Posts tagged Labor shortage
UW Health nurses vote to authorize 3-day strike in September as they seek to regain union
August 29, 2022 // Nurses voted Wednesday to strike from 7 a.m. Sept. 13 to 7 a.m. Sept. 16, but said the UW Hospital Board could avoid the strike by recognizing the union. Otherwise, nurses will provide a 10-day notice of the strike so administrators can prepare, as required by labor law. In 2014, when a contract for about 2,000 nurses and therapists represented by SEIU expired, they lost the union. In January, SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin said it gave UW Health CEO Dr. Alan Kaplan more than 1,500 cards signed by nurses supporting a union. SEIU says 2,600 nurses at UW Hospital would be in the bargaining unit. UnityPoint Health-Meriter in Madison, Steve Striffler, director of the Labor Resource Center at the University of Massachusetts-Boston,
Hormel workers at Corn Nuts plant go on strike
August 23, 2022 // While the strike at the California Corn Nuts plant is still in its infancy and unlikely to impact the supply of the crunchy snack, a long-term ordeal could eventually make its way to store shelves. The Fresno Bee, citing the union, noted the estimated 40 workers on strike include the entire production team. As a result, the facility will not make additional products until an agreement is reached.
Californifying the U.S. Labor Market
August 23, 2022 // The Biden administration came into office with a sweeping union agenda embodied in the PRO Act, which would have rewritten key elements of decades-old American labor law. Stymied in Congress, however, the administration now seems likely to impose at least one component of that legislation on the workplace through a Department of Labor rule that would narrow the definition of an independent contractor in ways similar to California’s controversial AB5 law. Doing so would likely upset employment policies and practices at a vast array of businesses nationwide, just as has happened in the Golden State, where freelancers lost work because companies couldn’t afford to employ them full-time and truckers recently shut down a port to protest efforts to end their independent status. In the post-Covid world, workers are seeking more flexibility in income-earning. The Biden administration’s effort, which views the independent contractor almost exclusively as an exploited worker denied the benefits of full employment, is a step backward for individual workers—but a gift to unions.
Quiet quitting: Employees suffering pandemic burnout say they’ve just stopped working as hard
August 20, 2022 // Millions of Americans are taking a similar approach. Burned out after logging excessive hours or duties during COVID-19, they’re resolving to meet their job requirements but not go beyond. No toiling late into the night. No calls on weekends. And no pushing themselves to the brink even during regular business hours. Korn Ferry, Harris Poll, Cali Williams Yost, CEO of Flex + Strategy Group, Michelle Reisdorf, Andrew Challenger, Joe Galvin, Jonathan Millar,
The U.S. is Now 30 Days Away From a Possible Railroad Labor Strike
August 19, 2022 // Delays on U.S. railroads have been a growing problem for shipping agricultural goods all year. Labor discussions are ongoing and with the grain industry concerned about a possible labor stoppage in mid-September, which would be the height of Midwest harvest. Just this week, the White House-appointed Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) released a recommendation as part of the ongoing collective bargaining process. Both sides have 30 days to accept those recommendations. If the two parties don't agree, then rail workers are allowed to go on strike as of Sept. 16. Max Fisher, Chief Economist,
Commentary: Is the labor market really as good as the administration says?
July 27, 2022 // Most significantly, 18 months’ worth of bonus unemployment benefits that paid most people more to stay on the sidelines than to work caused millions of people to leave the labor market. Meanwhile, Washington stimulated consumer and business demand for goods and services by flooding the economy with trillions of dollars in so-called COVID-19 relief — about half of which was money printed by the Federal Reserve.
Opinion: An unprecedented labor shortage
July 26, 2022 // There are 50% more job openings today than at any time before the pandemic. The unemployment rate is near a half-century low. So how did that happen? A combination of government policies that simultaneously reduced the supply of workers and stimulated demand for goods and services. There are 755,000 fewer people employed today than at the start of the pandemic, despite an increase of 4.2 million in the population of people ages 16 and older. employment-to-population ratio, labor force decline, Social Security, welfare-without-work, federal subsidies, Recognized Apprenticeship Programs, Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, education alternatives, encourage flexible work
Department of Labor Rule – Coalition Letter
July 22, 2022 // The January 7, 2021 DOL rule has provided clarity to the decades-old economic realities test for the modern workforce, helping to apply determinations in light of the different types of work and technologies used to work and connect with customers today. Instead of removing this clear and sensible standard and attempting to diminish or eliminate independent contracting, we urge you to preserve paths to self-employment that allow tens of millions of working Americans, parents of children with special needs, workers seeking career changes, disabled workers and workers caring for disabled family members, and entrepreneurs growing small businesses of their own to pursue work on their own terms. Brent Wm. Gardner, Brandon Arnold, Grover Norquist, Michael J. Lotito, Greg Sindelar, Krisztina Pusok, Ph. D., The American Consumer, American Legislative Exchange Council, Lisa B. Nelson, Center for Freedom and Prosperity, Andrew F. Quinlan, Robert Fellner, Heather R. Higgins, Independent Women's Voice, Bethany Marcum, Alaska Policy Forum, Mike Stenhouse, Mike Hruby, New Jobs America, Paul Gessing, Rio Grande Foundation, Seton Motley, Less Government, Robert Alt, Steve Delie, Brian Minnich, Daniel Erspamer, Pelican Institute, Eric Peterson, Pelican Center for Technology and Innovation, Randy Hicks, Georgia Center for Opportunity, Alliance for Opportunity, Jeffrey Mazzella, Center for Individual Freedom, Douglas Carswell, Mississippi Center for Public Policy, David Williams, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Ryan Ellis, Center for a Free Economy, Phil Kerpen, American Commitment, James Taylor, The Heartland Institute, Adam Brandon, FreedomWorks, Elaine Parker, Job Creators Network Foundation, Brandon Dutcher, Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Thomas A. Schatz, Citizens Against Government Waste, Justin Owen, Beacon Center of Tennessee, Matthew Kandrach, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy, Charles Mitchell, Commonwealth Foundation, James L. Martin, 60 Plus Association, Saulius “Saul” Anuzis, 60 Plus Association,
Kern Medical workers announce 3-day strike over ‘unfair labor practice’
July 12, 2022 // Kern Medical workers announced a three-day strike starting July 26 citing concerns over what they called “a series of unfair labor practice” including employee and in-patient safety concerns, staffing shortages and low wages. Workers announced that if the hospital administration does not meet their demands, they will “engage in a three-day unfair labor practice strike.”
Short-staffed hotels are hiring robots — and labor unions are pushing back
July 6, 2022 // A handful of hotels across the US – from the Mandarin Oriental in Boston to a Holiday Inn Express in Redwood City, Calif. – have begun turning to robots to provide guest services usually performed by human employees. Labor unions don’t find the idea of robots working at a hotel funny, much less robot jokes. Organizers fear the budding army of automatons, which currently numbers at least 200 nationwide, is threatening to grow and replace dues-paying members. The issue is bubbling up in the hospitality industry even as it has lately sparked division in other sectors amid a nationwide labor shortage. That includes talks between port operators and West Coast dock workers whose labor contract expired on July 1. army of automatons, Relay Robotics, American Hotel & Lodging Association, Vaughn Davis, Dream Hollywood, Bear Robotics, Luma Hotel, non-union hotels, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Boston, Hawaii, Rich Maroko,