Posts tagged New Jersey
Commentary: Tough Lessons of the CRA: Part III
June 17, 2024 // They need to hear it from all of us who wish to remain independent contractors. That means truckers. Translators. Graphic artists. Financial advisers. Nurses. Tutors. Sheep shearers. Writers. They need to hear it from every kind of independent contractor that exists in more than 600 professions identified as being affected so far.
Connecticut governor vetoes bill that could lead to $3 million in assistance to striking workers
June 14, 2024 // Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont on Tuesday vetoed a vaguely written bill to create a $3 million fund that could have financially helped striking workers in Connecticut. Calling it commendable to provide assistance to low-wage workers, as the bill was described on the final night of the 2024 legislative session, Lamont said he was concerned about how the legislation lacked clarity, financial accountability and oversight.
PBGC Announces nearly $650 Million In Taxpayer Monies To Go To Four More Failing Union Pension Plans
June 12, 2024 // On Tuesday, the PBGC announced it approved approximately $545.6 million in special financial assistance (SFA) to the CWA/ITU Negotiated Pension Plan (CWA/ITU Plan), based in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. The plan, which covers 24,288 participants in the printing industry, was projected to become insolvent and run out of money in 2029.
Dockworkers Cancel Bargaining, Threaten Strike at U.S. Seaports
June 11, 2024 // Automation has been a flashpoint for longshore labor talks on both coasts. Daggett has vowed to stem the tide of automated machinery being used to lift, carry and stack containers on docks around the world. In a speech last year he accused the Biden administration of standing by while foreign-owned carriers use the machinery “to eliminate good paying American jobs.” People familiar with the negotiations say most issues specific to local ports have been resolved, but some issues, such as automation, are unresolved.
N.J. Case Creates Model for Independent Contractor Status
May 17, 2024 // The New Jersey REALTORS®, with legal action support from NAR, submitted amicus briefs in the case expressing concern over the precedent the case could set for brokerages’ ability to decide employee status. The New Jersey association also successfully lobbied state lawmakers to amend the New Jersey Real Estate License Act, often known as the Brokers Act, to clarify that written agreements between a broker and salesperson define the worker’s status. New Jersey lawmakers enacted the amendment in 2018 and, in 2022, passed a further amendment clarifying that the 2018 amendment is retroactive. That change paid off: The New Jersey Supreme Court dismissed the case(link is external) this week.
Apple Store in New Jersey Votes Against Unionizing
May 13, 2024 // Neither unionized Apple store has yet reached a contract with the company. Employees at the location in Towson, Maryland, who organized with the International Association of Machinists, voted Saturday to authorize a potential strike over what the union alleges has been a refusal by Apple to fairly negotiate. Outstanding issues driving the possible work stoppage include work-life balance, unpredictable scheduling and pay, the IAM said in an emailed statement. A date when workers could walk out “will be determined,” the union said.
Apple’s Maryland store workers vote to authorize strike
May 13, 2024 // Workers at Apple ’s store in Towson, Maryland, have voted in favor of authorizing a strike, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (AIM) said in a statement late on Saturday. The date for work stoppage has yet to be decided, according to the union, which represents Apple’s retail store workers in Maryland.
Union representing Maryland state employees opens ranks to supervisors
May 7, 2024 // he legislation applies only to front-level supervisors who do daily supervision of staff and perform similar duties to the people they oversee including, for example, nurse supervisors at state hospitals or lieutenants at a state prisons. It does not apply to state employees in managerial positions who have the ability to hire, fire and make departmental decisions.
Wells Fargo shareholders reject union-busting audit
May 3, 2024 // Wells Fargo shareholders rejected a proposal Tuesday to appoint a third-party monitor that would have examined whether the bank was impeding employees’ unionization rights, according to American Banker.
Somerset, NJ, Nissan Employees Overwhelmingly Vote Out UAW Union Bosses
April 30, 2024 // After Oliver’s April 1 submission of the decertification petition, UAW union officials announced on April 18 that they had ratified a new union contract with Nissan management. The last contract had expired. While the NLRB’s dubious “contract bar” generally allows union bosses to quash worker-filed decertification efforts for up to three years while a union contract is in effect, the contract bar didn’t stop Oliver and his coworkers’ requested election, because union officials weren’t able to reach a monopoly bargaining agreement with Nissan before Oliver filed his decertification petition. The contract bar does not appear in the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the federal law the NLRB is charged with enforcing, and is instead the product of union boss-friendly Board decisions. Had union officials been able to ratify the contract just a few days earlier, the UAW likely would have succeeded in trapping the workers in union “representation” and forced-dues payments, despite a wide majority wanting to be free of the UAW.