Posts tagged First Amendment
MICHIGAN: Unions licensed to deceive (editorial)
December 28, 2024 // With the enactment of Senate bills 790 and 791 in October, Michigan homecare providers are classified as public employees. Those are individuals — many of whom care for elderly or disabled family members — who receive a stipend from government programs for their work and sacrifice. The state law sets up homecare workers to be pressured into union membership and made to pay dues to the Service Employees International Union. Those caregivers get no benefit from union membership, because the amount of the stipend is decided legislatively and is not subject to collective bargaining. Providers need every cent available to them as they minister care.
Opinion:The Fall of Florida’s ‘Zombie Unions’
December 26, 2024 // The Florida Education Association (FEA), which represents teachers and school staff, has lost about 13% of its members since 2023, according to a review of federal data by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. That’s because members in several school districts voted not to recertify their chapters, allowing them to disband.
Legal Update: Three Major NLRB Updates Pose New Challenges for Employers
December 9, 2024 // Employers must remain diligent in staying abreast of these recent shifts in labor law and policy, especially on the cusp of an administration change. While GC Abruzzo’s term appears likely to end early in 2025, and the Board majority could flip in 2025 or 2026, the new Republican administration’s position on labor policy remains unclear, especially in light of the recent nomination of a pro-labor nominee to lead the Department of Labor.
Victory for Workers’ Rights: Liberty Justice Center Defends New Jersey Plumber Against Union that Illegally Withheld Money from His Paycheck
November 18, 2024 // After learning about these constitutional rights under Janus v. AFSCME, Nicolo Giangrasso—a New Jersey plumber employed by the Hamilton Township School District—resigned his union membership and requested the union stop deducting dues from his paychecks. The union refused, falsely claiming that the Supreme Court’s decision only applied to “union dues” and therefore did not apply to Mr. Giangrasso—because the union called the money it illegally took from his paychecks “assessments” instead. On August 1, the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit against UA Local 9 on Mr. Giangrasso’s behalf, arguing that it does not matter whether the union labels the money withheld from an employee’s paycheck “dues” or “assessments,” because the Supreme Court held in Janus that neither dues, agency fees, “nor any other form of payment to a public-sector union” can be withheld from employees who have not agreed to the withholding—and Mr. Giangrasso had not agreed.
TEXAS: Government Collection of Union Dues | Fast Facts
November 17, 2024 // "The proper role of government is to preserve life, liberty, and property—not to act as a dues collector."
Democrats make last stand for unions ahead of Trump administration
November 15, 2024 // In a final push to bolster union rights ahead of a Trump presidency, the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday banned employers nationwide from forcing workers to attend antiunion meetings. Separately, Democrats are also deploying a last-ditch effort to try to get the Senate to reconfirm NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran in the last December session, allowing the agency to maintain a Democratic majority and continue its labor-friendly rulings into the next Trump administration.
Challenging Exclusive Representation: A Fight for Free Speech and Union Accountability; Disunion: The Government Union Report podcast
November 14, 2024 // Osborne and McGrath delve into the legal implications of exclusive representation, where a union speaks for all employees in a bargaining unit, including non-members, and restricts individual negotiations. They discuss how exclusive representation in New York grants significant union power, even allowing the union to pursue anti-Israel stances as part of its collective bargaining scope. This case, they suggest, could reshape public sector labor rights and potentially dismantle exclusive representation if the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case and finds that it infringes on employees’ rights to free speech and association.
Myths vs. Facts: Public Workers’ Janus Rights
November 7, 2024 // ALEC’s model Public Employee Rights and Authorization Act can help states reach full compliance. Its comprehensive reforms reiterate workers rights by ensuring that workers are unambiguously informed of their rights, have ample windows to make membership decisions, and can make labor decisions on an annual basis.
NEW YORK: Hochul Report Whitewashes Teachers Union Antisemitism; Commentary
October 31, 2024 // Months before Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, a CUNY Law commencement speaker delivered what one commentator described as a “Nuremburg-style screed” against Israel, accusing it of murder and lynchings. CUNY’s administration called the speech “unacceptable.” Meanwhile, the PSC, led by Davis, demanded that CUNY — not the speaker — retract its statement. After the Oct. 7 attacks, the union allowed “CUNY4Palestine” to promote anti-Israel rallies on the union’s email list and later condemned Columbia University for dispersing a pro-Hamas student encampment.
Musk Wins Appeal Over Tweet He Had to Delete About Union Push
October 28, 2024 // Friday’s ruling arose from an incident in 2017 when Mr. Ortiz was involved in an effort to unionize the Tesla plant in Fremont, Calif. As part of the campaign, he posted screen shots of co-workers who opposed unionization on a private Facebook page. When an investigator for Tesla questioned Mr. Ortiz about the photos, he said he couldn’t remember where he had gotten them, which he later acknowledged was a lie. Tesla then fired him, with lying cited as the cause. A labor board investigation found that Mr. Ortiz had been fired because of his unionization campaign, not because of his false statement.