Labor Relations INK - Labor Relations News, Analysis and Insight
It’s All Academic
Graduate student unions at both Harvard and Brown reached tentative contract agreements this month. This comes after more than a year of bargaining, in both cases. It also further codifies the role of graduate student worker as employee under the National Labor...
Gig Economy
COVID-19 is moving gig economy companies to extend benefits to contract workers. In some cases, this is a forced move by city ordinances – as in Seattle, where the City Council is now requiring app-based companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Instacart to pay their...
Labor Around The World
U.S. labor unions are speaking up against the arrest of one of Mexico’s top labor activists. Labor attorney, Susana Prieto, was arrested during a protest early this month. AFL-CIO President, Richard Trumpka, among other U.S. labor leaders, say that Prieto’s arrest...
UpJourney Ask Phil About Leaders Who Don’t Communicate Well
UpJourney.com asked Phil to provide help to answer the question, "what do you do when your boss doesn't communicate with you?" Phil points to power distance as a significant culprit, and provides some pointers of how to work toward better communication. It's a useful...
Power Distance: How it Impacts Quality, Safety, and the Bottom Line
By Lori Chovanak King, DNP, RN, APRN-BC Excellent healthcare leaders are just as important as excellent clinicians when it comes patient care. Studies show both have substantial impact on patient outcomes and the organizational bottom line. The best leaders in...
Labor Relations INK May 2020
In this issue: Laboring Toward 2020 Tech/Media Unions Alt-Labor 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 A few weeks ago I did a presentation (on...
Labor Relations Insight
by Phil Wilson A few weeks ago I did a presentation (on Zoom, obviously) about virtual campaign communications during a world of social distancing. During that presentation I shared this chart, showing the topics I’ve been asked about most during the pandemic: As you...
Union Bailout Update
We have been tracking the NLRB responses to the pandemic, and maintaining a list of how each region has been handling elections and related issues, based on the experiences of the attorneys and our clients. You can review that web page here. Please email us any...
Laboring Toward 2020
Unionized staffers of Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden have reached a new milestone: the first time a major party's apparent presidential nominee will employ unionized workers under a collective bargaining agreement. The agreement was announced in a joint...
Tech/Media Unions
NLRB officials are approving mail-in ballot elections as a way to keep organizing efforts alive during the pandemic. Examples of this include Instacart workers in Chicago voting to join UFCW, Johnson Control workers in San Antonio voting to join SMART, and Curaleaf...
Alt Labor
The Service Employees International Union is still using its relationship with worker centers to instigate labor action––most recently, with Working Washington (WW) and its attempt to stage a strike against Chipotle utilizing Postmates workers. Postmates is a...
Union Corruption
Just a few months after the FCA-UAW scandal became public, rumors started to circulate about whether or not similar bribes and favors with the union were happening at GM and Ford as well. That was three years ago. GM is officially off the hook. Federal prosecutors...
Gig Economy
Early this month, the state of California filed a lawsuit against Uber and Lyft, claiming that both companies are misclassifying workers as independent contractors. The suit was filed by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, along with city attorneys from San...
Healthcare
Illinois nursing homes avoided a major strike this month by about 10,000 members of SEIU Healthcare who work at more than 100 nursing homes in the state. The union and the Illinois Association of Healthcare Facilities reached a tentative agreement one day before the...
Right To Work
The AFL-CIO and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 are attempting to institute a law that would ban right-to-work legislation in the state of Illinois. Specifically, they are looking to bar any law from being passed that "restricts or interferes...
Labor Around The World
We’ve already seen how unions are taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to organize workers here in the US, so it’s no surprise that the same is true in Canada. SEIU Local 2 launched a campaign to organize essential workers this month. The campaign is called,...
Approachability – A leadership quality with profound impact
By Lori Chovanak King, DNP, RN, APRN-BC Approachability is important – sometimes a matter of life or death. In healthcare, research supports approachable leaders likely being the key to improving nurse retention rates and achieving optimal patient outcomes. How, you...
NLRB to Resume ULP Hearings
A press release today announce that the National Labor Relations Board Division of Judges will resume holding hearings on unfair labor practice complaints as of June 1st, using online video conferencing technology.
NNU Using COVID-19 to Push Agenda
National Nurses United is leveraging COVID-19 for their own agenda Lori Chovanak King, DNP, RN, APRN-BC The National Nurses United (NNU) is at it again as it attempts to leverage a crisis to line their pocketbook and achieve their political goals. Once again, the...
Have priorities changed in healthcare?
How we have adapted during the COVID crisis and what it means for the future. By Lori King, DNP, RN, APRN-BC A great deal has changed in healthcare in preparing for and navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. The momentum and need for change will likely continue for up to...
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