Posts tagged Senate
State senators to get a harsh reality check as their own workers unionize
August 11, 2022 // Labor leaders were giddy when a group of state Senate employees last month announced their intent to unionize. But if the group achieves its objective — to subject senators to the sweeping union rules Albany imposes on local governments and schools — the result may be more than what labor bargained for. About 80 of the Senate’s roughly 1,000 employees have formed the New York State Legislative Workers United. In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the group demanded the same bargaining privileges New York’s Taylor Law grants state and municipal employees and teachers.
NLRB’s Top Prosecutor Seeks Big Changes, Faces Uphill Battle
June 28, 2022 // Abruzzo has signaled it’s one of the many decisions she intends to undo from the Trump era, when cases were spearheaded by her predecessor Peter Robb, who was widely seen by organized labor and Democrats as favoring employers. Biden later fired Robb. “The hypocrisy is off the charts when you think about the employee rights,” Nix said. “When she gets done with the job, she ought to apply for the lobbyist job at the AFL-CIO, because she’s going even farther than union officials have even imagined.” John Logan, San Francisco State University, pro-union experts,
DC Employee Says Union Official Assaulted Him for Opposing Labor Leadership
June 8, 2022 // Thomas McLamb, a driver for the city's transportation services, alleges Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 official Tiyaka Boone assaulted him at work just days after the union's president told his team to "slap" employees who opposed his agenda, according to filings with the National Labor Relations Board. At the time of the November assault, McLamb was campaigning for union office in opposition to its leadership. The driver claims labor officials retaliated against him for simply expressing ideas on how the union could improve. public transportation, D.C., Thomas McLamb, Tiyaka Boone, North America,
Democrats Say Secret Ballot for Me, Card Check for Thee
May 17, 2022 // Instead, unions want to organize employees via “card check,” a coercive process whereby organizers confront employees individually and relentlessly, at work and at home, until they sign a petition card. If the union can collect cards from half of the workforce, it gets certified without a vote.
ARE PRIVATE SECTOR UNIONS PASSÉ?
May 5, 2022 // Union membership is way down, and their collective future is not rosy.
Worker unions split on Atlantic City casino smoking ban. The mayor is against it.
May 2, 2022 // The United Auto Workers wrote a letter to legislators this week calling on them to hold hearings on a bill that would end a 16-year-old loophole carving casinos out of a statewide prohibition on smoking in most indoor public places in New Jersey.
The Future of Unions (Gallup Polling)
May 2, 2022 // In short, views of unions do not significantly divide the rich versus the poor, the highly educated versus the less well educated or women versus men. Views of unions are largely a factor of the individual's underlying political and ideological orientation.
Biden’s PRO Act is a covert tax hike on 7.7 million Americans
April 28, 2022 // The PRO Act has been one of Biden’s top priorities despite the fact that it has yet to move in the Senate. The PRO Act’s ABC test is a clear tax hike on millions of Americans, 96 percent of whom make less than $400,000 per year. If Biden is serious about upholding his tax pledge, a central part of his presidential campaign, he should kick the PRO Act and the ABC test to the curb.
Trust the Experts: Economists Across Board Say Min Wage Hike Would Spike Inflation
April 28, 2022 // Nearly 80 percent of studies conducted since 1992 found that an increased minimum wage decreases the level of employment. Michael Saltsman, the managing director of the Employment Policies Institute, said Democrats have pushed for a $15 minimum wage even as economists warn it will decimate jobs.
Connecticut: OP-ED | Unemployment Benefits For Striking Workers? No, It’s Not The Onion
April 26, 2022 // Senate Bill 317 is highly unusual, but not unheard of. Then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed similar legislation on the eve of the pandemic in 2020 and another such law passed four years ago in New Jersey, but in most cases benefits for striking Garden State workers only kick in after 30 days. Like Connecticut, both of those states have struggled with budget deficits over the last several years, though the most recent shortfalls have been mitigated by federal coronavirus relief funds.