Posts tagged litigation

    Starbucks proxy war shows Big Labor’s new tactic

    February 23, 2024 // Crucially, the new SEC rule allows the SOC to push for huge changes to the Starbucks board with comparatively little skin in the game. Starbucks has a market capitalization of $105 billion. The SOC owns 161 shares of Starbucks, a stake worth approximately $16,000. Thanks to the universal proxy rule, the SOC can use Starbucks’s own proxy materials to promote its hostile takeover attempt without bearing the costs of its own solicitation. The Starbucks proxy fight is one part of SOC’s broader scheme to impose Big Labor’s agenda on every publicly traded American company. The SOC’s coalition includes some of the most militant and disruptive unions in the country: the Service Employees International Union, Communications Workers of America, and the United Farmworkers of America. These unions regularly engage in strikes, protests, boycotts, litigation, and other tactics to bend workers and employers alike to their will.

    New Jersey gives unions green light to file lawsuits against employers

    January 15, 2024 // New Jersey has given labor unions the legal authority to file litigation against companies over alleged labor violations despite claims from business groups that it will result in a slew of lawsuits. The legislation, recently signed into law by Gov. Phil Murphy, will allow unions to represent workers or a third party in wage claim lawsuits against contractors and subcontractors for any debt owed for construction, reconstruction, demolition, alteration and maintenance projects.

    International Longshore and Warehouse US dockworkers union files for bankruptcy

    October 2, 2023 // The union has been facing a looming trial on claims that it illegally slowed down operations over several years at the Port of Portland, then operated by an affiliate of Philippines-based maritime company, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) representing U.S. dockworkers has filed for a chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to resolve a pending litigation with the Oregon affiliate of the International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI).

    Trader Joe’s sues employee union for trademark infringement

    July 17, 2023 // Grocery-store chain Trader Joe's sued its employee union in Los Angeles federal court on Thursday, claiming the union's sales of merchandise related to the company violated its trademark rights. The grocer's lawsuit said Trader Joe's United sells tote bags, buttons, mugs and other products featuring the store's name and logo that are likely to confuse customers into thinking it made or endorsed them.

    U.S. Court of Appeals Shouldn’t Let Unions Buy Their Way Out of Litigation

    June 3, 2022 // “This is an attempt by a union to circumvent litigation to avoid potentially damaging precedent,” said Patrick Wright, vice president of legal affairs at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and president of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. “We hope the court recognizes the importance of allowing plaintiffs, even in non-union cases, to vigorously pursue their constitutional rights, regardless of gamesmanship.”