Posts tagged unfair labor practices
A New Sheriff in Town? Trump Names His NLRB General Counsel
April 1, 2025 // Although Carey spent eight years as an attorney with the NLRB, she has criticized the Board’s recent precedent-shattering decisions barring employers from telling employees that unionization will negatively impact their relationship with management (Siren Retail Corp. d/b/a Starbucks, 373 NLRB No. 135 (2024)) and abolishing captive audience meetings (Amazon.com Services LLC, 373 NLRB No. 136 (2024)). If Carey is confirmed, we expect her to steer the NLRB and its prosecution of cases in an employer-friendly direction, including by continuing to rescind memoranda setting out the agenda of former GC Jennifer Abruzzo, a nominee of former President Joe Biden, and looking for cases where the Board can reverse Biden-era decisions.
Union Workers at UCLA to Strike April 1 Over Staffing Shortages, Labor Disputes
April 1, 2025 // UPTE healthcare, research, and tech workers will strike at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The walkout, organized by the University Professional and Technical Employees (UPTE), will include workers from all UC campuses and medical centers. The action follows a series of escalating disputes between the union and university administrators over staffing, rising healthcare costs, and what union officials call a strategy of “divide-and-conquer” bargaining. UPTE accuses the UC system of refusing to meaningfully engage in negotiations with newly unionized professionals, such as mental health clinicians, who joined the union to advocate for improved student and patient care.
Trump taps EEOC’s Lucas for new term, Morgan Lewis partner for NLRB general counsel
March 25, 2025 // Carey referred a request for comment to Morgan Lewis. The firm's chair, Jami McKeon, in a statement said that Carey's "background, experience, judgment, and training make her highly qualified for this important role, and we are excited for her on this well-deserved nomination.” Lucas, a former Gibson Dunn & Crutcher associate, was first appointed to the EEOC by Trump in 2020. She was a dissenting Republican voice on the Democrat-led board until Trump made her acting chair and named her chief of staff, Andrew Rogers, as acting general counsel.
WV Homecare Worker Asks Federal Labor Board to Stop Gambit by SEIU and Employer to Destroy Ballots in Vote to Remove Union
March 21, 2025 // In January 2025 – six months after Reeves and his colleagues had voted – Commission officials and SEIU union bosses entered into an agreement to settle the union’s unfair labor practice charges. Even though the regional NLRB never proved that the employer’s alleged malfeasance had any effect on the decertification effort and the Commission never admitted to such malfeasance in the settlement, the regional NLRB approved a unilateral decision by the employer and union to dismiss the decertification petition and “not entertain a new decertification for a…period of four months.” “[The regional NLRB] dismissed Reeves’ decertification petition because the Employer settled an unfair labor practice case, even though the settlement contained no ‘admissions clause,’ and therefore the Union’s allegations were unproven and speculative,” Reeves’ Request for Review reads.
Coca-Cola union members strike in southwest Fort Wayne
March 12, 2025 // Some Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated union members in Fort Wayne are protesting what they say are unfair labor practices by the plant. Teamsters Local 414 is on strike at the Coca-Cola plant on Airport Expressway Monday morning.
A History of Everything Leftist Unionism: The Old Left and the Reds
March 10, 2025 // American labor radicalism has come a long way from Soviet agents in the Congress of Industrial Organizations through the UAW-funded Students for a Democratic Society to today’s SEIU purple-shirted demonstrators and red-shirted UAW anti-anti-Hamasniks. As Big Labor has declined, what independence the labor movement had from the progressive Left has diminished to the point where, with rare divergences, it effectively has ceased to exist. The causes of the Long Decline are many, and the causes of Big Labor’s leftism are also many, ranging from financial incentive structures of union officials to the structure of collective bargaining. Today, organized labor is a full member of the Everything Leftist coalition, not just in economic issues and labor organizing but also in social and foreign policy.
The High-Stakes Battle to Organize Heats Up at Three of D.C.’s Hottest Restaurants
February 28, 2025 // Employees who have stepped forward say that members of Unite Here Local 25, which represents restaurant, hotel, and casino workers in the D.C. area, obtained individual home addresses; have then showed up at their houses at night to demand a union card signature; and even used one’s religion as a ruse to meet. In addition, some employees say that union reps have made them uncomfortable in repeated confrontations outside of work. Eater spoke to five workers at St. Anselm, Le Diplomate, and Pastis, some of whom spoke to the publication under conditions of anonymity, citing fear of retaliation.
Starbucks Employee’s Constitutional Challenge to Labor Board Structure Fully Briefed at DC Circuit Court of Appeals
February 25, 2025 // On April 28, 2023, Cortes submitted a petition, supported by a majority of her colleagues, asking the NLRB to hold a decertification election at her Buffalo-area “Del-Chip” Starbucks store to remove Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) union officials’ bargaining powers over workers. However, NLRB Region 3 rejected Cortes’ petition, citing unfair labor practice accusations made by SBWU union officials against the Starbucks Corporation. Notably, there was no established link between these allegations and the employees’ decertification request. Similarly, Karam filed a decertification petition seeking a vote to remove the union at his Buffalo-area Starbucks store. Like Cortes’ petition, NLRB officials refuse to allow the vote to take place, citing claims made by SBWU officials. As a result the workers remain trapped under union “representation” they oppose.
UR home care workers are planning a one-day strike. Here’s why
February 24, 2025 // Last week, 1199SEIU issued a 10-day notice for an unfair labor practice strike on behalf of University of Rochester Medicine Home Care workers. A one-day strike is now planned. Since May 2024, professional and clinical home care workers have been negotiating their first union contract.
No Love Lost: Acting National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Rescinds Litany of Former GC Abruzzo’s Policy Memoranda in Valentine’s Day Shakeup
February 19, 2025 // During her tenure, former GC Abruzzo frequently issued employee-friendly memos on a host of issues, including opposing captive audience meetings, clamping down on employer surveillance, and expressing her perception of the legality of non-compete agreements and pay-or-stay provisions (for example, see alerts here and here). The memos, issued by the NLRB’s top prosecutor, signal the agency’s policy and enforcement priorities, and impact agency staff’s interpretation of their role in carrying out the agency’s objectives. Under Abruzzo, Regional Directors evaluated and acted on unfair labor practice claims as directed by the memos instead of the binding law and NLRB precedent.