Posts tagged Texas
Wisconsin Rapids Ocean Spray workers will hold union vote in February. How does it work?
January 25, 2024 // Dillon Gorman, the business manager for IBEW 965, said he's organized and attended rallies all over the state at various companies, each time staying the required distance from the property, but offering to share more information with workers about what their options are as they leave or arrive at work. These days, it's easier to share information about unions, health care options, election information and more, as they can also easily share that online on the IBEW website. Gorman said they organized the rally in Wisconsin Rapids because workers at the Ocean Spray plant had reached out to the union for more information after they said the company recently changed some working conditions and benefit structures. On Wednesday, workers came from all over the state, including Eau Claire, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Beaver Dam and Janesville to show support.
The Texas Tribune Is Unionizing
January 25, 2024 // That collaborative environment extends to the organizing effort – the Texas Tribune Guild is a wall-to-wall union, meaning that it will represent not only journalists, but around 50 eligible staff members including photographers, designers, and engineers. “We all feel like none of us can do our jobs without one another.” More than 95% of eligible staff members have signed onto the union’s mission statement; 90% have signed the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) authorization card. Many at the Tribune come from other news organizations that were already unionized, or that they themselves helped organize. María Méndez, the Tribune’s service and engagement reporter, was previously with the Austin American-Statesman, where she saw how Gannett couldn’t pull the rug out from under staff thanks to the Austin NewsGuild. After Gannett suspended 401(k) matching during the pandemic, the union filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the NLRB and was able to get that reinstated, along with back pay, due to status quo protections in place while a contract is negotiated.
22 States Raised the Minimum Wage: What Does This Mean for Low-Skilled Workers?
January 12, 2024 // If an employer must pay someone $16 hourly, the new minimum wage in New York and California, whom will they pay? Would it be a higher-skilled college graduate or a less-skilled worker with only a high school diploma? You can deduce which hire is the safer option. When the cost of obtaining more education or skills is higher than the cost of relying on government unemployment benefits, dependence becomes the more appealing choice over labor-force participation.
Op-Ed: Public workers deserve full First Amendment protection from compelled union speech
January 8, 2024 // SCOTUS’s ruling in Janus logically leads to a conclusion that public workers’ income cannot subsidize a private matter on issues of substantial public concern without voluntarily waiving their First Amendment right. To voluntarily waive a fundamental right demands individual rights have been thoroughly communicated and understood. The First Amendment protects both the freedom to speak as well as the freedom to refrain from speaking. The state of Alaska urges the Supreme Court to reaffirm Janus which equally supports employees who wish to support union causes and those who “strongly object to the positions the union takes” as the court stated in 2018. Mountain States Policy Center firmly agrees with those asking SCOTUS to fully clarify the First Amendment rights of workers to not be forced to provide financial support to union causes or membership without direct consent first. We’ll soon know if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees.
96% of nurse residents, fellows vote to unionize at Ascension hospital in Texas
January 7, 2024 // Nurse residents and fellows at Ascension Seton Medical Center Austin (Texas) voted Jan. 3 to unionize and join the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United. Nearly all 225 nurse residents and fellows — 96% — voted in favor of doing so.
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.
Across the Midwest, unions are breaking through in a way they haven’t in decades
December 20, 2023 // Union members and labor experts agree that a collective sense of job insecurity and frustration over wages and working conditions are driving activity in the region.
U.S. labor board delays new unionization rule after business groups sue
November 20, 2023 // The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups — including the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the International Franchise Association and the National Retail Federation — sued the NLRB in federal court in Texas last week to block the rule. They say the rule upends years of precedent and could make companies liable for workers they don’t employ at workplaces they don’t own. But the NLRB says the current rule makes it too easy for companies to avoid their legal responsibility to bargain with workers.
The rise and fall of ESG investing
November 9, 2023 // Ideologically aligned investments are risky. Fink and others now seem to understand that. There’s a role for ESG investing if people want it, with the risks and realities clearly explained up front. As the conversation moves forward on rulemaking, regulation and what the law should be, the fiduciary responsibility that money managers have to their clients to produce the greatest possible return on investment must remain the paramount consideration.