Posts tagged Collective bargaining agreements
Massachusetts lawmakers propose paying striking workers
July 21, 2023 // Massachusetts State Sen. Paul Feeney recently proposed Senate Bill S1172, which would funnel unemployment benefits to striking workers after thirty days. The bill’s text states that a striking worker “shall be entitled to recover any benefits lost as a result” of going on strike for over 30 days due to a “labor dispute.” It also says that the state of Massachusetts cannot “deny benefits to an otherwise eligible individual who becomes involuntarily unemployed” and “shall receive benefits for the period of his unemployment but in no event beyond the date of the commencement of a strike.” The bill added that “no waiting period or disqualification … shall apply if the labor dispute is caused by the failure or refusal of the employer” to comply with a collective bargaining agreement or contract. Meaning, if the employer caused the strike, the striking worker receives unemployment benefits without delay and without going through a waiting period. S1172’s sponsors are Sen. Paul Feeney and Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa. Feeney proposed a similar bill last year, but it did not make it out of the state Senate’s Ways and Means Committee.
Workers At Beloved D.C. Sandwich Shop Compliments Only Seek To Unionize
July 19, 2023 // Employees of beloved D.C. sandwich shop Compliments Only are trying to form a union and seeking a $21 per hour wage. In late June, a majority of the workers — eight out of an estimated ten employees — first asked owners Pete Sitcov and Emily Cipes to recognize their union, but they declined, according to multiple workers. They went public with their union drive this past weekend, when employees, including several who walked off mid-shift, demonstrated at the Dupont Circle sandwich shop.
Teamsters president says he’s asked the White House not to intervene if UPS workers go on strike
July 17, 2023 // "Asked during a webcast with members Sunday on whether the White House could force a contract on the union, Teamsters President Sean O'Brien said he has asked the White House on numerous occasions to stay away." The Teamsters represent more than half of the Atlanta-based company's workforce in the largest private-sector contract in North America. If a strike does happen, it would be the first since a 15-day walkout by 185,000 workers crippled the company a quarter century ago.
UPS Agrees to Ax Two-Tier Wage System in Win for Teamsters
July 3, 2023 // United Parcel Service Inc. has agreed to end a dual wage system for delivery drivers in its next contract with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, dramatically lowering the chances of a nationwide strike when the current labor agreement expires at the end of July. The Teamsters announced the tentative pact on Twitter Saturday evening, adding they also persuaded UPS to end a mandatory overtime policy for unscheduled workdays and provide Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a paid holiday
Commentary: To Unions, Organizing Time Is Fine When It’s on the Taxpayers’ Dime
June 29, 2023 // Despite public sector unions, and particularly teachers’ unions like Weingarten’s American Federation for Teachers, facing mounting scrutiny for their role in school closures and broader left-wing political activism, the practice of release time has garnered little attention.
Federal judge refuses to block law currently restricting Florida unions
June 28, 2023 // A federal judge Monday refused to block key parts of a new Florida law that places additional restrictions on public-employee unions, turning down a request from teachers unions that argue the law violates First Amendment and contract rights. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker declined to issue a preliminary injunction, ruling that the Florida Education Association and other unions had not shown they had legal standing. The 12-page ruling came after Walker held a more than three-hour hearing Friday. The unions sought the injunction against parts of the law that require union members to fill out new government-worded membership forms and prevent union dues from being deducted from workers’ paychecks.
Michigan House bill would allow college athletes to unionize, at an unknown cost
June 22, 2023 // This bill aims to remove three specific exclusions under the Public Employment Relations Act, or PERA: Graduate student research assistants, Independent contractors who are classified as such according to an IRS test that involves 20 factors, and Student-athletes at Michigan's public universities. House Bill 4497 would remove those three exclusions, allowing all three groups to be recognized as public employees. They would be able to seek union representation and collective bargaining rights.
Insider Reaches Strike Resolution With $65,000 Minimum Salary
June 15, 2023 // Kayla Cobb Wed, June 14, 2023 at 2:14 PM CDT·3 min read Insider and its union have reached a resolution. “We have a tentative agreement on a contract that will give our members more money and job protections and resolve our ULP,” a tweet from the Insider Union account reads. The strike is now over and workers will return to the office tomorrow. “Insider is pleased to have reached an agreement with its newsroom union on a Collective Bargaining Agreement. The CBA formalizes many of the company’s existing practices, policies and benefits, including top of the market competitive pay, freedom to work from anywhere in the U.S., 16 weeks of parental leave and many successful DEI initiatives. With this contract, we will continue to offer pay and benefits at the high-end of our industry,” a spokesperson for Insider told TheWrap. This tentative agreement on a new contract includes a $65,000 minimum salary for employees, on par with such publications as The New York Times. It also includes a just cause clause, a layoff moratorium through the end of the year, raises of over 10% during the term of the contract and over $400,000 in healthcare reimbursements. It also includes $2,200 in tax-free cash for employees to spend on mental health and prescriptions as well as a revised raise structure.
Quin Hillyer: New Orleans should not put public-sector union power into law
May 22, 2023 // Credit Sarah Harbison, general counsel for the Pelican Institute, for flagging the well-intentioned but misguided proposal by Council Vice President Helena Moreno. “Collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) are typically negotiated in secret and remain in effect for years at a time,” Harbison wrote May 11. “They generally govern pay, working conditions, and establish a reduction in force protocol that typically retains workers based on seniority rather than merit.” Union CBAs can be fine things in many instances in private enterprise, but even famously liberal President Franklin D. Roosevelt and longtime AFL-CIO union leader George Meany fiercely argued that unionizing should be anathema for public bureaucracies. Meany said that it is “impossible to bargain collectively with the government,” and Roosevelt explained that “the process of collective bargaining … cannot be transplanted into public service.”