Posts tagged Ohio
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.
Va. governor vetoes bill requiring two crew members on trains, federal guidance pending
March 13, 2024 // In 2016, the railroad administration stated that the “FRA cannot provide reliable or conclusive statistical data to suggest whether one-person crew operations are generally safer or less safe than multiple-person crew operations.” New York-based consulting firm Oliver Wyman studied accident reporting data spanning a period from 2006 to 2019 for 28 railroads in Europe and concluded in a 2021 report there was “no evidence that railroads operating with two-person crews are statistically safer than railroads operating with one-person crews.”
Union reaches tentative contract at 38 Kroger stores in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio
March 11, 2024 // Bargainers for a union representing workers at 38 Kroger stores in West Virginia and two other states reached a tentative agreement with the grocery chain on a contract Thursday. The announcement came a week after members of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 400 rejected a previous contract offer and voted to authorize a strike.
Will the Teachers’ Union Crush Education Opportunity in Connecticut?
March 5, 2024 // Ultimately, their reluctance to embrace opportunity scholarships forces one to question the priorities of those who lead the teachers’ union: Is it to teach children so they’re prepared to engage in the world and lead lives of dignity and purpose? Or, cynically, are union leaders afraid that if students opted for private schools, their coffers would receive less funding from local and state boards of education?
Railroad Workers Were Ready to Strike. Now They’re Fighting to Save Their CEO.
March 5, 2024 // abor groups representing Norfolk conductors, locomotive engineers, machinists and other workers have made public comments in support of Chief Executive Alan Shaw as he comes under pressure from activist Ancora Holdings. The groups account for over half of the railroad’s unionized workforce.
The Buckeye Institute: Courts Shouldn’t Simply Defer to NLRB’s Interpretation of Facts
March 4, 2024 // “When the National Labor Relations Board sues a private company, the government should not get special treatment on its request for a preliminary injunction,” said David C. Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute. “When it granted the government’s request for a preliminary injunction, the Sixth Circuit got it wrong. The proper standard—according to centuries of court practice—is to employ equity and consider the harms to both the company and its employees.”
This Week’s Teachers Union Report Card: Akron Education Association Blocks Tutoring
February 19, 2024 // The Akron Education Association recently successfully sued the Akron, Ohio school district in order to block students from accessing tutoring. The union’s lawsuit forced the district to cancel a $156,000 state-funded contract for 2,400 60-minute one-on-one tutoring sessions for struggling students. The union defended the power play by claiming that tutoring threatens and outsources union members’ jobs.
Opinion: Empowering worker autonomy: Resisting union pressure
February 8, 2024 // Neutrality agreements are hardly the only trick up the UAW’s sleeve. Unions frequently pressure employers to adopt card check as the preferred method for determining employee preferences regarding union representation, as opposed to a secret ballot election. In this process, workers are compelled to publicly declare their stance on unionization by either signing or refraining from signing “authorization” cards. Undue pressure, threats, and intimidation often result. Despite the reluctance of most employers to yield to union demands for card check, certain unions, including the UAW in Washington, DC, are advocating for new legislation mandating employers to accept card check. Moreover, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently issued a decision that could potentially eliminate elections in favor of authorization cards in a broader range of circumstances.
UAW, Fain endorse Biden, say Trump ‘stands against everything we stand for’
January 24, 2024 // The United Auto Workers union's leader endorsed U.S. President Joe Biden's reelection bid on Wednesday with a fiery speech in Washington that was also harshly critical of Republican former President Donald Trump. In a full-throated endorsement of the Democratic incumbent, UAW President Shawn Fain cited Biden's pro-union record and his decision to become the first president to join a union picket line this summer during a successful autoworkers strike for higher pay. "Instead of talking trash about our union, Joe Biden stood with us," Fain said. Fain and Biden previously had sharp differences over electric vehicle policy, and the endorsement could be a strong boost to Biden in Michigan and other manufacturing states.
Commentary: States should protect workers from Democrats’ latest assault on their rights
January 19, 2024 // Ending the secret ballot is just one of the ways these Senate Democrats are trying to deprive workers of their rights. They ultimately want automakers to sign a so-called neutrality agreement. As I’ve documented, such agreements typically do three things. The first is to gut the secret ballot in favor of card check. Second, they give unions the personal information of every worker at a company — another violation of privacy and another invitation to intimidation. Finally, neutrality agreements put a gag order on companies, prohibiting them from talking to their workers about unionization. Yet that violates workers’ right to the full information they need to make the best choice. And that’s exactly why unions want to shut companies up — because it makes workers easier to control.