Posts tagged freedom of association
Opinion: Big Labor systematically lies to forced dues-paying workers
January 2, 2024 // I quoted directly from Article II of the United Auto Workers union’s new national contract covering tens of thousands of rank-and-file factory employees. “Employees covered by this agreement at the time it becomes effective and who are members of the Union at that time, shall be required as a condition of continued employment to continue membership in the Union for the duration of this Agreement,” the contract states. “Employees covered by this Agreement who are not members at the time this Agreement becomes effective shall be required as a condition of continued employment to become members of the Union.” This language can have no conceivable purpose other than to mislead workers about their legal rights. And except for the effective date tacked on at the end, it is exactly the same deceitful, anti-worker compulsory-membership provision that was inserted into the 2019 UAW contract by “old guard” UAW bosses, from whom current “reformist” boss Shawn Fain is eager to distance himself.
Frank Ricci: Five Years After Janus
June 30, 2023 // Following the decision and decreased national interest, laws meant to obscure union members’ rights have been adopted. As a result, public sector union management across the country has hesitated to inform employees of their rights, fearing they will receive charges from local labor boards. At the state level, unions have used their political clout to ban captive audience meetings where the employer shares their position on a topic and to bar management even from attending union orientation sessions. This allows the unions to utilize so-called “dark patterns” — techniques that lock members into deliberately deceptive contracts designed to deprive them of their rights.
Unions say Starbucks violates worker rights it claims to uphold — and its membership in U.N. corporate initiative is ‘self-serving’
June 6, 2023 // Trull added that “the complaints and [administrative law judge] rulings against Starbucks involve allegations some of which are disputed by Starbucks, none of which are final, and are not equivalent to findings that violations have occurred under the system of adjudication Congress created.” Elena Bombis, the senior manager of integrity at the U.N. Global Compact and the person to whom the unions’ complaint was addressed, did not immediately return a request for comment. The compact has been known to delist companies that have failed to adhere to the agreement’s principles.
U.S. employers have gone from opposing international labor standards to hiding behind them. Now a complaint is trying to stop U.S.-style union busting from taking over the world
May 31, 2023 // What explains the shift? International standards are increasingly becoming part of the fabric of global governance. They might be embedded in trade agreements, procurement rules, or within the codes of conduct of investors. It’s not acceptable anymore for a global company to tell its investors that they reject international labor standards. So instead of being honest, employers seek to distort the meaning of international labor standards beyond recognition. It’s time for the ILO to make clear that U.S.-style interference with workers’ efforts to come together in a union violates the ILO Convention on Freedom of Association (convention 87). Such a finding might not deliver a change in U.S. law, but it would send a message to companies that they can’t hide behind the United Nations and the ILO to justify their union-busting tactics.
Opinion | Repealing Right-to-Work is a bad deal for Michigan autoworkers
February 3, 2023 // Michigan’s Right-to-Work law now only covers workers in the private sector. In Janus v. AFSCME, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of workers. Now all public-sector workers in the United States have their right to work guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution. Michigan cannot change that decision, so our Right-to-Work law only covers workers in the private sector. Do Michigan’s private-sector workers somehow deserve less freedom and protection than people who work for the government? Of course, the answer is no. We deserve those same rights, but Lansing politicians want to steal them away from us.
Amazon Takes On the National Labor Relations Board
April 27, 2022 // In the 25 official objections Amazon filed with the board, the company argues that the NLRB’s “interference and mismanagement” prevented “a free and fair election” at its Staten Island facility. Among other things, Amazon alleges that the board arbitrarily excluded some workers from the bargaining unit in which the union had to show 30% support to hold a vote. The company also alleges the NLRB let union representatives distribute marijuana to workers in exchange for votes and intimidate workers opposed to collective bargaining. (The union’s lawyer told the Associated Press that the intimidation allegation is “patently absurd” and handing out marijuana “is no different from distributing free T-shirts and it certainly did not act to interfere with the election.”)
Lawsuit claiming public-sector employees must be informed of Janus rights dismissed
April 12, 2022 // Judge John F. Kness of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed an Illinois teacher’s lawsuit claiming that, under the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME, public-sector unions are obligated to inform prospective members of their right not to join or pay fees to a union.