Many people believe slavery is a dark spot in our past, but it is thriving in modern times, often in places we least expect. The number of people in forced labor world-wide is equivalent to the population of some of the world’s largest cities. The 50forfreedom campaign, run by the International Labor Organization and its…
The city of Seattle has passed an ordinance unionizing rideshare drivers. This ordinance not only violates federal law, which exempts independent contractors from collective bargaining, but it hurts many of the drivers the unions seek to represent. Unions prioritize full-time and long-term employees in their contracts, which will penalize the type of part-time positions companies like Uber…
After nearly a decade of unchecked assaults on American business, it looks as if union friendly regulation will be coming to an end under President-Elect Trump’s tenure. Mr. Trump’s twitter attack on a union official for doing a “terrible job representing workers” and his appointment of CKE Restaurants chief executive Andrew Puzde as his labor secretary…
The Obama Administration’s overtime rule, which would have extended overtime eligibility to approximately 4.2 million additional workers and indexed the salary threshold to inflation, was blocked by a Texas judge this week. The rule was set to go into effect December 1, but the judge’s temporary injunction and written opinion signaled that the rule may eventually…
President Obama’s actions regarding the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have once again come under fire, this time requiring the Supreme Court to weigh in with a decision. In 2010, Obama nominated Lafe Solomon as General Counsel for the NLRB. This position must be confirmed by the Senate. While congress reviewed the appointment, Obama made Solomon the…
November 8th was a big win for the GOP. Now that they’ve taken both the presidency and a senate majority, it will also be a big win for union workers. Increasingly, workers are disagreeing with their union executives, voting for Republicans instead of union-backed Democrats, and expressing their dissatisfaction with unions that put political party needs…
Jointly, Rep. John Kline (R-MN), chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN), chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, issued a statement after a federal judge blocked the Department of Labor “persuader” rule. The congressmen declared the rule an “assault on the right of workers to…
(The below article originally appeared in Planet Labor, 15 November 2016, nº9923–www.planetlabor.com) United States: services union SEIU ordered to pay a company for damage to its reputation as a result of its unionization campaign In September, a civil court jury ordered the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to pay $7.8 million to the Professional Janitorial Service…
OSHA has come under fire for an email mistakenly sent to an International Franchise Association member. The email, which instructs OSHA inspectors to focus more on items helpful to Union organization than the safety of employees, has raised questions about OSHA’s Union ties. When asked for additional information under the Freedom of Information Act, OSHA provided a document that was…
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that home-care workers have a First Amendment right not to pay fees to a union they don’t wish to join. Since then, the Freedom Foundation in Washington State has sought to notify affected employees of their rights. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has refused to provide the Freedom…
