Posts tagged Cemex
US labor watchdog pressures Trader Joe’s to bargain with New York union
September 26, 2024 // The general counsel of the US’s top labor watchdog is seeking an order demanding that Trader Joe’s recognize and bargain with the union, Trader Joe’s United, amid allegations that employees were threatened and disparaged from unionizing. Under a framework introduced by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last year, employers can be ordered to bargain with a union if they commit unfair labor practices that would set aside the results of a union ballot.
Interview: Independent Contractors and Union Reforms, How @VinnieVernuccio Champions Worker Choice
September 12, 2024 // Unions are stuck in this turn of the last century industrial revolution, a one-size-fits-all adversarial business model that most workers today don't want. I do see a place for unions if they embrace a voluntary business model and become like professional service organizations. Unfortunately, they're not there. If you're under a union contract, you're stuck with the wages, the benefits, the vacations, [and] the hours they negotiate for you. It's actually impossible for the employer to unilaterally say, “you're doing a great job, I'm going to give you a raise,” or “I'm going to give you a bonus,” or, “hey, you want more vacation for a little less money?”
Is It Really About Employee Voices? The National Labor Relations Board Continues its Union-Friendly Trend
August 7, 2024 // The new regulations also contain a revision that will affect construction companies. Under the NLRA, an employer cannot recognize and bargain with a union lest the union has demonstrated that it represents a majority of the employees (through cards or an election, as noted above). Section 8(f) of the NLRA provides a limited exception to this rule, and it applies solely to the construction industry. Under Section 8(f), a construction industry employer can enter into a "pre-hire" agreement with a union and negotiate employment terms regardless of whether the employees support the union. Prior to 2020, the Board allowed an employer and union to convert an "8(f) agreement" into a normal collective bargaining agreement simply by stating that the union had demonstrated majority support to the employer. That language was sufficient to block a decertification petition or petition from a rival union during the so-called "contract bar" period (the term of the labor agreement, up to three years). No evidence would be examined to attack the contract language – this provision was enough.
NLRB Nominee: Lauren McFerran
June 14, 2024 // Lauren McFerran Nominated to be a Member of the National Labor Relations Board Nomination announced: May 23, 2024 Nomination Status: Lauren McFerran’s renomination to the National Labor Relations Board was blocked by the Senate in a 49-50 vote on December 11, 2024. Lauren McFerran is the current…
Biden Pushes Early Renomination of Failed NLRB Chair in Effort to Deny Possible Trump Administration Control over Labor Board
June 12, 2024 // The NLRB is composed of five members, usually three of whom are from the president’s political party and two from the opposing party. The Board uses both adjudication and rulemaking to put forward its interpretations of the NLRA, but it needs a quorum of three members to act. Currently, there are four Board members (see Board composition here). Three of the members are Democrats, while one is a Republican. The other Republican seat has been vacant since December of 2022, because President Biden chose not to nominate anyone to that vacancy for a year and a half. While agency vacancies and delays on nominations are nothing new in Washington, this one is notable and shows an unusual partisanship and dishonesty.
Opinion | A Reckoning for Biden’s Lawless Labor Chief
June 11, 2024 // Mr. Biden has timed his appointments to the labor board to minimize resistance. He broke with tradition by not choosing a Republican to fill an open seat when the previous chairman, picked by President Trump, retired in 2022. Instead Mr. Biden waited until now to select a Republican at the same time he has renominated Ms. McFerran. He hopes presenting the two as a package will make it easier for vulnerable Democrats to approve Ms. McFerran. It’s an offer the Senate should refuse. Reapproving the sitting chairman would be business as usual in a Senate that has whooped through too many of Mr. Biden’s progressive nominees. The economy and the rights of workers will suffer if Ms. McFerran is confirmed again after her demonstrably lawless record.
Alabama Mercedes-Benz Employees Declined to Unionize. The UAW May Win Anyway
June 5, 2024 // Unions defend this anti-democratic system as a necessary response to corporate shenanigans, but that claim ignores how the deck is stacked in unions’ favor. Unions have an incentive to allege illegal activity regardless of whether it happened, and under the Biden administration, the NLRB is much more inclined to agree with unions. The Cemex decision itself is proof of the board’s union bias. The NLRB is run by people appointed by the self-described “most pro-union president ever.” Lo and behold, they make pro-union decisions. The Alabama autoworkers should be terrified. They couldn’t have been clearer in their rejection of the UAW.
This Union Is Plotting To Take Over The Auto Industry. Can It Be Done?
March 26, 2024 // “It’s no coincidence that UAW is finally gaining ground in Tennessee: Biden has absolutely tilted the playing field at the NLRB in favor of unionization,” David Osborne, fellow at the Institute for the American Worker, told the DCNF. “Unfortunately, many of these changes — like the NLRB’s ruling in Cemex that a union election isn’t even necessary — favor union officials at the expense of rank-and-file workers. In announcing its plans to expand unionization efforts, UAW is obviously embracing this new legal landscape.”
Starbucks proxy war shows Big Labor’s new tactic
February 23, 2024 // Crucially, the new SEC rule allows the SOC to push for huge changes to the Starbucks board with comparatively little skin in the game. Starbucks has a market capitalization of $105 billion. The SOC owns 161 shares of Starbucks, a stake worth approximately $16,000. Thanks to the universal proxy rule, the SOC can use Starbucks’s own proxy materials to promote its hostile takeover attempt without bearing the costs of its own solicitation. The Starbucks proxy fight is one part of SOC’s broader scheme to impose Big Labor’s agenda on every publicly traded American company. The SOC’s coalition includes some of the most militant and disruptive unions in the country: the Service Employees International Union, Communications Workers of America, and the United Farmworkers of America. These unions regularly engage in strikes, protests, boycotts, litigation, and other tactics to bend workers and employers alike to their will.
Seattle Mariners Employee Fights Biden Labor Board Cemex Decision Upending Right to Vote in Secret on Union ‘Representation’
February 13, 2024 // Under Cemex, an employer who declines to recognize a union is required to quickly ask the NLRB to hold a secret ballot election. But the NLRB doesn’t have to grant that request. A union can easily prompt the NLRB to cancel an employee vote (or even overturn an election that doesn’t go in the union’s favor) by filing charges against the company and showing the employer committed an unfair labor practice during the “critical period” leading up to the election.