Posts tagged DOL
Federal Contractors Must Publicize Whether They Use Union Avoidance ‘Persuaders’
August 2, 2023 // Likewise, this information may result in organized labor ratcheting up pressure on employers to abandon these practices and on the federal government to refuse to do business with any contractor that engages in persuader activity, Pryzbylski noted. "The bottom line here is that companies who are contractors with the federal government should be cognizant of the fact that their use of persuaders in labor relations matters will be receiving more scrutiny and could potentially impact the award of contracts in the future," he said.
Trump Makes Appeal to Unions Emboldened Under Biden Administration
July 28, 2023 // F. Vincent Vernuccio, senior fellow at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Center’s director of labor policy between 2012 and 2017, said that some of the UAW jobs could be going away because of the president’s push for electric vehicles. He pointed to a recent report estimating that the new electric vehicle targets could eliminate 117,000 manufacturing jobs. “You’re seeing it reflected in jobs moving down south to right-to-work states,” he said, referring to states that make forced unionization illegal. Employees who want to cross the picket line and work when unions have issued a strike have to do it legally, else face fines or other disciplinary action from the unions. He said that large, industrialized unions tend to have one-size-fits-all contracts that benefit some but not all workers, making the administration’s push for unionization where there was none before a net negative. He advocates instead for term flexibility for workers, unionized or not.
Connecticut: Private and Public Jobs Recovery Suffers Setback, Still Short of Pre-Pandemic Totals
July 26, 2023 // Despite the decrease, Connecticut has reportedly gained 14,100 jobs in 2023, which is “more jobs than added in the first six months of any pre-pandemic year since 2006.” But the report also revealed that ‘Finance’ has “lost more than 7,000 jobs since March 2020,” and there are nearly 90,000 jobs available in the state.
Former Union President Admits Filing False Report to Hide Embezzlement; Agrees to Repay Union $36,000
June 21, 2023 // Felix Luciano, the former President of Local 2805 chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees and former Department of Homeland Security officer, pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting he filed a false report to conceal his embezzlement of thousands of dollars in union dues. Local 2805 is a labor union which represents Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees in San Diego and Imperial Counties. Additionally, Luciano agreed to pay a $10,000 fine and repay Local 2805 $36,000 as money that he embezzled. According to court records, Luciano was president of Local 2805. From January of 2016 to December of 2018, Luciano used some of Local 2805’s money for a variety of personal expenses, including shopping, travel reimbursements, groceries, dining, dry cleaning, and paying for non-union accounts. He did this by writing checks from Local 2805’s checking account and using Local 2805’s debit and credit cards to directly pay personal expenses. As a result of Luciano’s actions, he caused a total loss of $36,000 to Local 2805.
A Mandate for Labor Error: Big Labor Radicalizes
May 25, 2023 // s for claims by some conservatives that embracing unions will drive electoral success, these notions arise from populist factions’ overinterpretation of the 2016 election results and under-interpretation of elections since then. Many note that in his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump’s efforts in the upper Midwest states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania were aided by his moderate stances on economic issues relative to the positions of prior Republican candidates like Mitt Romney. And this is generally true—but not on labor-relations issues.
Gig Worker Qualifies as an Employee, California District Court Concludes
April 25, 2023 // The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled on March 30 that the driver should be classified as an employee who is entitled to overtime pay and minimum wage protections under state law. The court ruling is "more of a warning shot to show the consequences of failing to comply" with state rules on employee classification, said Bryan Hawkins, an attorney with Stoel Rives in Sacramento. Theane Evangelis, an attorney with Gibson Dunn in Los Angeles who represented Grubhub, said, "We disagree with the court's ruling and are considering our legal options. Thanks to Proposition 22—which California voters overwhelmingly enacted and the California Court of Appeal recently upheld—drivers who use the Grubhub app will continue to enjoy the freedom and flexibility of working as independent contractors."
BACKGROUNDER: Employee Rights Act
April 21, 2023 // The Employee Rights (ERA) Act was introduced this week by Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC). The legislation allows employees to receive merit-based pay raises outside of the wage scales set by their union’s collective bargaining agreement, guarantees the right to a secret ballot in union elections, provides new privacy protections, allows workers to decertify a union more easily, provides legal clarity for small business owners and gig workers, and more.
Rep. Kevin Kiley Fights for Freelancers Against Julie Su Nom in First Workforce Protection Subcomittee Hearing
April 21, 2023 // Through the PRO Act, DOL rulemaking, and installing those who will do their bidding atop federal government agencies, the establishment Democratic Party, in lockstep with the Big Labor lobby hopes to force tens of millions of Americans out of freelancing and independent contracting and into “employee” status, which would allow the unions to focus on organizing new sectors in the face of dwindling membership. Rep. Kiley has fought against these efforts every step of the way, first in the California State Assembly and now in Congress, and called the hearing to highlight just how destructive the Biden/Su agenda will be to all Americans, and not just Californians, and has called Su “the architect and lead enforcer of AB-5.”
What is the Employee Rights Act, and how would it advance worker freedom?
April 21, 2023 // Unlike the PRO Act – which, imbued with a dated and rigid workplace vision that is increasingly displacing American workers – the ERA would empower workers to seize more opportunity and take greater control of their futures.