Posts tagged captive audience meetings
‘A huge opportunity for the labor movement’: Unions jump on newly won Democratic trifectas
December 1, 2022 // And if Democrats succeed in repealing certain laws in Michigan — and in pushing through other union-backed measures — union officials and campaign operatives hope to rekindle the labor movement’s influence in other states. Democrats are putting their energy toward raising the minimum wage, banning so-called captive audience meetings where employers can warn against unionization, and more. “We’re busy preparing our legislative agenda, because we put everything we had into the ground game for this election,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in an interview. “How can we go on offense to pass legislation to protect people’s voice and ability to exercise their rights?”
St. Louis Apple Store abandons plans to unionize due to alleged ‘increased hostility’
November 28, 2022 // IAM previously filed an “Unfair Labor Practice charge at the NLRB against Apple for requiring the St. Louis Apple store employees to attend a captive audience meeting and making threats of reprisal if the employees choose to organize with the IAM.” Interestingly, IAM was who organized the first Apple Store in the US that successfully unionized in Maryland. But the situation changed quickly in St. Louis. As reported by Bloomberg, the staff has now withdrawn its plan to move forward with the process.
D.C.’s Union Kitchen Slapped With 26 Counts Of Labor Law Violation
November 10, 2022 // In its ruling, the NLRB orders Union Kitchen to reinstate the wrongfully fired employees, provide backpay, and that Union Kitchen owner Cullen Gilchrist must publicly apologize to employees at a “meeting or meetings scheduled to ensure the widest possible attendance.” Union Kitchen, represented in the NLRB complaint by Gilchrist, is required to respond to the board by Nov. 18. A hearing has been set for February 13, 2023, where Gilchrist will have an opportunity to testify against the allegations before an administrative law judge with NLRB. The judge will then determine whether to issue the remedies called for in the formal complaint. Gilchrist did not immediately return DCist/WAMU’s request for comment.
Op-ed: The NLRB is gutting free speech to protect unions
November 4, 2022 // The reason behind Biden’s vow remains clear as day — unions are one of the largest drivers of cash to Democratic campaign coffers, spending $1.8 billion in the 2020 cycle alone. To deliver on this campaign promise, Biden has weaponized the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to clamp down on workplace speech and drive up union membership. Congress needs to get hold of the runaway NLRB before it is too late.
CT’s ‘captive audience’ law challenged in federal lawsuit
November 2, 2022 // Connecticut’s ban on “captive audience” meetings, which unions say are used to thwart organizing, is unconstitutional and a preemption of federal labor law, a coalition led by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce claimed in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Hartford. The lawsuit, joined by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association and trade groups representing retailers and others, says the ban violates free-speech and equal-protection rights under the Constitution by “chilling and prohibiting employer speech” with their workers. The defendants in the lawsuit are Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo of the state Department of Labor, the department itself, and Attorney General William Tong. Chris DiPentima,
Freedom of Speech? Not if the National Labor Relations Board Gets Its Way
October 31, 2022 // Amazon unionization efforts recently failed in Albany, NY in October. Workers said no by an almost 2 to 1 margin. In total, less than a quarter of all employees voted for representation by the Amazon Labor Union. Shortly after, the union withdrew its petition to try to organize a California warehouse. It also lost a second vote in Staten Island in May. Amazon workers are clearly saying no to unionization. The NLRB and unions are responding by threatening a bedrock constitutional right of all Americans.
Workers Should Be Able to Hear from Both Sides Before Union Votes
October 27, 2022 // To labor activists such “captive audience” mandatory meetings constitute union-busting. National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has asked the full board to outlaw the practice. (The board has thus far not acted on her request.) Congressional Democrats have tried to get rid of them too. The pro-union Protecting the Right to Organize Act would prohibit companies from making the meetings mandatory. The legislation has stalled in the Senate. There is no good reason why managers shouldn’t be able to make a pitch to workers just like union activists. Collective bargaining is—or at least ought to be—the workers’ choice. They should be able to hear from all sides before they decide.
Labor unions are hot, but their moment may not last | Los Angeles Times
August 29, 2022 // About 1 in 10 American workers is in a labor union, down from a peak of more than 1 in 3 in the mid-1950s. Government workers are five times more likely than private-sector employees to be in a union. Yet even as experts acknowledge the newfound excitement around labor, they caution that unions, which have suffered decades of declining membership, are unlikely to turn the tide. Unions’ moment of opportunity could already be slipping away. Republicans are poised to gain seats in the November elections. And a potential recession could wipe away the rare leverage workers have held in the tight labor market that emerged in the wake of the pandemic. Jon Shelton, a labor historian at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Communications Workers of America Files Unfair Labor Complaint Against Verizon Express Portland
August 12, 2022 // This week’s move follows a wave of union organizing among Verizon retail workers. Workers at Seattle-area Verizon stores voted to unionize in April, and in Flint, Michigan, have a pending NLRB union election. Unlike workers at full-service stores, workers at Verizon Express stores do not make a commission on sales, leaving them with less take-home pay compared to workers at other stores. The Portland workers are the first Verizon Express store workers in the country to file for formal union representation. Lori Claxton
Too radical or not radical enough? US’s top labor lawyer in the spotlight
August 8, 2022 // The top lawyer at the body charged with enforcing US labor law has been hailed as a champion by some and as a “radical” by her opponents. For others involved in the white-hot world of union organizing, she has not gone far enough. Abruzzo’s bona fides are clear. She has repeatedly urged the NLRB’s five-person board to adopt new policies that would make it easier to unionize. She wants the board to prohibit so-called captive audience meetings in which Amazon and many other companies require employees to listen to anti-union speeches from managers and consultants. She wants the board to require employers to grant union recognition once a majority of workers sign cards saying they want a union.