Posts tagged union election
‘Time is running out.’ University unions rush to organize before the Trump White House
December 17, 2024 // Between 2012 and 2023, the number of unionized graduate student and postdoctoral workers more than doubled, from roughly 64,000 to 150,000. Faculty unions also increased by 7%, from 374,000 to 402,000, in the same period, the report said. Today, more than a third of graduate-student and postdoctoral workers are unionized while a quarter of faculty are. “Among faculty, the drive for unionization has been strongest among non-tenure track faculty,”
Schumer moves to lock in place Democrat-majority labor board
December 11, 2024 // Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is attempting to ensure that the Democrats retain control of the National Labor Relations Board, the main federal labor law enforcement agency, until at least 2026 by extending the term of its current chairwoman, Lauren McFerran. A Senate floor vote on McFerran’s nomination is pending and, while it is possible that Senate Republicans could block it, it is not clear if enough will show up for the vote to do that. The vote may happen on Wednesday. This matters because the current board has been an aggressive advocate for unionization.
Colorado bill would eliminate second election for unionization, drawing criticism from businesses
December 4, 2024 // A proposal that would significantly alter an 80-year-old law that outlines the process for unionization and collective bargaining in Colorado is drawing criticism from the business community, while labor organizations are arguing the change is necessary to balance the power between workers and employers. The Labor Peace Act, signed into law in 1943, sets Colorado apart from other states in that it requires two elections to permit a "union security" agreement.
Amazon and Elon Musk’s SpaceX challenge labor agency’s constitutionality in federal court
November 20, 2024 // Attorneys for Amazon and Elon Musk’s SpaceX argued in a federal appeals court Monday that the National Labor Relations Board’s structure is unconstitutional, advancing a legal fight that may last into the Trump administration where Musk is expected to oversee bureaucratic cost-cutting. A panel of three judges at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard separate oral arguments in the SpaceX and Amazon lawsuits, which the two companies initiated after the labor agency filed complaints against them in disputes about workers’ rights and union organizing.
Challenging Exclusive Representation: A Fight for Free Speech and Union Accountability; Disunion: The Government Union Report podcast
November 14, 2024 // Osborne and McGrath delve into the legal implications of exclusive representation, where a union speaks for all employees in a bargaining unit, including non-members, and restricts individual negotiations. They discuss how exclusive representation in New York grants significant union power, even allowing the union to pursue anti-Israel stances as part of its collective bargaining scope. This case, they suggest, could reshape public sector labor rights and potentially dismantle exclusive representation if the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case and finds that it infringes on employees’ rights to free speech and association.
US labor board bans mandatory anti-union meetings in ruling against Amazon
November 13, 2024 // The decision could also be overturned by the board when it gains a Republican majority, as the agency often reverses itself after changes in leadership. President-elect Donald Trump could have a Republican-led board in place as soon as next year. At least 10 U.S. states including New York, California, and most recently Alaska have banned captive audience meetings or prohibited employers from disciplining workers who do not attend them. The NLRB said its decision would only be applied moving forward and not to pending cases.
Teamsters Test the Bounds of the NLRB’s Cemex Decision, Seeking to Unionize Amazon Workers Without an Election
November 13, 2024 // Teamsters allege that Amazon’s failure to voluntarily recognize the union or timely file an RM Petition warrants the issuance of a bargaining order requiring Amazon to bargain with the union. Although the procedure employed by Teamsters permits the union to bypass procedural steps in order to quickly gain recognition and begin bargaining, Amazon’s willingness to litigate in order to prevent the organization of its facilities makes it unlikely that Teamsters will be at the bargaining table anytime soon.
Commentary: The NLRB’s “Laboratory Conditions” Are Overdue for Inspection
October 7, 2024 // In several lines of precedent since the passage of the 1947 Taft-Hartley amendments, courts have ignored or glossed over this textual problem and have allowed the NLRB to police campaign misconduct quite closely. Most relevant here is the doctrine first announced in General Shoe Corporation. The Shoe Workers Union objected to its election loss at a plant in Pulaski, Tennessee, and charged the employer with co-extensive unfair labor practices. The employer’s president was shown to have lectured employees personally about their union support. Finding that no unfair labor practice had been proven, the Board nevertheless set aside the Union’s loss,
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.
OPINION Why don’t unions have to stand for reelection?
September 16, 2024 // The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 7.4 million workers in the private sector belonged to labor unions in 2023. Yet according to a new study from the Institute for the American Worker, which promotes market-oriented labor reform, fewer than 400,000 of those unionized employees — about 5 percent — have ever voted in an election for the union that represents them. Like me, the vast majority of employees in unionized workplaces were hired after the union had already been voted in. Most unions have never been required to confirm that they have the support of current workers by winning a recertification election. In some workplaces, a lifetime has elapsed — that isn’t hyperbole — since the union was first certified. The United Auto Workers organized General Motors’ Michigan plants in 1937 and has represented the employees who work there ever since. Never once has it had to stand for reelection. What kind of “workplace democracy” is that?