Posts tagged Wisconsin
‘Fearful, divisive, scary’: Madison employer accused of union busting by employees for layoffs
June 3, 2024 // OPEIU Local 39 said the employer has retained the services of Littler Mendelson, a law firm known for helping companies like Starbucks avoid unions. The losses of OPEIU representation at ACU has alarmed the workers as declines in union membership are correlated with wage stagnation and rising income inequality. Nationally, union density has declined from 20 percent of all wage and salary workers in 1983, to 10 percent as of 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Wisconsin unions argue for overturning 2011 law that ended nearly all collective bargaining
May 30, 2024 // Public worker and teachers unions argued Tuesday that their lawsuit seeking to strike down a Wisconsin law that drew massive protests and made the state the center of a national fight over union rights should be allowed to proceed, even as the Republican-controlled Legislature sought to have it dismissed. It is the first challenge to the law known as Act 10 since Wisconsin’s Supreme Court flipped to liberal control last year.
Workers at Milwaukee’s Trade hotel seek union, accuse employer of unfair labor practices
May 24, 2024 // The employer had not filed a request for an election as of Thursday afternoon, and the complaint filed with the NLRB was not available on the agency’s website.
Citing ‘burnout,’ doctors with ChristianaCare file papers to form system’s first labor union
May 15, 2024 // The petition, which only required a 30% vote, was delivered to the NLRB office in Philadelphia late Tuesday. The union would be the first in the 136-year history of ChristianaCare, Delaware’s largest private employer with about 11,600 staff members. Should the doctors elect to form a union, the next step would be collective bargaining on a contract to address duties, wages and other issues.
Penske Truck Rental Employees in Minneapolis and Nashville Seeking Votes to Remove IAM Union Officials
April 18, 2024 // Employees of Penske Truck Rental have submitted petitions seeking votes to remove International Association of Machinists (IAM) union officials from power at Penske locations in the Minneapolis, MN, metro area, and in Nashville, TN. Penske employees Kyle Fulkerson and David Saylor filed the petitions at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Dept. of Justice: Custom apparel business owner sued for unpaid wages owed to former employees
April 11, 2024 // The Wisconsin Department of Justice, on behalf of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, today filed a lawsuit against Jeremy Kruk for unlawful labor practices as it relates to his former custom apparel business, Crushin It Promotions, LLC. Kruk is facing multiple civil counts in the lawsuit after he allegedly fired his employees for unionizing, refused to pay them what they were owed, and then dissolved his business and reopened it under a different name.
Opinion: Labor union spending $200M to help Biden win reelection
March 15, 2024 // The announcement stated the union aims to reach 6 million voters of color in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina. It is hoping to engage with voters who are less likely to vote or who have never voted at all by using field programs and partnering with community groups, among other efforts.
Why Indianapolis Airport police, fire can unionize but not baggage handlers, others
March 5, 2024 // Barbara Glass, the president of the Indianapolis Airport Authority, said firefighters and police employees told the board they want to unionize in 2019. But they have not heard from the other employees. The 11-member board includes six Hogsett appointees, an appointee from the president of the City-County Council, and officials from Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, and Morgan Counties. The dynamic is not unique to Indianapolis. Police and fire unions have been carved out of anti-union laws for decades. In 2013, a then Republican-controlled Michigan government exempted police and fire employees from a law that prohibited mandatory union membership. Wisconsin police and fire were also excluded from similar legislation in 2011.
Op-ed: A right-to-work repeal warning from Michigan
February 29, 2024 // Yet Michigan should be a warning, not a beacon for other states. Evidence shows that reversing right-to-work is bad for workers, businesses, local economies, and even unions themselves. Michigan has already lost out on two major new plants from General Motors and Stellantis (Chrysler’s parent), which recently chose to invest across the state line in right-to-work Indiana. Michigan’s pain is Indiana’s gain. Approximately 150,000 Michigan employees have voluntarily left their unions since 2013. They will now be forced to pay their unions around $1,000 in annual dues, an especially painful tax given the current cost-of-living crisis.
Tens of thousands of workers in Florida have just lost their labor unions. More is coming.
February 22, 2024 // The numbers are not being tracked or published by the state or any labor organization, so WLRN requested the records and created a public database to track the fallout of the law. Most affected employees perform core public sector jobs like teaching in schools, doing clerical work for state and local government, repairing engines and machinery for government agencies, answering 911 calls at call centers and working at city parks.