Showing 10 posts in Union.
The Pro-Union PRO Act passes the U.S. House of Representatives
On March 9, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, known as the PRO Act, with a largely party line vote of 225-206.
The bill’s passage in the U.S. House is a victory for labor unions, as it includes sweeping changes to federal labor laws that would significantly impact employers and empower unions. The legislation now moves to the U.S. Senate, where stiffer opposition to passage is expected. Read More ›
Categories: Alerts and Updates, Labor Relations, Legislative Updates, Union
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Mandatory Union Fees at Risk
The U.S. Supreme Court will listen to arguments soon in another challenge to the mandatory fees that some government employees must pay to their unions for negotiating and administering their contracts. Read More ›
Categories: Employment, Employment Tax & Withholding, Labor Relations, U.S. Supreme Court, Union
Unions Win The Most Elections in American History
In what will seem to be a shock to anybody reading this blog, because it is, unions won 72 percent of every National Labor Relations Board election held against a non-union employer in 2016. This is the highest rate in history. In fact, in bargaining units with a smaller number of employees, i.e. employees less than 50 in number, the unions won 74 percent of all their elections. While unions have won more than 60 percent of all NLRB elections in the last 12 years, this is a real stunner. Read More ›
Categories: Union
Union Retirees Cut Their Own Pension to Forestall Doomsday Scenario
In the first of its kind, members of an international construction union voted to make drastic cuts in their already earned pensions. Members of Local Ironworkers 17 in Cleveland, Ohio approved serious cuts in January of this year to their pension plan. It was the first time ever the employees of a multi-employer pension fund had ever conducted such a vote, let alone voted to cut their own benefits. There are over 2,000 plan participants and while less than half actually voted, two-thirds of the votes did vote in favor of the cuts. Read More ›
Categories: Pension, Union
The Danger of a Mail Ballot in a Union Election
In a recent case before the National Labor Relations Board where a union organizing drive was agreed to via a formal Election Agreement, the employer lost the organizing election by a vote of 17 to 14. Read More ›
Categories: National Labor Relations Board, Union
No Overtime Pay for Union Organizer Playing with "Rats"
In a stunning decision, a Federal Court denied overtime claims of a salaried union organizer for the Laborers Union in New York City.
The organizer normally would spend his time trying to persuade non-union employees to sign union cards to organize their employer. Part of his duty was running picket lines. And typical with any picket line over the last 20 years, there was an inflatable rat on the picket line maybe 15 to 20 feet tall. This gentleman, Mr. Krupinski, argued that any time he spent setting up, operating or disassembling inflatable rats involved manual labor and therefore was above and beyond his normal exempt status as a paid organizer. The Court threw this out quickly concluding that even though he might have done some manual labor, it did not per se defeat his normal “exempt” status. The Court concluded actually, that by his “interfacing with non-union workers, he engaged in a form of marketing and public outreach, which disqualified him from overtime eligibility." Read More ›
Categories: Overtime, Union
Union Gets Slammed on Facebook
In a consistent pattern of protecting employees' right to speak out on Facebook without consequence, usually against the players, the NLRB in a recent case against Laborers' Union Local 91, held that a union member who went on Facebook to complain about a political endorsement by the union as well as a change in apprenticeship policies was totally protected by the National Labor Relations Act Section 7. Moreover, in that case, after the employee's ranting on Facebook, he was brought up on charges by the head of the union as well as removed from the union's "out of work list" thereby precluding him from getting work. While eventually the International Union ordered the local union to take back its punishment, the NLRB still got involved and ruled that a Facebook posting chiding union's leadership was "protected concerted activity" under the NLRB Act, and the angry union member had a right to make common cause on behalf of his fellow union members.
Finally, a pro-employee decision from the NLRB which slams the union for a change.
Categories: National Labor Relations Board, Union
Why Should the Employer Pay for the Union's Cost to Bargain a Union Contract?
In a new stunning National Labor Relations Board case, the Obama appointed NLRB has gone another step towards removing all rights of businesses to run their business in a profitable and lawful way. In a case called Camelot Terrace, the NLRB enforced by a federal court, held that because in the NLRB's mind the employer "didn't properly" bargain with the union in order to get a fair contract, the employer somehow engaged in "bad faith bargaining." "Bad faith bargaining" has never been an NLRB concept applied to hard bargaining when one or the other side tries as hard as possible, lawfully, to get the best deal for its side of the bargaining table. Read More ›
Categories: National Labor Relations Board, Union
Why Do I Owe the Union Pension Fund More than my Company is Worth?
Many unionized employers participate in what are known as "multi-employer pension plans," also referred to as “Taft-Hartley plans.” These are collectively bargained plans maintained and contributed to by more than one employer, typically within the same or related industries such as manufacturing, trucking and entertainment.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”) estimates that approximately 10 million Americans are covered by multi-employer pensions. There has been a good deal of controversy surrounding multi-employer pensions since Congress amended the pension law in December 2014 to allow companies to cut back not only active workers’ plans, but also those of retirees. The PBGC has been warning in recent years that approximately 10 percent of participants are in severely troubled plans. Read More ›
Categories: Pension, Union
Will You Lose Your Labor Lawyer?
The Department of Labor issued its long dreaded "persuader" regulation that seeks to intimidate businesses and their labor counsel from working with each other in the future. In short, any labor lawyer who is engaged to help a company deal with union organizing or other union issues now may have to file, (under threat of potential criminal sanctions for failing to file), detailed information about the nature and cost of legal representation. Similarly, employers will have to file documents with the Department of Labor detailing who they retained, what they did, and how much they were paid. In addition, that information will probably be available on the Department of Labor website. Read More ›
Categories: Department of Labor, News & Events, Regulations, Union
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