Posts tagged Card Check
Planned Parenthood Northern California Workers Unionize With SEIU Local 1021
April 17, 2024 // “It’s been really something that has been a long time coming; we’ve been waiting for it with bated breath,” said Debbie Nguyen, a Planned Parenthood Northern California clinician in Oakland. “We’ve been going back and forth with them to work on getting recognized for months now.” A federal mediator confirmed that a supermajority of Planned Parenthood Northern California workers — 77% — had voted to join SEIU Local 1021 during Friday’s “card check,” in which employees who are part of a bargaining unit sign “cards” that state and authorize their wish for union representation.
WSJ Letter to the Editor: Georgia’s Secret Ballots and Union Hypocrisy
April 11, 2024 // As Georgia prepares to protect workers’ right to a secret-ballot election, unions are trying a new tactic to scare other states away from following suit
Farming giant claims UFW lied to farmworkers to unionize under new law
April 9, 2024 // An apparently successful card check campaign to unionize Wonderful Nurseries faces allegations of a scheme involving $600 federal relief funds.
Alabama bill cutting economic incentives to keep unions from ‘strong arming employees’ advances
April 5, 2024 // An Alabama Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill that would withhold economic incentives from companies that voluntarily recognize unions or do not hold secret ballots in union elections. . SB231, sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, passed the Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee on an 11-3 vote, down party lines.
Bill clawing back incentives from companies who voluntarily recognize unionization approved by Senate committee
April 5, 2024 // According to Orr's bill, no employer would be eligible to receive an economic development incentive for a project if the employer voluntarily grants recognition rights for the employees solely and exclusively based on signed labor organization authorization cards if the selection of a bargaining representative may be conducted through a secret ballot election. “I’m not anti-union. Unions are a lot like good government; they’re a necessary evil. They have their place in the workforce, but there are a lot of companies that can’t afford the labor, the expense, or the unionization and the demands that come with it and the added expense,” State Sen. David Sessions (R-Grand Bay) said during the meeting. “What you’re going to wind up doing is if those companies unionize, you’re putting them out of business. You’re putting them out of business and you’re losing all of those jobs.” An employer who voluntarily discloses an employee's personal contact information to a labor organization or third party acting on behalf of a labor organization without the employee's prior written consent, unless otherwise required by state or federal law, would also be ineligible for economic development incentives under the bill.
Voters Rights for Workers in Tennessee and Georgia—and More?
April 3, 2024 // Recent introduced, SB 231 also ties state subsidies with businesses committing to conducting unionization votes via secret ballot and to obtaining employees’ written permission before sharing their contact information with unions. As the bill’s sponsor, Senator Arthur Orr explains, “It’s good policy to have the private vote matter [and] to make sure that the employees… can keep their votes to themselves and not be coerced or bullied one way or the other.” Like Tennessee and potentially Georgia’s and Alabama’s reforms, ALEC’s Taxpayers Protect Worker Act strives to protect workers’ personal information and their right to a secret ballot. Approved at the 2023 ALEC Annual Meeting, the model policy affirms that “whenever State funds or benefits are sought by a private business… such benefits [should] be conditioned on the private business agreeing not to waive its employees’ right to a secret ballot election when recognizing a labor organization.” It likewise states that employees and subcontractors have the right to decide if their personal contact information is shared with unions.
With contracts settled, Culinary Union eyes aggressive growth in 2024
April 2, 2024 // The Culinary said the 32 percent salary increase over five years — 10 percent in the first year — was the largest in the union’s 89-year history. The average worker earned roughly $28 an hour under the previous contract — including health and pension benefits. By the end of the new five-year deal, the average worker will earn $37 an hour, including benefits. The contracts also included workload reductions for guest room attendants, the reinstatement of daily hotel room cleanings, increased safety protections for workers on the job and language covering the expanding use of technology and artificial intelligence and how workers can be retrained or receive financial benefits if their jobs are replaced. During recent fourth-quarter earnings conference calls with analysts, top executives from major Strip operators, including MGM Resorts and Caesars, acknowledged that the contracts will result in increased labor costs.
Unions using ESG to control workers — and drain Americans’ retirement savings
March 21, 2024 // They’re pushing board nominees and shareholder proposals that aim to force more workers into union membership, even when workers don’t want it. The Biden administration has smoothed the path for this underhanded strategy, and not only does it threaten workers, it endangers millions of Americans’ retirement savings. A new Institute for the American Worker report shines a light on labor unions’ reliance on ESG.
Billionaire California growers battle farmworker union over biggest victory under new law
March 17, 2024 // Three workers, who now want their vote revoked, say they merely attended meetings and signed cards for the $600 relief payments and never wanted to join a union. They described feeling “tricked” and “lied to” by UFW organizers, while also pointing to the 3% dues that would be required by joining. They also struggled to recall specifics of when they met up with UFW organizers and if the cards they signed contained wording to make UFW their union bargaining representative.
Georgia’s Secret Ballots and Union Hypocrisy
March 14, 2024 // Unions are fine with conditions on taxpayer funding if it gives them an unfair advantage. They can’t credibly claim it’s wrong when states go the other direction and level the playing field for workers. Instead of believing the union fearmongering, more states should do what Georgia has done, and put workers’ rights ahead of union demands.