Posts tagged coercion
OPINION: Republicans Don’t Need to Embrace Union Leaders to Win Union Workers
July 1, 2024 // Republicans should appeal directly to union members with commonsense policies. Working-class Americans are among the hardest hit by Bidenomics and its painful inflation. Republicans should reach them with policies that will reduce the cost of living and increase job opportunities. The GOP should simultaneously and forcefully oppose the union-backed demands with a message of spending restraint. Additionally, the GOP should extend the 2017 tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2025 — spurring a new era of job creation and wage growth.
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.
GEORGIA: Bill would require companies receiving incentives to use secret union ballots
February 16, 2024 // "Senate Bill 362 is designed to stop organized labor from pressuring its way into small businesses and other workplaces," NFIB State Director Hunter Loggins said in a statement. "Union leaders want the power to force workers to say in front of their co-workers and union organizers whether they support the idea of joining the union. Union leaders know full well how intimidating and coercive that would be.
Florida teachers’ union accused of strong-arming educators to join in effort to boost lagging numbers
December 3, 2023 // “I used to be a UTD building steward, and I was so disgusted with the union that I left it,” the teacher responded, according to the complaint. “Why would I want to pay dues?” The second complaint alleges that an organizer at a Miami-Dade public school made “loud and shaming remarks” about a teacher “in the presence of her colleagues” in an attempt to “verbally pressure” her into paying union dues. The teacher was approached as she was trying to use the faculty lounge’s restroom and made “repeated assertions that she d[id] not want to pay dues or be a member” of UTD, the filing states.
CDW RELEASES WHITE PAPER SHOWING DANGERS OF EMPLOYERS AGREEING TO NEUTRALITY AND CARD CHECK AGREEMENTS
October 25, 2023 // “Card check agreements expose workers to coercion, intimidation, and deception. They prevent workers from voting for union representation through an NLRB-supervised, secret ballot election, forcing workers to make their decision in front of union organizers and colleagues. Union intimidation of employees to sign cards is well-documented, and that history should not and cannot be ignored. “These agreements decimate workers’ rights and should not be applauded or encouraged. Employers who care about their employees’ best interests shouldn’t agree to neutrality or card check agreements but instead should insist on protecting workers’ rights to a full and open debate and secret ballot elections.”
Why you should care about the Cemex decision
September 13, 2023 // Up until the recent Cemex decision, employers could deny recognition of these authorization cards. In such cases, the union would need to petition the NLRB for a secret ballot election. However, under the new standard set by Cemex, the responsibility to petition for a secret ballot election now rests with the employer (with a suggested 14-day time limit). If the employer fails to do so, the union will be certified based on the original card check. Additionally, if the NLRB determines that the employer engaged in unfair labor practices during the election period, it can reject the election petition and certify the union based on card check. So, what does all this mean? It’s now easier for private sector unions to use card check to gain a foothold in workplaces, potentially leading to an increase in coercive practices and intimidation.
ESG Is a Front for Labor
July 24, 2023 // House Republicans have declared July “ESG month,” planning hearings and bills to push back against politicized environmental, social, and governance investing. Yet so far, lawmakers have almost exclusively focused on environmental issues. Republicans should also pay attention to the “S” in ESG, which labor unions are using to advance their agenda at the expense of workers, their own members, and even taxpayers — a problem that President Biden has significantly worsened. The 2023 proxy season, which started in January and ended in June, shows the union campaign in action. Union funds and their allies, such as the New York City Employees’ Retirement System and like-minded investment managers, introduced many ESG-focused shareholder proposals designed to accelerate unionization. Consider Apple, which was targeted by five New York City pension funds, multiple investment managers, and the SEIU Master Trust Pension Plan, among others.
Viewpoint: Let Oklahoma teachers control their own paychecks
April 28, 2022 // Our state can begin by solidifying some basic facts. Oklahoma teachers have First Amendment rights. They get to choose whether to join, or remain a member of, a union. And they decide for themselves whether part of their hard-earned paycheck goes to support a union.
NLRB General Counsel Calls for Union Organizing Through ‘Card Check’
April 22, 2022 // "In my experience, the card-signing process often is not an accurate indicator of actual interest in or support for a union," Pryzbylski said. "Many employees are peer pressured or coerced into signing cards, but if and when permitted to vote in a secret-ballot election, [they] vote against union representation."
N.C.’s Right to Work law turns 75, experts weigh in on workers’ rights
March 16, 2022 // The Right to Work law, approved in 1947, outlawed requiring union membership as a condition of hiring or of continued employment. It bans the idea of a “closed shop,” in which union membership is a necessary part of getting and keeping a job. The law also bans a “union shop.” In that scenario, an employer can hire nonunion workers, as long as those workers join the union within a certain period. The law also prohibits the mandatory collection of union dues by employers through payroll deductions.