Posts tagged union election
The Biden Administration’s Explicit Handout to Unions
February 21, 2024 // Before the Biden administration, the NLRB refused to protect abusive employees like the one Amazon fired. That was, and is, the right call. Workers have a right to unionize, but they also have right to be free from workplace bullying — including by the unions who want to represent them. The Biden administration, however, through the NLRB, is actively condoning attacks on workers. Workers’ rights are more important than union demands. In New York City and everywhere else, workers deserve better than being called a “gutter b****” or worse in front of their colleagues. They deserve a safe and respectful workplace
GEORGIA: Bill would require companies receiving incentives to use secret union ballots
February 16, 2024 // "Senate Bill 362 is designed to stop organized labor from pressuring its way into small businesses and other workplaces," NFIB State Director Hunter Loggins said in a statement. "Union leaders want the power to force workers to say in front of their co-workers and union organizers whether they support the idea of joining the union. Union leaders know full well how intimidating and coercive that would be.
Smith College student dining workers vote for union
February 8, 2024 // Heyne noted that some 270 out of a total of approximately 400 student dining workers signed the union petition in November. But NLRB rules state that only those who work an average of four hours a week or more are eligible to vote. Student dining workers are capped at 10 hours a week. That reduced the voter list to 139, and that included some who had graduated or who are studying abroad this semester, Heyne said. However, she said, the actual scope of union membership is still to be determined
Planned Parenthood Northern California workers move to unionize
January 25, 2024 // Planned Parenthood Northern California workers announced their unionization efforts today at all of the nonprofit’s 18 regional locations, including a San Francisco health center at 1522 Bush St. A “supermajority” of the organization’s hundreds of clinicians, nurses, social workers, administrative and support staff voiced their support for the forthcoming union, PPNorCal United, through union authorization cards, according to Service Employees International Union Local 1021, which PPNorCal United intends to join. Chelsea Fink, a communications specialist with SEIU 1021, said the union drive grew rapidly over the past two months, fueled by the short staffing and scheduling issues that have plagued Planned Parenthood since the Supreme Court ended federal protections for abortion rights in June 2022.
MAINE: Fort Kent hospital nurses voting on unionizing Wednesday
January 22, 2024 // The NMMC nurses’ platform, according to a bulletin from the Maine State Nurses Association and National Nurses United, is for safer staffing and scheduling practices, retention-focused benefits, job protections, and fair and transparent wages that reward years of experience and longevity. They are also seeking an RN-elected committee to give them an equal say in patient care standards, nurse-led workplace violence prevention, adequate supplies and equipment, and improved differentials for floating shifts, charge, and precepting.
How More Than 200 Employees Have Been Forced Into a Union Only 8 of Them Voted For
January 18, 2024 // The union filed an application for an election when the company was in its infancy and there were only 14 eligible voters. At the time of the election, there were nearly 100 flight attendants, but through a loophole in the law, only the original 14 were allowed to vote, and of them, eight voted for the union. Since then, the company has continued to grow. Now, Avelo Airlines’ 200-plus flight attendants are saddled up with a union voted in by eight people. Think of that: More than 200 people have been forced into an affiliation with an entity that only eight of them embraced.
Opinion: Employees deserve to hear both sides
November 21, 2023 // Their conditions often also include the employer yielding to a card check election. Under this method of union organizing, workers don’t vote via a secret ballot in an NLRB-supervised election. Instead, they make public their position on whether a workplace should be organized through an open petition process that is all but run by the union itself. This leaves employees — who are already hearing only one side of the story — vulnerable to threats and additional pressure tactics. The most significant concern, however, is that neutrality agreements deprive employees of their right to all information during a union election. This means that crucial information, such as past union corruption scandals, remains hidden from employees. The result is an imbalanced, one-sided view of unionization that undermines the core principles of democracy.
City Workers Ditch Unions, Skip Dues, Following Supreme Court Ruling
November 2, 2023 // Pre-Janus, public sector employees had the option to explicitly opt out of union membership thanks to an earlier Supreme Court decision but still had to pay “agency fees” out of their paychecks to the unions. Union leaders, including New York City’s Municipal Labor Committee, warned before the decision of potentially large declines in union membership if signing up became optional. Any dramatic loss of dues-paying union members could threaten unions’ operations or even their ability to exist – a possibility on the horizon in some so-called “right to work” states.
Big Labor Is an Economic and Political Dead End
October 26, 2023 // While misguided faux populists like Senator Hawley adopt the policy positions of union leaders who want to force as many workers as possible to fund their self-interested political agenda, other Republicans should stand with workers and co-sponsor the Employee Rights Act. It would protect workers’ right to secret-ballot union elections, the right of freelancers to remain independent (as the vast majority prefer), and allow workers to decide for themselves whether they wish to share personal information with union organizers or support union political spending. Too often, labor issues are inaccurately described as having two sides: “union” and “management.” But this populist moment is the perfect time for Congress to stand up for the oft-forgotten but most important third group: actual workers. The Employee Rights Act would be the perfect start. In the face of President Biden’s advancing radical agenda and some Republicans’ erroneously gravitating towards it, this pro-worker legislation can’t be enacted a moment too soon.
Eldora Mountain Resort ski patrollers, medics will vote on whether to unionize
October 26, 2023 // To win their election, Eldora workers must get approval from at least half of the resort’s 40 patrollers and medics. Eldora staff will cast mail-in ballots over the next month, with results likely to come as the 2023/24 ski season kicks off. The National Labor Relations Board will count votes in late November. Monday’s vote was the first step of the process.