Posts tagged flexible work
Despite rising number of strikes, union memberships remains low
September 7, 2023 // While the rate of work stoppages in 2023 is on pace to break the record set last year, union membership is still lagging at a record-low. So far, there have been 251 strikes in 2023, compared to 417 in 2022, according to data compiled by Cornell University’s Labor Action Tracker. Last year’s 10.1% unionization rate was the lowest on record, however, and workers have a long way to go to reach the 20% rates not seen in 20 years. While no comprehensive data exists detailing the success rate of recent worker strikes or labor disputes nationwide, some union workers have gotten their way this year.
Biden administration working overtime to regulate working overtime
September 5, 2023 // ederal law says employees must be paid time and a half once they work more than 40 hours in a week. However, businesses may exempt workers from the requirement if their duties are “managerial” in nature and they reach a certain salary threshold. Currently, workers had to earn at least $35,500 annually before they were covered. The new rule, which goes into effect at the end of the year, raises that by almost $20,000. The administration estimates this would extend the rule to 3.6 million additional workers. The problem with the change is that it limits employers’ ability to work out alternate arrangements with employees where they work more than 40 hours in exchange for some other consideration, such as additional time off on other weeks. Under the new rule, employers are more likely to simply cut hours than to have to pay overtime at all.
Op-ed: Time to protect worker autonomy
July 21, 2023 //
BOARD DEFIES FEDERAL APPEALS COURT IN DECISION THAT THREATENS FREELANCERS, INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS ACROSS NATION
June 15, 2023 // “In today’s decision, the Board reinstates a test for determining employment status that was explicitly rejected by the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. The Board’s decision will force workers into work arrangements they do not want – all for the sake of giving unions new potential members. With this decision, the Board has chosen to ignore the concerns raised by the employer and freelance communities, and its actions threaten to destabilize a number of industries and deprive many independent contractors of the flexible work methods and entrepreneurial opportunities they value. “The Board’s actions are all part of the Biden administration’s war against small businesses and entrepreneurs and will invite confusion and litigation. As we explained in our amicus brief, the NLRB should continue to follow the standard set in SuperShuttle DFW and emphasize the significance of entrepreneurial opportunity when considering a worker’s proper classification.”
NYC: Eric Adams Sort of Relents on Remote Work
June 2, 2023 //
Opinion: American workers face war on right to earn a living
May 16, 2023 // The war on independent work harms the most vulnerable in society. We’ve seen it play out in California, with countless stories of livelihoods destroyed. It is no surprise, then, that hundreds of economists, as well as the California NAACP, Black Chamber of Commerce, and Hispanic Chamber of Commerce opposed efforts to limit independent work. With an estimated 50 percent of the nation’s Latino community and 40 percent of the black community engaged in independent work, a national effort to limit these arrangements could put at risk the livelihoods and net income of 20 million workers from these communities.
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.
Reports Reveal Americans Are Taking On Additional Income
April 5, 2023 // PYMNTS and LendingClub found that as of this February, 62% of all U.S. adults were living paycheck to paycheck, up from 60% a month earlier but stable year over year. The percentage of consumers living paycheck to paycheck and struggling to pay their bills has decreased over the past two years. Paycheck-to-paycheck consumers have adapted to rising inflation by adjusting their financial way of life. Most often, this has come through taking on additional income sources. Almost one-quarter of consumers have a side job, and 17% have other types of supplemental income. Most of this income is new—under two years—and most is earned by paycheck-to-paycheck consumers. Side hustles may be the solution to living paycheck to paycheck. 22% of those living from one paycheck to another but not struggling to pay monthly bills say that without their additional income sources, their financial grounding would deteriorate.
Column: The PRO Act will disempower Virginia workers
March 28, 2023 // Under the guise of transparency, the PRO Act would mandate employers to partake in “notice-posting” and codify the National Labor Relations Board’s 2014 Election Rule that gives them access to workers names, addresses, job locations, phone numbers and email addresses in a searchable electronic format. Unions having unfettered access to information like this would be a major privacy violation and lead to worker intimidation for refusal to comply. It’s unacceptable for labor unions to meddle in affairs like this.
Unions are “Baking In” Remote Work for Federal Employees
January 19, 2023 // But the prospect of conflict with union contracts, uncovered by TechTarget, adds a wrinkle to any plans. “Remote work policies are also getting baked into federal employee union agreements, which could make it difficult for federal agencies to order workers back to the office even if they wanted to,” the story said. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) claims to be “made up of over 281,000 workers in almost every agency of the federal and D.C. governments, spread across 936 local unions.” In December 2022, after some extended legal struggles with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the union said that the two parties had reached a settlement over immediate flexible work arrangements “while we negotiate terms for a permanent telework program.”