Labor Relations INK - Labor Relations News, Analysis and Insight
Labor Relations Insight
by Phil Wilson The Iceberg of Ignorance In the last month we’ve had the opportunity to conduct a number of assessment projects. This is some of the most rewarding work we do. It is truly Left of Boom work where a client proactively tries to identify employee relations...
Union Bailout Update
At the end of September the Senate confirmed Eugene Scalia as the new Labor Secretary. The son of deceased Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia was confirmed by a vote of 53-44, along party lines. The National Labor Relations Board set a 2022 goal of reducing its case...
Laboring Towards 2020
Steven Greenhouse, a labor pundit and pro-union author, has “graded” the Democratic candidates labor platforms. If you’re interested in a pro-union perspective of these platforms, dig into the details in this article. Here are the overall grades Greenhouse assigned:...
UAW Strike
Voting in the UAW strike is a mixed bag so far, with union locals are voting on separate days. Thus far, the Warren Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, a metal stamping plant in Saginaw, Michigan, and a transmission plant in Toledo, Ohio all approved the deal....
Union Corruption
We just celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. That is the piece of legislation that mandates union financial transparency — just where all did union member dues go this year? We can thank the LMRDA for informing...
It’s All Academic
The Chicago teachers strike has entered its second week, with Elizabeth Warren joining the front lines. Also, the NLRB extended the time frame for submitting comments on whether or not graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants qualify as “employees” under the...
Union Pension Turmoil
Another union pension fund is asking the federal government for permission to cut pension checks to retired members. If nothing is done, the Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters and Millwrights expect its fund to run dry by 2035. Meanwhile, retired Teamsters are...
Unions In Healthcare
Although it may seem counter-intuitive, the stronger overall economy is leading to greater union leverage in the healthcare sector. Among the contributing factors are: Sector growth outpacing availability of qualified applicants Larger union representation in...
Minimum Rising
Service Employees Local 32BJ is ramping up its efforts to organize fast food workers in New York City. Right now, they are working specifically on employees at Chipotle and McDonalds to sign union cards. The Fight for $15 movement – funded by the SEIU – always had...
Alt Labor
Although businesses tend to focus on the traditional employee collective action threat of union organization, with the goal of collective bargaining in mind, there has been a recent rise of non-traditional organizational action. Tech workers at Google, rideshare...
Unions in Media
The increase in union activity in publishing continued this month as the Los Angeles Times reached a tentative labor agreement that represents about 475 members of the organization. After a year of collective bargaining and the impending ratification by the end of the...
Labor Around the World
Food delivery apps have become a staple in the gig economy worldwide over the last few years. That’s why it’s no surprise that, as unions continue their attempt to infiltrate the gig economy and fast food workers, their approach includes companies like Uber Eats and...
Labor Relations INK September 2019
In this issue: Laboring Towards 2020 UAW Strike Precursor To A Mid-West Recession? Still Mobbed Up? Healthcare Strike Threatened by Kaiser Union Coalition UAW Corruption Scandal Scoreboard, Insight, and more… The bottom of each story contains a link to the individual...
Labor Relations Insight
by Phil Wilson A Wag-The-Dog Moment For The UAW? The UAW and General Motors are reportedly near a tentative agreement to settle the historic strike the UAW called over a week ago. Nearly 50,000 UAW members have lost pay, health benefits (and probably a lot of sleep)...
Union Bailout Update
The micro-unit strategy abetted by the Obama-era NLRB just took another blow when the Board ruled against it in the recent Boeing case. The 2017 PCC Structurals case began to unravel the micro-unit strategy by restoring the Board's prior standard for determining the...
Laboring Toward 2020
Obviously the best case scenario for Big Labor would be for the Democrats to take the presidency and sweep Congress. It may seem a pretty big pendulum swing from where we are right now, but with today’s political scene, you can’t rule out anything! With that in mind,...
UAW Strike Precursor To A Midwest Recession
As the UAW strike entered its ninth day on September 24th, GM was forced to lay off 1200 workers at other facilities not represented by the union. If nothing else, the strike has provided Democratic presidential hopefuls the chance for a little grand-standing...
Unions In Media
Most of the time, when we’ve seen media or tech workers unionize, it's been with an organization like the Newsguild, maybe the Communication Workers. The Steelworkers though? Times must be hard for the USW. This week, eighty Google contract workers voted to join the...
It’s All Academic
The NLRB delivered a major blow to graduate student unions this month when they proposed a new rule that says graduate students are not employees, and thus do not have the right to organize. This is the first time the NLRB has proposed a rule on this issue. In the...
Still Mobbed Up?
It seems anachronistic to talk about unions as havens for the Mafia, and most folks think of the more industrial unions like the Teamsters or the Laborers when they thinking about a union being “mobbed up.” The recent sentencing of Vincent D’Acunto, former...
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