Posts tagged National Labor Relations Act
U.S. Supreme Court to decide if employers can sue unions over vandalism
October 5, 2022 // Glacier in its petition filed in May told the Supreme Court that the NLRA did not preempt lawsuits related to vandalism and other illegal conduct. The company said it would be left without a remedy if the state court ruling stands, because the NLRB lacks the power to award money damages for destruction of property. Glacier also said the Washington Supreme Court decision clashed with rulings by other state courts and at least two federal appeals courts. The Teamsters in opposing the petition said the strike itself was clearly protected by the NLRA. Glacier could have saved the concrete if it had arranged for replacement workers or management employees to make deliveries during the strike, the union said. The case is Glacier Northwest Inc v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 21-1449.
TikTok Creators Want To Unionize, But Experts Warn It Could Be ‘Very Challenging’
October 4, 2022 // Content on the app is monetized through several arrangements. One of those ways is through the Creator Next program: the ground floor hub through which the rest of transaction avenues occur. To be eligible, creators must have over 1,000 viewing hours of their content over the last 30 days. Once in the door of Creator Next, you can be paid directly from fan transactions (tips, video gifts, live gifting), brand endorsement deals (via the Creator Marketplace) or directly through the Creator Fund. Of all the monetization models available to creators on the platform, only the Creator’s Fund refers to its participants as independent contractors of TikTok on their legal Terms page. As such, the Creator Fund is perhaps the only avenue by which creators can form a union and lobby Tiktok for employment status.
Striketober Is Back As Workers Fight To Close The Wage Gap
October 4, 2022 // Strike Activity Heats As Workers Grapple With Covid Inequities Workers have long been frustrated by a wide range of issues–from low wages to poor working conditions, but Covid brought these problems into sharp relief. Workers who interact with customers in person, from medical staff to restaurant workers, realized that while companies considered them essential, they also considered them expendable. As the immediate horrors of Covid fade into the rearview, the way workers were treated has left a permanent scar. The combination of a lack of basic benefits (like healthcare), poor working conditions, unfair labor practices and the extreme wealth disparity between business owners and workers has triggered action—which is now showing up in worker walkouts, says Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
Two states, two visions for the future of labor “Right-to-work” is on the ballot.
October 3, 2022 // Two economic papers published in the last year also reached different conclusions about the consequences of right-to-work laws. The first found right-to-work laws associated with increased manufacturing employment, increased employment, and greater upward mobility. The second found that right-to-work laws lower wages and unionization rates.
Healthcare Workers at Cuyuna Hospital Successfully Petition for Votes to Remove Union
September 22, 2022 // After miscounting the signatures, the NLRB Regional Director cited the “contract bar” as a reason for dismissing the petition. Had the Region not ultimately reversed itself, that erroneous decision could have blocked a decertification vote for three more years because of the contract bar.
BACKGROUNDER: Potential Railroad Strike
September 14, 2022 // On Friday, September 16, 2022, railroad workers could go on strike. This would effectively shut down the nation’s freight rail system and have spillover effects on commuter rail like Amtrak, which is already canceling long-distance routes. If a strike or lockout occurs, Congress has the ability to intervene and has done so in the past. An economic analysis by the American Association of Railroads using the Federal Railroad Administration’s model found a railroad shutdown could cost our economy $2 billion per day. Similarly, a coalition of agricultural organizations said in a letter to Congress, “Uninterrupted rail service is vital to the American agricultural economy.”
Geico workers organizing in Amherst
September 12, 2022 // For years, employees said, those jobs were good jobs. Geico today pays a minimum of $16.84 per hour for entry-level employees and as much as $91.70 per hour for upper management, according to records reviewed by Investigative Post. The employees who spoke with Investigative Post said they make between $20 and $30 per hour, or between $40,000 and $60,000 per year. But the COVID-19 pandemic, they said, rocked Geico’s business, causing the company to make a number of adjustments in short succession that changed employees’ jobs. Because many Geico employees are still working from home, organizers have been knocking on doors and visiting their coworkers at home to ask them to sign a union petition.
We need better unions
September 5, 2022 // They need to leave behind the model where they treat all members as oppressed cogs and move to a model where they provide valuable services to their members and find ways to make union membership valuable for companies. It would be better to shift to an approach where unions serve as professional organizations, advocating for their members’ interests and providing tools for members to collaborate. Unions could train their members, award voluntary certifications, offer insurance, and provide assistance to employees negotiating their own terms and conditions of employment. In short, unions need to step forward into the 21st century.
This Labor Day, let’s ensure that individual workers are empowered, too
September 3, 2022 // Unions should be accountable to their members and remain so. Congress should make right to work laws the standard nationally. It should require unions to make their finances public and periodically hold re-certification votes to ensure they retain their members’ support and transparent elections for leadership. If a union and the workers it represents are in harmony, then none of these reforms will hamper the union—and may even help it. They only become a factor if those same workers want to hold their union accountable. Who has a problem with that?
House, Senate GOP Workforce Leaders Demand Investigation into NLRB Misconduct
August 25, 2022 // Today, House Education and Labor Committee Republican Leader Virginia Foxx (R-NC); Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Republican Leader Richard Burr (R-NC); House Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee Republican Leader Rick Allen (R-GA); and Senate Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee Republican Leader Mike Braun (R-IN) sent a letter to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Inspector General David Berry to request an immediate investigation into allegations that NLRB officials intervened inappropriately in ongoing union organization efforts at Starbucks stores across the country. Inspector General David Berry,