Posts tagged President Biden
Op-ed: Congress should be wary of Labor agency’s plea for more cash
December 21, 2022 // Still, even as the NLRB is claiming it does not have the resources to carry out its mission, Abruzzo through a series of memos has instructed the agency to pursue legal theories that take time to research instead of letting staffers simply enforce agreed-upon law. For instance, she issued a memo telling agents to guard against “ unlawful threats and coercive activity ” by employers, which sounds reasonable until one considers that Abruzzo views employee meetings on unionization, mandatory companywide meetings to discuss unionization where employees are fully compensated for their time, as borderline coercive. The NLRB could also cut down on the use of official time. Official time is when union workers are paid their taxpayer-funded salaries to do union work rather than the government jobs they were hired to do.
Progressives Push Congress to Shore Up Agency that Protects Workers’ Rights Before it’s Too Late
December 15, 2022 // “The fact that we have to have a press conference and draw attention to this issue shows what’s fundamentally wrong,” says Joseph Geevarghese, the executive director of Our Revolution, whose members held pro-union signs as lawmakers spoke outside the Capitol. “The Democratic Party is not in touch with its roots.” It’s illegal to retaliate against workers for starting or joining a union. The NLRB is responsible for holding employers who violate labor law accountable and help parties in labor disputes reach settlements. But resolving complaints has often been slow, a situation that labor activists say deters efforts to organize workers.
Flanked by Union Allies, Biden Touts $36 Billion Pension Bailout
December 9, 2022 // President Joe Biden announced a $36 billion bailout for the Central States Pension Fund, one of the nation’s biggest multi-employer plans, touting the help for union workers and retirees as he looks to mend ties with organized labor after a contentious rail deal.
The ‘pro-union’ president risks the support of a key constituency to avert a rail strike
December 5, 2022 // Biden faces a backlash from a core of rail workers and allied groups, as some of them see his push for a measure to avoid a strike as a betrayal. He signed the measure, which passed with bipartisan support, at the White House on Friday, giving rail workers a significant raise, but denying them the paid sick leave that had been a sticking point in some of the contract talks. Hours later, he arrived at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston and was met by scores of protesters objecting to his handling of a labor dispute that threatened to halt rail service at the peak of the holiday season.
Unions bash senators for rejecting paid sick leave for rail workers
December 2, 2022 // Labor leaders lashed out Thursday at senators who voted against a proposal to provide rail workers with seven days of paid sick leave. While the Senate overwhelmingly approved a measure to force through a railroad contract that gives workers a 24 percent raise over five years, a proposal to add paid sick days to the deal failed to reach 60 votes. All but six Republicans voted against the measure.
Looming rail strike could impact US economy ahead of holidays
November 17, 2022 // All 12 rail unions must approve their deals to prevent a strike, although no strike is imminent because all the unions have agreed to keep negotiating even if their members vote no, until a deadline early next month. Seven other unions have ratified the five-year deals that include 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses. The focus now is on the three unions that have voted down their agreements and the remaining two that haven't finished voting.
Union bosses rake it in, even as their ranks shrink
November 15, 2022 // The new report, provocatively titled “Labor’s Fortress of Finance” by the pro-labor Radish Research, looks at the balance sheets of big unions since 2010, based on financial statements they must file with the Department of Labor. It finds that, over that period, unions have lost some 710,000 members, yet union membership revenues increased by one-third, to $18 billion — 85% of that from fees on members, which grew by a similar rate. By contrast, union spending increased by just 18% over that time. The money that unions expended representing workers, for instance, improved by just 13%. As a result, the surplus (the equivalent of profits at a business) that unions generated grew almost sixfold, to nearly $2.5 billion in 2021, from just $426 million in 2010. Collectively, their cash on hand more than doubled in 11 years to $11.3 billion, their investments soared nearly 150% to $17.4 billion, and their net assets rose 120%, to $31.6 billion.
Biden touts union-backed apprenticeships as he dissolves Trump-era apprentice program
November 8, 2022 // "President Biden and Vice President Harris recognized that IRAPs were a threat to union workers," the Laborers' International Union of North America posted on its website. President Biden on Wednesday touted an expansion of apprenticeship programs that are often run by his union allies, even as he prepares to dissolve a Trump-era apprentice program that unions have openly declared as a threat. Biden delivered a speech at the White House on how his legislative victories expanded apprenticeship programs through his administration’s "Talent Pipeline Challenge." That initiative aims to "support equitable workforce development" in three employment sectors: broadband, construction and electrification, which are predominately unionized fields.
Unions shifting to low-risk short strikes for workers to flex leverage during labor shortage
October 20, 2022 // Of the 302 strikes within the U.S. to this point this yr, 141 of the walkouts, or 47%, have lasted a day or much less, in keeping with the labor-action tracker at Cornell College’s Industrial Labor Relations Faculty. Solely 41 strikes, or 13%, have lasted 30 days or extra. By means of the identical interval in 2021, there have been 53 strikes of a day or much less out of a complete of 172 walkouts, or 31%. Brief-term walkouts restrict the danger that employers will rent everlasting replacements for aggrieved employees, stated Catherine Creighton, director of Cornell’s ILR Buffalo Co-Lab. “It’s positively a danger that workers face after they go on a long-term strike,” stated Ms. Creighton, who additionally has labored as a labor-relations lawyer. “It’s been discovered that in a short-term strike, you’re getting your message out to the employer otherwise you’re letting them know you imply enterprise. However you’re not essentially placing your job in danger.”
The Monopoly Hiding in Plain Sight
October 19, 2022 // Imagine if unions were connected to workers rather than workplaces. They could provide a better safety net for those between jobs. Health insurance, unemployment insurance, and professional development could be provided by unions or employment co-ops, rather than by employers, which would make economic downturns less risky for workers. Tying these services to your employer is the equivalent of putting all your eggs in a basket that someone else is carrying. The measure of a union should be how well it serves its members. If workers had the freedom to join the union of their choice, worker organizations would be motivated to constantly find new and better ways of serving their customers. This is a bipartisan compromise that could both improve the labor market and reverse unions’ multi-decade decline.