Posts tagged New Deal
How the Mafia Infiltrated American Labor Unions
August 12, 2024 // While law enforcement agencies continue to monitor Mafia infiltration of labor unions, labor racketeering has become less prevalent than it was decades ago. In part, that’s because union membership plummeted after the McClellan Committee exposed the extent of labor racketeering. At its zenith in the mid-1950s, union membership comprised one-third of the labor force, but now union members only represent approximately 10 percent of American workers.
The Cases Against Sectoral Bargaining: The Practical Case
August 11, 2024 // The effect of sectoral bargaining on union corruption would be unclear. Scholars of union corruption have blamed enterprise bargaining combined with union monopoly representation for America’s unusually high levels of labor racketeering. There is truth to this, but it is also not the case that American unions involved in industries with more-sectoral-style approaches are “cleaner.” The New York City garment industry, which was exempted from various Taft-Hartley regulations on union conduct, was believed by the federal government to have been Mob influenced as recently as the 1990s. More recently, the United Auto Workers, which conducts a sort of pseudo-sectoral bargaining with the unionized Detroit Three automakers by “patterning” its contracts, was forced into a regime change after the largest union corruption scandal of the 21st century. Putting more power in the hands of America’s long-standing class of union officials, who are known for having their hands in the cookie jar, certainly is not an obvious approach to reducing or surveilling corruption in organized labor.
Op-Ed: Union membership is now political. So can the government still require people to associate with a union?
July 10, 2024 // Since then, employees have argued that exclusive union representation does violate the First Amendment. Exclusivity saddles them with the “services” of nakedly political bargaining agents. Lower courts have turned those arguments aside mostly because of an older case, Minnesota Board for Community Colleges v. Knight, which suggested that exclusive representation was okay in the public sector. Knight seemed to say that when the government bargains about working conditions, it can choose its own bargaining partner. And if it chooses one exclusive union to bargain with, that choice burdens no one’s associational rights. But whether or not that’s what Knight meant, the decision has no bearing on private-sector bargaining. In the private sector, the government does not choose its own bargaining partner; it imposes one on private parties. And some of those parties object to their unions’ political views—views that are increasingly central to unionization itself. So private-sector bargaining raises a different question: can the government force private citizens to associate with a union when that union’s core purpose is increasingly political? (Elsewhere, I have argued at greater length that it cannot.)
Parity in Labor Transparency
April 24, 2024 // The institutional left has sought to reward Big Labor by making union organizing campaigns shorter, or bypassing them with “card check.” Big Labor knows that the dynamics of union organizing rely on labor unions being able to make their pitches to workers from trusted positions without skeptical responses from other workers or employer representatives. And they only need to win the vote once to start collecting dues and engaging in compulsory bargaining. As long as government-recognized and government-empowered compulsory union bargaining exists, the government require workers be given all the information before deciding whether to form a union and bargain collectively. The SALT Act would accomplish this needed reform.
Commentary Big Labor’s Decline and Left Turn: Membership Decline
March 23, 2024 //
Opinion: Major US corporations threaten to return labor to ‘law of the jungle’
March 11, 2024 // Roger King, a longtime management-side lawyer who is senior labor counsel for the HR Policy Association, said “it will be a lose-lose” if the federal courts overturn the 89-year-old National Labor Relations Act, which has governed labor relations since Franklin Roosevelt was president. “We’ll have the law of the jungle, the law of the streets,” King said. “It will be who has the most power. It’s potential for chaos.”
Pro-Worker, Not Pro-Union
January 31, 2024 // What the Right has often overlooked in this debate is that the protection of independent-worker status can be coupled with a revamping of worker-benefit options. Lack of benefits is frequently cited as the main drawback of independent work. Republicans could burnish their pro-worker credentials, while protecting businesses from reclassification and other draconian left-wing policies, by proposing a flexible benefit setup for contractors and gig workers that has features similar to a SEP-IRA. It would use a system of employer contributions while giving workers the ability to make pre-tax contributions of their own. The funds could be used for benefits such as paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, or even health insurance, some of which could be purchased through newly created worker-benefit exchanges that act as brokerages for the benefits. Benefit-flexibility concepts can be applied as well to retirement savings, even those of noncontract workers. The current system largely relies on employer-based retirement plans, but many workers find it difficult to roll old retirement accounts over to new jobs. That has led to a proliferation of abandoned “orphan” accounts. Automatic portability for retirement accounts would make it possible for more workers to take their accounts with them to new jobs. Also due is a nuanced rethinking of noncompete agreements in labor contracts. While libertarian notions of the freedom of contract have long led right-leaning policy-makers to resist the imposition of restrictions on contractual arrangements, recent years have seen more free-market proponents question the efficacy of noncompetes with respect to their impact on worker freedom and earnings.
Some Workers Try to Free Themselves from Unionization, Biden Officials Try to Dragoon More In
January 5, 2024 // If the union loses the election, it often files an “unfair labor practice” charge against the company, seeking to invalidate the election. It used to be that after such a charge (assuming that an NLRB administrative law judge found it credible, which was usually the case), the remedy would be to order a new election. But now, the NLRB is making the remedy an order that the union has “won” and that the company must bargain with it. (Compulsory bargaining is another concept that’s contrary to the freedom that common law protected.) That was the ruling in I.N.S.A, Inc. This is “administrative law” at its worst. Under the Constitution, Congress, not unelected bureaucrats, is supposed to make the laws. But Biden’s pro-union appointments to the NLRB are determined to make the law under the guise of “interpreting” the NLRA. This ruling will lead to more compulsory unionism.
Op-ed: Workers Rights Won by Unions, From the 8-Hour Workday to Overtime Pay
September 11, 2023 // The overall proportion of unionized workers in the United States remains relatively low, with only one in every 10 workers in the country belonging to a union. But whether you're a union worker or not, you may benefit from policies for which unions have fought long and hard — and they continue to fight. Labor organizing has helped secure everyday benefits that many of us now take for granted. And these efforts have shown people what kind of protections they can hope to secure in the workplace.
The Cyberpicket: A New Frontier for Labor Law
June 12, 2023 // a cyberpicket would alert potential customers to a labor dispute and put them to the choice of whether to continue transacting with the business. Instead of encountering rows of workers outfitted with signs and pamphlets, however, e-shoppers would come across a notification that materializes at a site’s landing page — the business’s “entrance.” The technology needed to implement a cyberpicket breaks no new ground. In fact, it’s already widely utilized by online businesses for compliance with the European Union’s (EU) “Cookie Law,” which requires that websites give visitors the right to refuse data tracking.14 So-called “consent banners” — now familiar fixtures for netizens across the pond15 — present a tried-and-true template for the cyberpicket. Not only is the cyberpicket a viable alternative to its in-person counterpart, it’s a right owed to employees of online businesses. This Note sharpens the concept of a cyberpicket by expanding on its legal justification, expected benefits, and possible challenges.