Posts tagged working conditions
MSU Extension employees plan union vote in February. What we know
January 31, 2025 // MSU Extension has more than 800 employees throughout Michigan and Michigan State University's campus, according to the Extension website. AFT Michigan did not say whether all employees will take part in the election.
Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice steps aside in pivotal union rights case
January 31, 2025 // A conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice said Thursday he will not participate in a pending case that will determine whether tens of thousands of public sector workers regain collective bargaining rights that were taken away by a 2011 law. Justice Brian Hagedorn drafted the law, known as Act 10, when he was chief legal counsel for then-Gov. Scott Walker. His decision to recuse himself from the case leaves the court with four liberal justices and two conservatives.
Brown medical residents unionize, prepare for negotiations
January 30, 2025 // In interviews with The Herald, residents said their top priorities are winning compensation increases and matching contributions to 401(k) retirement plans. Felicia Sun, a fifth-year neurosurgery resident at Rhode Island Hospital, noted that residents don’t have access to benefits like loan forgiveness and education stipends like other physician employees.
Make employers pay striking workers? Too silly
January 21, 2025 // Sponsored by Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, and cosponsored by 12 other Democrats so far, SB 5041 is similar to last year’s House Bill 1893 and Senate Bill 5777. Those pieces of legislation had the support of nearly all Democrats but failed to pass in the Legislature’s final hours. As long as the strike is legal, union workers could receive unemployment benefits while actively on strike. (Public employee strikes are not legal, so teachers, who strike frequently, should not be able to receive unemployment insurance benefits along with the taxpayer-provided pay they already receive, even in years that they strike. I hope to see legislative talks clarify that this is so.) Sen. Steven Conway, D-Tacoma, a strong proponent of employer-financed strike benefits, told NPR-station KNKX the bill would allow workers to access the benefits starting on the second Sunday after they begin withholding their labor and would be eligible for four weeks of benefits.
FTC Moves to Allow Independent Contractors to Collectively Bargain
January 14, 2025 // The Clayton Act’s labor exemption provides protections for workers seeking to organize and clarifies that such activity does not violate federal antitrust law, which prohibits anticompetitive business practices. Importantly, this exemption only applies to traditional employees. Independent contractors, on the other hand, cannot engage in collective bargaining, as it is currently viewed as a means of colluding over prices. A policy statement allowing independent contractors to collectively bargain with no fear of liability would be a significant change to federal antitrust law.
Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino Employees Push for Union Representation
January 7, 2025 // In the last decade, a number of cases have reached courts across the country with similar concerns. Unsurprisingly, the courts have ruled that employees of Tribal casinos and resorts fall under the National Labor Relations Act, which means that they can join forces to be represented by unions. Now, as announced by the Niagara Gazette, workers at Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino are in talks with Teamsters Local 449. Discussions with the union date back to December. One former employee and organizer of the initiative, Vernon Lohan, said on the matter: “You’re not given a fair handshake over there.” The former employee also alleged that workers at Seneca Niagara Resort and Casino may be terminated in cases that may only require a warning.
COLORADO: District 11 Board of Education votes to dissolve teachers’ master agreement
January 6, 2025 // District 11 Board of Education voted to dissolve the teachers’ master agreement. The decades-old master agreement was a contract that outlined working conditions, salaries and benefits for certified staff.
The strike against Amazon is over but Teamsters warn: ‘Stay tuned’
December 28, 2024 // The workers in Staten Island voted in favor of representation by the Amazon Labor Union in April 2022. However, even though the National Labor Relations Board certified that vote result, Amazon continues to challenge it in court and won’t recognize the win by a union. Amazon also does not believe that a vote by union members to shift from being represented by the ALU to being affiliated with the Teamsters earlier this year was legally binding. And while the Teamsters announced earlier this month that a majority of employees at San Bernardino signed cards saying they want to be in the Teamsters, there has been no formal vote held there.
A year after vote, Portsmouth city workers demand progress on collective bargaining
December 14, 2024 // Council members Mark Hugel and Vernon Tillage said City Council has been reviewing the draft ordinance, with Hugel adding that the next move is a closed session to finetune details before a vote. Tillage said a vote isn’t expected until after the newly elected council is sworn in. Virginia was one of a few states with a blanket ban on collective bargaining for public sector employees until 2020, when the Democrat-controlled General Assembly enacted a new law, effective 2021, punting the final say to localities.
Local Wells Fargo branch votes to unionize, bargaining process occurring across country
December 12, 2024 // The branches within the union are still in the bargaining faze which began on November 4th, and are now waiting to hear the details on a national contract. According to "Committee For Better Banks", there are 23 Wells Fargo branches across the country who have joined the union, with 6 other branches having filed for union election.