Posts tagged unfair labor practices
“Warehouse Worker Protection Act” Reintroduced with Bipartisan Support
October 2, 2024 // The bill imposes restrictions on employers’ use of productivity quotas to measure workers’ performance or output and includes substantial notice requirements to workers on the use of such quotas, discipline for failing to meet the quotas, and workers’ rights under the act, among other things. It mandates breaks for covered workers and recordkeeping obligations for employers. The WWPA also requires the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to issue two new rulemakings and creates a new category of unfair labor practices under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). It also expands the federal bureaucracy by creating a Quota Task Force as well as the Fairness and Transparency Office within the Department of Labor. This legislation is a thinly-veiled attack on large companies like Amazon that the Democratic Party and labor organizations do not support. The original sponsors of the WWPA were Senators Markey, Bob Casey (D-PA), and Tina Smith (D-MN). The cosponsors now include Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Laphonza Butler (D-CA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Hawley, Alex Padilla (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Peter Welch (D-VT).
Port employers seek NLRB injunction against longshore union
September 29, 2024 // “Due to the ILA’s repeated refusal to come to the table and bargain on a new Master Contract, USMX filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) with the National Labor Relations Board and requested immediate injunctive relief — requiring the union to resume bargaining — so that we can negotiate a deal,” USMX said in a release. Talks between employers and the ILA on a new six-year master contract covering 25,000 union employees in container and ro-ro services at three dozen East and Gulf Coast ports broke off in June over wages, benefits and the introduction of technology that would automate some dockside services.
Get Ready for NLRB Rule Making It Harder to Decertify Unions: 5 Key Steps for Employers
September 27, 2024 // The Board’s final amendment reinstates its 2001 decision in Staunton Fuel, establishing a low threshold for demonstrating majority union employee support in the construction industry. Under Staunton Fuel, a union can become a duly authorized representative under section 9(a) of the NLRA based solely on collective bargaining language – that the impacted employees may never see – negotiated under Section 8(f) (often referred to as a “pre-hire agreement”). Under section 8(f), construction industry employers may choose to become “union” without any showing of employee support. By readopting this standard, the Board concludes that the mere presence of language suggesting that the union obtained recognition in the 8(f) agreement is enough to confer majority status under Section 9(a).
US labor watchdog pressures Trader Joe’s to bargain with New York union
September 26, 2024 // The general counsel of the US’s top labor watchdog is seeking an order demanding that Trader Joe’s recognize and bargain with the union, Trader Joe’s United, amid allegations that employees were threatened and disparaged from unionizing. Under a framework introduced by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last year, employers can be ordered to bargain with a union if they commit unfair labor practices that would set aside the results of a union ballot.
LA County workers’ union sets strike for Oct. 10, while county calls it ‘unwarranted’
September 26, 2024 // A union representing 55,000 Los Angeles County workers announced on Tuesday, Sept. 24 that it has authorized a strike set for Oct. 10, unless county management comes back to the negotiating table. About 1,000 members of the SEIU 721 union came to the Board of Supervisors meeting to inform the county of its decision. Workers that would be affected by a strike are from numerous county departments, including: Children & Family Services, Mental Health, Public Health, Public Social Services, Parks & Recreation, Beaches & Harbors, LA County Library, Clerk/Registrar-Recorder, County Coroner and Unincorporated Street Services.
US orders Starbucks to reopen 2 New York stores company shut down after workers unionized
September 18, 2024 // Last year, the NLRB called on Starbucks to reopen 23 stores that labor advocates say were shuttered in response to workers unionizing. The locations spanned multiple major US cities, including Chicago, Portland, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Seattle, where Starbucks is headquartered, among others.
For Many Students, Labor Organizing and Palestinian Solidarity Are One Movement
September 11, 2024 // The reverberations from May 1 are still being felt on Dartmouth’s campus. That day, undergraduates formed an encampment on the campus green and graduate student workers began a general strike—a carefully-planned, jointly-coordinated challenge to the college’s investments in Israel and their treatment of graduate workers. Both events were announced at a crowded “Labor for Liberation” rally, and the union and Palestine were explicitly linked as two halves of one action by the organizers. “It is through our unions that we can sever Dartmouth’s ties to the war machine,” said Danny Keane, a member of the Palestine caucus of the union, “and build a people’s university.”
‘Unprecedented’ lawsuit could roll back farmworker union wins from 2023 California law
August 25, 2024 // The Wonderful lawsuit is the latest legal challenge brought forth by employers against the ALRB and the state’s landmark 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act. This law was the first in the country to grant farmworkers the right to collective bargaining without retaliation, which farmworkers were not granted under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935. The exclusion was rooted in racism because, at the time, many of those workers were Black.
Audubon staff union announces 3-day strike
August 23, 2024 // The Bird Union, represented by the Communications Workers of America Local 1180, plans to start a three-day strike Sept. 10, “in response to the nonprofit’s continued violation of workers’ rights under federal labor laws,” the union said. The planned strike marks the latest chapter in an ongoing dispute within the group, where management and staff union have struggled to finalize a collective bargaining agreement since employees unionized in 2021.
AT&T workers on strike over ‘unfair labor practices’
August 19, 2024 // She claimed AT&T is surface bargaining, meaning representatives don't have the authority to make decisions. "We need someone at the table who can actually call the shots and make a decision," Cain said. AT&T said the union's claims are "not grounded in fact." "We're disappointed that union leaders would call for a strike at this point in the negotiations, rather than directing their energies toward constructive discussions at the bargaining table. This action needlessly jeopardizes the wages and well-being of our employees," said an AT&T spokesperson in a statement.