Posts tagged Service Employees International Union
Stephen Burke – Fighting Forced Dues in the Workplace
November 21, 2022 // “The screeners were really upset and the union forced us to pay dues or be fired. The employees didn’t understand they were signing cards in favor of the union, they just wanted the organizers out of their face.” –Stephen describing how union organizing tactics mislead employees “There’s absolutely no support for this union. They’ve forced themselves down our throats.” –Stephen speaking about how union officials slipped “card check” efforts past the screeners
Where Six Louisville Unionization Efforts Stand
November 17, 2022 // While there has been a boom in unionization efforts in Louisville, there has also been, for the most part, pushback from employers, who have largely demanded employees vote rather than voluntarily recognize unions.
Amidst organizing surge, Wisconsin unions still face an uphill climb
November 7, 2022 //
Labor Tries City-By-City Push In California For $25 Minimum Wage At Private Medical Facilities
October 25, 2022 // What began as a 10-city campaign by the union has been winnowed to November ballot measures in just two cities in Los Angeles County, reflecting expensive political jockeying between labor and industry. And the $25 minimum wage isn’t the only campaign being waged by SEIU-UHW this cycle — the union is also trying for the third time to get dialysis industry reforms passed. A ballot issue committee called the California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems — with funding from Kaiser Permanente of Northern California, Adventist Health, Cedars-Sinai, Dignity Health, and other hospitals and health systems — opposes a $25 minimum wage because it raises costs for private, but not public, hospitals and health care facilities. Opponents have latched on to this disparity by calling it the “unequal pay measure.” An analysis commissioned by the California Hospital Association estimated that the change would raise costs for private facilities by $392 million a year, a 6.9% increase, across the 10 cities.
If You Like Your Uber, Can You Keep Your Uber?
October 14, 2022 // Democratic administrations favor having fewer independent contractors and a standardized set of benefits. This gives more power to unions to organize workers. If Uber were the employer of all drivers, a union could ask Uber to support unionizing the labor force. It is practically impossible to organize independent contractors. Public sector unions made 90 percent of their contributions to Democratic candidates in the 2020 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.com. With the share of wage and salary workers who belong to unions declining from 20 percent in 1983 to 10 percent in 2021, unions are under pressure to recruit more members to fund union officials’ salaries and member pension plans.
Top Unions Lost Nearly Quarter of a Million Members After Court Struck Down Mandatory Membership
September 30, 2022 // Report shows powerful public sector unions have stepped up lobbying efforts amid member exodus In the four years since the landmark Janus v. AFSCME ruling, the National Education Association, American Federation of Teachers, Service Employees International Union, and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees lost almost 219,000 union members. The report, published by the Commonwealth Foundation, found that the Supreme Court decision escalated a decades-long decline in dues-paying members at the public sector unions. Despite the drop in membership, labor groups have scored legal and political victories that are buoying their political power. Union bosses scored a major victory last year in Virginia, where they attained collective bargaining rights for government workers for the first time through the then-Democratic-controlled state house. The Missouri Supreme Court last year voided a law that would have required unions to have regular recertification votes and annual reports on political activity. Colorado, meanwhile, passed a law in 2020 that unionized its 30,000 state government employees. Jennifer Stefano, Rebecca Friedrichs, California Teachers Association,
Sacramento-area Pine Creek Care Center Nurses Overwhelmingly Vote to Oust Unwanted Teamsters Union
September 23, 2022 // Federal labor board data show that workers across the country are increasingly likely to be involved in efforts to remove unions from workplaces Just a month before Chand and her colleagues’ successful decertification vote, Foundation attorneys aided nurses at Mayo Clinic in Mankato, Minnesota, in their successful effort to throw out the unpopular Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) union from their workplace. About the same time, nurses from the St. James, Minnesota, branch of Mayo Clinic voted to decertify American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 65 union officials by a nearly 9-to-1 margin, also with Foundation legal assistance.
Healthcare Workers at Cuyuna Hospital Successfully Petition for Votes to Remove Union
September 22, 2022 // After miscounting the signatures, the NLRB Regional Director cited the “contract bar” as a reason for dismissing the petition. Had the Region not ultimately reversed itself, that erroneous decision could have blocked a decertification vote for three more years because of the contract bar.
Restaurants move to stop new California fast food worker law
September 19, 2022 // If it stands, the law will create a 10-member Fast Food Council with equal numbers of workers’ delegates and employers’ representatives, along with two state officials, who will be empowered to set minimum standards for wages, hours and working conditions in California. The law will raise consumer costs, isn't needed, and will create “a fractured economy” with different regulations for different types of restaurants, objected the coalition. The coalition is co-chaired by the International Franchise Association and the National Restaurant Association, but organizers said it includes small business owners, restaurateurs, franchisees, employees, consumers, and community-based organizations.
Op-ed: Big Labor Eats Small Business in California
August 31, 2022 // America’s leading antibusiness policy incubator, also known as the state of California, is at it again. The state Assembly passed the so-called FAST Recovery Act in January. It was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Aug. 11. The next stop will be a vote on the Senate floor, followed by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. If the bill becomes law, it will drive up fast-food prices as much as 22% and wipe out the franchise business model, which provides nearly 800,000 jobs in the state.