Posts tagged New Jersey
Investor group urges Ford to address claims of ‘union avoidance’ at Kentucky battery plant
May 8, 2025 // A nonprofit faith-based group that seeks to leverage its investing to advance human rights, racial equity and “the common good” is calling on automaker Ford to address claims of anti-union activities at the BlueOval SK battery plant in Kentucky. The letter from Investor Advocates for Social Justice details the group’s concerns over “strong indications that BlueOval Kentucky is engaging in union avoidance activities,” ranging from disseminating “anti-union flyers and media” to the United Auto Workers (UAW) telling the Washington Post that anti-union consultants have been brought in to persuade workers against unionization. The UAW launched a campaign last year to unionize the BlueOval SK battery plant in Hardin County, and workers at the plant in January asked the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union election. The BlueOval SK battery plant, one of two planned at Glendale to produce batteries for electric vehicles, is jointly owned by Ford and South Korean company SK Group.
NJ Transit CEO rails against union as strike looms
May 8, 2025 // The NJ Transit Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen could strike as early as May 16 if the two sides do not reach an accord. They’ve remained at odds over the level of wage hikes, with engineers seeking increases that would bring their average salary to $190,000, while the agency has pushed for a contract that would bring that wage up to $172,000. “If there’s any citizen, private or government, in this environment who’d get a $25,000 pay raise and say, ‘No, no, that’s not good enough,’ does that sound like a group of people who are grounded in reality, or more importantly, on what is actually happening in the world we live in?” Kolluri told the Assembly’s budget committee. In written responses to questions asked through the Office of Legislative Services, NJ Transit warned it could face cost increases as a result of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, though it said it lacks the information needed to gauge the impact tariffs would have.
Teamsters: South Jersey cannabis workers unionizing in Mays Landing
May 7, 2025 // Teamsters set out about three years ago to unionize the cannabis industries. It has recorded more than 30 collective bargaining agreements among workforces in California, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts and Michigan. “This is inherently a core industry for our union,” union spokesman Matt McQuaid said this week. “If you look at most of the core segments of the cannabis supply chain — agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, and retail — these are all jobs where the Teamsters have represented workers for decades.”
Commentary Kim Kavin: Worse than California’s AB5
May 6, 2025 // They tried, and failed, to do just that back in 2019-20 with legislation that mirrored California’s disastrous freelance-busting ABC Test law. Independent contractors from all across New Jersey cried foul. Our elected officials ultimately decided this policy was a bad idea for the Garden State. Trenton bureaucrats are now moving to impose this ABC Test interpretation on us all anyway, through rule-making, in their final months of having power before this fall’s election.
In unusual move, doctors vote to unionize at N.J. healthcare giant
May 5, 2025 // A group of doctors who work for both RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers University voted to unionize earlier this week, union officials said. The physicians — who work for Rutgers 10% of the time and RWJBarnabas 90% of the time — were hired as “clinically focused university practitioners,” or CFUP. They are both physicians and faculty members at the state university.
NJ Transit warns commuters to prepare as engineers’ strike looms
May 4, 2025 // New Jersey Transit says the union wants a salary of $190,000 a year. The union says base pay is $89,000. The head of the union says his 425 members are paid 20 percent less than other regional train engineers.
State labor department proposes new rules for independent contractor status
April 29, 2025 // The notice of proposal for new rules will be published in the May 5, 2025, issue of the New Jersey Register, and there will be a 60-day period beginning that day during which the NJDOL will accept written comments on the proposed new rules. The proposed rules outline the application of the ABC test, which is critical in determining whether a worker should be classified as an employee or an independent contractor under various New Jersey statutes, including but not limited to the Unemployment Compensation Law, the Wage and Hour Law, and the Wage Payment Law. The proposed rules include detailed guidelines for evaluating the three parts of the ABC test, ensuring that employers are well-informed and better equipped to make appropriate classification decisions.
Energy Transfer Drivers Across Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana Demand Vote to Remove Steelworkers Union From Power
April 21, 2025 // Drivers for Energy Transfer, an oil and gas transportation company with nearly 30 facilities across Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, are petitioning a federal labor board for a vote to end United Steelworkers (USW) union officials’ bargaining control over their work unit. Driver Jay Fifer, who is based at Energy Transfer’s workplace in Hearne, TX (near College Station, TX), submitted the petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this week with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. If Fifer and his coworkers’ requested vote is successful, over 420 Energy Transfer drivers will be free of USW union officials’ control.
Connecticut workers rally for unemployment insurance after 2 weeks on strike
April 20, 2025 // He added that those who are opposed to the bill are not against it because of how much it costs. “They are opposed because they don’t want things to be remotely fair,” Stanley said. “They want all the power on one side. All that has led to is growing inequality. We need a change across Connecticut and across this country.”
NJ Transit engineers threaten strike after rejecting labor deal
April 18, 2025 // "Our number one issue is wages. New Jersey Transit engineers are among the lowest paid in the entire country," said BLET Chairman Tim Haas. "We are significantly behind passenger railroad engineers working in this same market—that is, the New York City area. We're far behind Metro-North, Long Island Railroad, Amtrak, PATH—all these other agencies where the New Jersey Transit engineers are leaving to go and work."