
read moreUnion Bailout Update
In a guidance memorandum last week, NLRB General Counsel, Peter Robb, announced a change designed to help employers avoid litigating unfair labor practice charges filed by unions or union-represented employees who have filed grievances regarding the same underlying...
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Betrayal Of Trust
Seems the union leadership representing New York City’s sanitation workers can’t be trusted to keep their noses clean. A proposed bill by the city’s Sanitation Committee would allow the Business Integrity Commission (BIC) to bar union officials from representing the...
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Lockout Pays Off For Steelworkers
After a seven-month lockout, a new six-year agreement was ratified, providing “significant wage increases and preserves affordable benefits” for about 1200 members of USW Locals 12012 and 12003. The Massachusetts-area union members worked for utility company National...
read moreSEIU Plays Hardball
The SEIU played hardball with an employee (and former shop steward) who refused to sign a new union card that was designed to commit union members to paying dues whether or not they decided to leave the union. In anticipation of the Janus decision, SEIU Local 668...
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Union Woes At Kaiser
In December, Kaiser Permanente faced a week-long strike of around 4000 mental healthcare members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW). RNs from the California Nurses Association and members of the Stationary Engineers Local 39 also joined picket lines...
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It’s All Academic
The trend of teachers strikes continued into the New Year with the Los Angeles United School District, the second largest in nation, leading the charge. After a week long strike, teachers and school support staff voted overwhelmingly to return to the classroom this...
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Teamster Beat
Teamsters Local 25 is being investigated after some new members were left with almost the entirety of their holiday paycheck deducted to cover a IBT initiation fee. What usually happens in this local is that new members pay their $500 initiation fee into the union in...
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Does It Ever Get Old?
If you’re fascinated by the depth and breadth of corruption among union officials and employees, this article from the National Legal and Policy Center covering the top ten union corruption stories of the year should interest you. Along with several (dis)honorable...
read moreFight For $15
The minimum wage went up for workers in twenty states on New Year’s Day - a clear indication that the movement for a national minimum wage increase continues to grow. In fact, Democrats introduced new legislation last week that would raise the federal minimum wage to...
read moreRight To Work
When the Electrical Workers Local 31 (IBEW) received notification that a former member wanted to stop her dues deduction in June of 2018, the union told her that she was required to continue paying them until January 2019 when her contract expired. This is a common...
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Auto Workers
Another former UAW official has been sentenced in the Fiat Chrysler scandal. Nancy A. Johnson will spend a year in prison and pay a $10,000 fine for "conspiring with other UAW officials and FCA executives to accept the illegal payments.” Meanwhile, the UAW is...
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Labor Around The World
India just had one of the largest general strikes in world history. More than 150 million workers in government, banking, transit, manufacturing, transportation, education, agriculture and the informal economy participated in the protest against Prime Minister Modi’s...
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Labor Relations INK December 2018
For our end-of-the-year edition of Labor Relations INK, we thought we’d do something different and list some of our favorite articles from 2018. This was a big year for labor stories. The biggest story of the year of course was the Supreme Court decision in Janus v....
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Labor Relations Ink November 2018
In this issue: Union Membership Plummets in Northwest Post-Janus Tech Worker Dissent To Open A Pandora’s Box? Corruption Runs Rampant in IATSE SEIU Watch, Sticky Fingers, and more… The bottom of each story contains a link to the individual post on our site. **********...
read moreLabor Relations Insight
by Phil Wilson Life (And Labor Strategy) Is Like A Game Of Chess Have you ever heard a union campaign is like a chess match? My guess is you've probably said it at some point. Today is round 9 of the World Chess Championship. For the first time since the famous...
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Union Bailout Update
As the DOL considers new rules designed to force financial disclosure for union affiliated “intermediate bodies,” Big Labor is already positioning to fight the move, claiming that such rules would create a financial hardship for such entities, especially in light of...
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Union Membership Plummets in Northwest Post-Janus
According to a report from The Freedom Foundation, the decline in union membership in the northwest since the Janus decision totals around 25,000 members. The report also attributes the loss of 27 million in annual revenue to the drop in membership. The Freedom...
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