Posts tagged Retail
Employers Gain Additional Defenses In Union Salting And Deferral Cases Thanks to New Guidance from NLRB Official
August 27, 2025 // Under the AGC’s July 24 guidance, employees (or unions) filing charges must present evidence that the salt is “genuinely interested” in working for the employer. While the Board will independently evaluate this element, it will analyze evidence from the employer of the circumstances surrounding: the contents and completeness of the salt’s application; the applicant’s behavior and conduct during interviews; and the applicant’s previous refusal of similar employment.
Report: Biden won’t block dock strike
September 18, 2024 // International Longshoremen’s Association has set Oct. 1 strike deadline at East and Gulf Coast ports. Taft-Hartley Act grants presidents powers to intervene in labor disputes that threaten national security or safety by imposing an 80-day cooling-off period, and forcing employees back to work while negotiations continue.
Commentary Is Big Labor Reducing Worker Wages, Opportunities for Growth?
September 3, 2024 // But the Biden-Harris administration’s embrace of Big Labor—as in big national labor organizations, as opposed to small, local unions—actually hasn’t helped workers as unionized workers’ wages have fallen behind the wages of nonunion workers over the past four years. Unlike small local unions that are in better positions to represent the unique needs of their members and that may even have productive relationships with management, the Big Labor movement is increasingly putting politics, power, and one-size-fits-all policies above the personal well-being of many workers.
New UCSD Report Shows Younger Workers Are Supportive of Unions
August 28, 2024 // Younger workers are far more likely to support but also be uncertain about unions, according to a report released today by UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy. The report, published by the Economics Policy Institute, identifies three major shifts occurring among U.S. workers: a recent, marked decline in opposition to labor unions, a rise of workers who are interested in — but unsure about — unions and an emerging generation gap in attitudes toward unionization.
Barnes & Noble workers plan union drive at largest US bookstore chain
April 1, 2024 // In a statement, Daunt disputed claims of delays at the negotiating table. He claimed he was in agreement with workers on “the fundamentals” of their demands – but warned of “potential upsides and downsides” to a union. Barnes & Noble has some 600 stores across the US, and Daunt – who became CEO in 2019 – has worked to turn around the business, which had spent years in decline. It is owned by the investment giant Elliott Management, which also owns Britain’s Waterstones, which is also run by Daunt. “Our purpose for unionizing is to get some recognition for the dignity of workers,” said Sepple. “And having sat at the table and currently in negotiations with Barnes & Noble, it is disappointing that Barnes & Noble has not treated this as if that dignity is deserved.”
WASHINGTON EDUCATION ASSOCIATION GIVES BIG TO PROGRESSIVE CAUSES, TAX RETURN SHOWS
March 25, 2024 // WEA president Larry Delaney, elected to that position by the union’s members, received total compensation from the union of $312,281 for a reported average of 37.5 hours of work per week. The union’s elected vice president, Janie White, received $257,936 in total compensation. However, the union’s hired executive director, Aimee Iverson, far outpaced them both, receiving $415,545 in total compensation from the WEA that year. The Form 990 also disclosed a dozen other top staff, each earning well over $200,000 per year in total compensation. The total number of such employees on the payroll is unknown. Interestingly, unfunded pension obligations towards its current and former staff represent a significant liability for the WEA. In fact, the weight of the union’s reported $45 million in liabilities for employee retirement benefits pulled its net assets into negative territory that year by nearly $1.3 million.
25 states will hike minimum wage in 2024
December 22, 2023 // Sean Higgins, an analyst at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, said many food and hospitality workers already earn more than their state minimum. He noted that employers have raised salaries to compete for a shrinking pool of applicants. “Raising state and local rates does hurt the smaller businesses, the classic mom and pop enterprises, who will employ local high school or college-age kids if they can but may not be able to justify that if the minimum rate increases,” Mr. Higgins said.
Oregon and Washington fruit packers vote to unionize fails
November 19, 2023 // Gibson told the Capital Chronicle the vote affirmed that most Mount Adams fruitpackers do not want a union, but that it also revealed a need to improve communication with staff. “It’s an opportunity to reset, and for managers and employees to work better together. The ones who wanted to unionize – we respect their interests and want to listen to their needs,” he said. Barajas said Gibson and company leaders had reached out to her and other employees to schedule a meeting, though a date has not been set. She does not know if the meeting is punitive or if it is to discuss issues the union organizers brought up, she said.
UNION’S FIRST CONTRACTS: MORE TWISTS THAN A SEASON OF ‘STRANGER THINGS’
November 16, 2023 // Welcome to the wild world of collective bargaining, where the quest for a first-time collective bargaining agreement (CBA) often feels like an episode straight out of ‘Stranger Things’ – unpredictable, a little strange, and full of twists and turns.
Unions push to represent more workers, but organized labor’s share of jobs is declining
October 24, 2023 // For all the sound and fury on the labor front, its net effect is unknown. Unions’ overall share of the workforce was 10.1% in 2022 and declining, about half the rate of 1983, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That percentage is swelled by union predominance in government work. In the private sector, the share of union jobs was 6% in 2022. The number of union members overall has grown but not as fast as jobs in the rest of the economy. “It takes a lot of new members to raise the union density,” said Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.