Posts tagged Louisiana
Guest column: Union democracy? Not so much
May 21, 2024 // The AFL-CIO Philadelphia Council announced GET-UP may be Philadelphia’s largest private sector union. Nonetheless, GET-UP did not secure — as some overzealous headlines suggest — an “overwhelming majority.” Yes, the 1,807-to-97 vote to unionize was undoubtedly one-sided. However, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reported 4,003 eligible voters, meaning only 45 percent of the total workforce supported unionization. Other reports suggest a lower denominator of 3,700 voters. Even then, that’s only 48 percent — clearly less than “the majority of the employees in a unit” seemingly described in the National Labor Relations Act. Yet, due to federal court decisions that strayed from the statutory text long ago, UAW only needed a simple majority
Key labor bills move forward in Louisiana
May 17, 2024 // Passed the House and sent to the Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations: HB 956 aims to ensure the integrity of the voting process within labor organizations, potentially impacting how unions conduct internal elections. HB 523 would require a secret ballot election every two years to certify the collective bargaining representative. Passed the House and failed in the Senate Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations: HB 571 focuses on restricting certain designated labor organization activities within employment contracts. It aims to curtail practices such as paid release time for public employees to engage in union activities. HB 980 (previously 712) is focused on the resignation process from labor organizations for teachers and other school employees, along with regulations concerning the collection of membership dues for political activities.
Staff at New Orleans’ French immersion school, Lycée Français, vote to unionize
May 16, 2024 // This week's vote comes as Republican state lawmakers have introduced several bills aiming to weaken public-sector unions. However, one of the harshest measures, which would outlaw collective bargaining for teachers and other public employees, would not apply to charter schools because the federal labor board has ruled that they are entitled to union protections. Lycée Français is the seventh New Orleans charter school to unionize since 2013, when Morris Jeff Community School joined UTNO. The other union schools are Rooted School, International High School, Bricolage Academy, Ben Franklin High School and the Living School, though that school is set to close.
Trucking Companies Seek to Delay Contractor Rule Effective Date
March 9, 2024 //
A Lawsuit Seeks to Stop the National Destruction of Trucking Through the DOL Indep. Contractor Rule
February 14, 2024 // The U.S. DOL is using bureaucratic means to make an end-run around already failed legislation (see The PRO Act) in order to destroy independent professionals and small businesses across the nation. The Rule embeds the same tenets found in the ABC Test, which supports AB5, and we all know how well that went in California. The state's trucking industry, in particular, continues to fight hard against AB5, and their battle is being watched by the rest of the industry in other states. Now, a Louisiana business has filed a lawsuit to stop the rule, which is scheduled to take effect on March 11.
25 states will hike minimum wage in 2024
December 22, 2023 // Sean Higgins, an analyst at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, said many food and hospitality workers already earn more than their state minimum. He noted that employers have raised salaries to compete for a shrinking pool of applicants. “Raising state and local rates does hurt the smaller businesses, the classic mom and pop enterprises, who will employ local high school or college-age kids if they can but may not be able to justify that if the minimum rate increases,” Mr. Higgins said.
UNION CONTRACTS TRAMPLE LOUISIANA PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS’ AND EMPLOYEES’ RIGHTS
September 15, 2023 // “These unconscionable agreements restrict teachers’ First Amendment rights, force them to be members of unions against their will, make it difficult to resign from the union, and even prevent them from learning about competing organizations that provide similar benefits to school employees.” In addition to trampling teachers’ First Amendment rights, the Pelican Institute found that CBAs at two Louisiana school systems grant union members who are parents the opportunity to select a different school that fits their children. Proponents of school choice believe that a child’s zip code shouldn’t determine their destiny. Unions seem to agree, but only if they bestow parents with that choice.
Commentary: Analysis shows $17 minimum wage could exacerbate rising prices, pushing child care costs up 20%
August 15, 2023 // Such massive cost increases would almost certainly price some families out of child care completely. Some parents who want to work would be pushed out of the labor force, leading to lower household incomes. Households that have only one parent and must use child care would be more likely to turn to non-licensed, typically illegal, child care. On top of that, child care jobs would be lost, even as employment among child care workers, declined by 18.2% between 2019 and 2022. While not all parents want or need full-time child care, a $17 minimum wage could also hurt families who use only part-time child care or even occasional babysitters. For example, a family who currently pays $10 per hour for 10 hours of after-school care per week would face an extra $70 per week, or $3,640 per year, in added costs.
New Orleans collectively bargains, sets up showdown with state commission
July 13, 2023 // Union supporters swamped the City Council meeting, where “many workers cheered the ordinance, rising one by one to speak in support of it” and “donned T-shirts emblazoned with the logos” of public unions. While New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has the opportunity to veto the ordinance, she is not expected to. The Louisiana chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which claims to represent 300 public employees out of 4,000 total public employees in the city of New Orleans, called it a major victory for unions.
FBI raids police headquarters in Louisiana and arrests union president
September 1, 2022 // Sgt. Harold “BJ” Sanford Jr., 52, of the Bossier City Police, was booked into jail as an "in-state fugitive for the U.S. Marshals Service," according to KTBS. As of this time, there is no information on the charges or what initiated the arrest. According to a press release, Sanford’s arrest is related to his role as president of the police union.