Posts tagged Service Employees International Union
Labor unions are hot, but their moment may not last | Los Angeles Times
August 29, 2022 // About 1 in 10 American workers is in a labor union, down from a peak of more than 1 in 3 in the mid-1950s. Government workers are five times more likely than private-sector employees to be in a union. Yet even as experts acknowledge the newfound excitement around labor, they caution that unions, which have suffered decades of declining membership, are unlikely to turn the tide. Unions’ moment of opportunity could already be slipping away. Republicans are poised to gain seats in the November elections. And a potential recession could wipe away the rare leverage workers have held in the tight labor market that emerged in the wake of the pandemic. Jon Shelton, a labor historian at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Appeals Court Finds Union Can Be Liable Under RICO Statute
August 29, 2022 // In Care One Mgmt. LLC v. United Healthcare Workers East, the court was asked to consider an employer’s appeal of the trial court’s decision denying its RICO Act claims against the United Healthcare Workers East SEIU 1199, New England Health Care Employees Union, and the Service Employees International Union. Although the RICO Act is a criminal statute, individuals and entities can also bring civil claims under RICO. Essentially, in such cases, the plaintiff must establish that the defendant is conducting a pattern of racketeering activity through certain criminal predicate acts. In Care One, the employer alleged that the unions engaged in a pattern of racketeering through mail and wire fraud as well as extortion.
American University staff preparing to strike over wages
August 22, 2022 // Hundreds of staffers at American University plan to go on strike next week if negotiations over wages and health-care benefits with the school in D.C. do not produce a contract. American and a union representing about 550 clerical, technical and academic staff members have been hammering out a labor agreement for more than a year. While they have made progress on issues such as job security, they remain at odds over salary increases, said Sam Sadow, an organizer with Service Employees International Union Local 500, the union representing the staff members. Matthew Bennett, Amanda Kleinman,
Op-ed: Proposed ‘FAST Act’ directly assaults CA’s restaurant industry
August 8, 2022 // Assembly Bill 257 – known as the “FAST Act” – has been pushed through the legislative process under the guise of helping California workers in the counter-service restaurant community. If enacted, the bill – sponsored by the Service Employees International Union – would set aside existing labor laws in favor of new rules developed and enforced by 13 unelected political appointees with zero oversight. In short, the FAST Act will take away great jobs for workers, harm consumers, raise prices, stifle competition, diminish entrepreneurship and create layers of unnecessary bureaucracy – all because of a false narrative. limited-service restaurant industry, unelected statewide council, wage and hour violations, California Restaurant Association
Utah Democratic Party, Salt Lake County Democratic Party workers unionize
August 4, 2022 // As efforts to unionize among Democratic political staffers and congressional staffers have increased nationwide, employees of the Utah Democratic Party and Salt Lake County Democratic Party have officially unionized. Ben Peck, Salt Lake County Democratic Party executive director, said he worked on unionizing political staffers for more than a year before he started his job with the county party. He immediately started the process after he was hired. Union benefits will only apply to paid staff, not volunteers or unpaid interns, Peck said. Utah Democratic Party Chairwoman Diane Lewis, Democratic Party platform,
Column: Farmworkers join California Labor Federation as Lorena Gonzalez takes over
July 29, 2022 // As Gonzalez told me Monday, two days before becoming the first woman and the first person of color to lead the Fed, joining with the farmworkers is a message: “We are going to ruffle some feathers, and you are not going to get any apologies.” McDonald’s, Amazon, Big Ag, Gov. Gavin Newsom — she’s talking to you. But I’ll get to that. UFW is down to fewer than 7,000 members by most counts and last fall suffered an ugly legislative defeat when Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed mail-in ballots for its unionization drives. immigrants, UFW President Teresa Romero, Cesar Chavez,
SEIU SUES OREGON EMPLOYEE FOR EXPOSING FORGERY
July 18, 2022 // Staci Trees, an employee of Oregon Department of Transportation, resigned her union membership in December 2020, only to learn that SEIU intended to keep deducting regular dues from paychecks, claiming she had signed a membership agreement authorizing it to do so. When she asked to see the document, however, it was so obviously a forgery that even SEIU couldn’t defend its authenticity. Rebekah Millard, Gov. Kate Brown,
Janus at 4: Landmark Labor Ruling Helped but Still Needs to be Enforced More Aggressively
July 7, 2022 // Rather than simply complying with the unambiguous wording and intent laid out in Janus, unions like AFSCME, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Brotherhood of Teamsters, the National Education Association (NEA), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) responded to the ruling by doubling down on their bullying tactics.
Illinois: UNIONS SPEND NEARLY $5M TO PUSH PROPERTY TAX HIKES THROUGH AMENDMENT 1
June 29, 2022 // Illinoisans already suffer under the highest state and local tax burden in the Midwest, thanks to generous contracts and retirements won by powerful public unions from the elected leaders they helped bankroll. If Illinois becomes the only state to enshrine union powers in its constitution, taxpayers will face ever greater demands. progressive tax, fair tax, Mike Madigan, Boeing, Caterpillar, Citadel, constitutional amendment
Opinion: States should protect caregivers’ Medicaid funds from union skims
June 27, 2022 // Yet, while a number of states including Michigan have taken action to prohibit the dues skim, a May rule by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reversed a Trump administration effort to stop the skim nationally. A separate 9th Circuit decision last week also continues to allow unions to trap home care providers into paying them. Robert and Patricia Haynes, cerebral palsy, Gov. Rick Snyder, Harris v. Quinn, Cindy Ochoa, most pro-union president ever,