Posts tagged Neutrality
Hundreds of Southern California Edison planners, technicians file for union election
April 22, 2025 // A separate union, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 47, already represents construction linemen who install and maintain the overhead distribution and transmission lines. John Mader, president of ESC Local 20, urged the company to take a neutral approach to the union so that workers could eventually vote in an election “without interference or intimidation.”
Feeding the Kitty
September 30, 2024 // Unions have pursued shareholder resolutions asking for a “free and fair election process,” meaning card check and neutrality. They have also sought to pass resolutions demanding audits of a company’s labor practices. It’s not hard to see how a future resolution could explicitly try to prohibit companies from using independent contractors.
Ohio University officials won’t yet commit to remaining neutral on efforts to form a faculty union
March 15, 2024 // In his reply, the university’s senior associate general counsel, Michael Courtney, wrote that the university was not given enough information and was not provided with enough time to evaluate the requests. “In order to appropriately ensure all voices of the University faculty employees are heard, it is imperative for University leadership to seek and require proof of majority support,” Courtney wrote. In the meantime, Courtney wrote, “Ohio University will pledge that it will comply with regulations” in state law that govern the unionizing process. UAOU sent out a statement to members the day after Courtney’s letter was sent, in which the organization noted that while the university did not agree to UAOU’s requests, it did agree to follow the law.
Opinion: What Can We Learn from Growing Federal Sector Unions? (Hint: Maybe Clean Slate Works)
April 11, 2023 // Biden did much more than just not be Trump or speak in support of labor generally. His administration also put in place several polices that created conditions of true neutrality. For example, the Office of Personnel Management put out memos to ensure that federal managers maintained real neutrality during organizing campaigns. Those memos directed managers to consult with labor-management specialists before responding to employees’ questions about organizing to ensure that they did not convey any inaccurate or biased information. OPM also directed federal managers to actually make it easier for unions to organize. For the first time, agencies are required to allow unions to post information about their organization and contact information for union representatives on office bulletin boards, public websites, or employee-only intranets. OPM also directed agencies to share a list of bargaining-unit employees and their work email addresses with union officials and to invite unions to participate in the orientation process for new bargaining unit employees. The Biden Administration also encouraged agencies to restart labor-management forums, which the Trump Administration had tried to shut down.
Biden Administration Seeks to Limit Employer Speech to Aid in Union Organizing
June 24, 2022 // Recently, leading officials in the Biden administration have taken steps to prevent employers from sharing their lawful views on collective bargaining in order to aid union efforts to organize more employees. These actions range from encouraging employers to refrain from discussing unions with employees, to seeking to prohibit any discussion about unions with employees while they are working. If the National Labor Relations Board ("Board") implements the administration’s actions, it would make it significantly harder for employers to oppose union organizing campaigns and make it easier for employees to organize.
Microsoft signs ‘labor neutrality agreement’ with union representing Activision Blizzard employees
June 15, 2022 // Due to significant workplace issues within the larger video game industry, such as poor scheduling and hire-and-fire cycles, unionization efforts have been growing on a grassroots level for at least the last four years. The CWA agreement with Microsoft marks one of the most significant steps forward for the overall movement, and while Microsoft’s responsibilities all amount to simply staying out of the way, it remains one of the most pro-union moves by a major industry player to date.
Op-Ed: Ford in bed with UAW over card check campaign
June 13, 2022 // The UAW with its years-long federal corruption trial is desperate for new members and revenue, and eagerly awaits a card check campaign. As we know in Michigan, once the UAW becomes embedded into a facility, they will never allow a recertification vote or any attempt by workers to decertify. Once voted in, workers are stuck with the UAW for generations to come. It will simply be forced upon them as a condition of employment. Over the last couple of decades, autoworkers in the South – when granted their right to a secret ballot – have demonstrated time after time that they are not interested in what the UAW has to offer. Those 11,000 future autoworkers in Kentucky and Tennessee deserve those same rights, freedoms, and protections
Sanders hearing: Federal contractors are guilty until proven innocent, keep workers in the dark on rights
May 4, 2022 // U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT, wants to stop workers from knowing about their rights and also go back to the days of employers being guilty until proven innocent. The Senate Budget Committee Chairman will hold a hearing Thursday asking “Should Taxpayer Dollars Go to Companies that Violate Labor Laws?”
Blacklisting Federal Contractors
May 4, 2022 // Congressional Democrats have taken a renewed interest in resurrecting a failed Obama-era executive order, “Fair Pay and Safe Workplace (EO 13672),” also known as “Blacklisting.” The stated goal of the Blacklisting executive order, and subsequent regulations, was to promote efficiency in government procurement by ensuring federal agencies contract only with “responsible” contractors who comply with federal and state workplace laws.