Since the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) enacted its new rules in April 2015, union elections have been organized 38 percent faster than in previous years, according to a study conducted by the management law firm Fisher Phillips. On average, workers wait 24 days for an election compared to 39 days in previous years. Union elections held in less…
In 2011, catering company Pier Sixty fired an employee after discovering he had written a publicly accessible, vulgar Facebook post about his boss. The employee wrote the pro-union post following an exchange where he felt his boss had treated him unfairly, and only a few days before a unionization vote. The terminated employee filed a charge…
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently ruled that In-N-Out Burger, a fast food chain operating in the southwest and western United States, had violated Section 8(a)(1) of the National Labor Relations Act by prohibiting employees from wearing buttons, pins, or stickers on their uniforms. Although the burger chain defended themselves by saying they wanted to…
The Senate confirmed Alexander Acosta for Labor Secretary this evening in a bipartisan 60-38 vote. In Acosta’s extensive history, he has served on the National Labor Relations Board and as the head of the civil rights division at the Justice Department. He has also been the dean of the law school at Florida International University and a U.S. attorney…
On April 24, President Trump named Philip A. Miscimarra as National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chairman. Miscimarra was appointed Acting Chairman in January and has been sitting on the board since August 2013 after being approved unanimously by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Miscimarra, a labor and employment attorney, was previously a law partner…
Minneapolis-based lawyer Doug Seaton has been placed on President Trump’s short list for one of the two vacant National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seats. Mr. Seaton currently works as a consultant, educating employees on unions. Although he is colloquially known as a “union-buster,” Seaton does not consider himself anti-union. He has stated that unions “have a significant role…
Five years ago, the Kansas City Star investigated the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Iron Ship Builders, Blacksmiths, Forgers (“Boilermakers”) union and discovered excess spending and lack of accountability by its leaders. In response, union executives cut salaries and expenses, as well as some positions, in a show of making amends. Those amends were short lived, however. In a…
The Senate Labor Committee has approved the nomination of Alexander Acosta for Labor Secretary. Acosta, who currently serves as the Dean of Florida International University’s law school, has previously served as an assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, as a U.S. Attorney for Florida’s Southern District, and on the National Labor Relations…
In November 2009, the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 99 union ordered a strike against Fry’s foods in Arizona, a Right to Work state. During this time, while UFCW did not have a monopoly bargaining contract in effect, almost 800 employees resigned their union memberships and revoked their dues authorizations. UFCW and Frye’s continued…
After a March 4 pro-union rally (discussed in this previous post), Nissan has declined to speak with United Auto Workers (UAW) about their demands. The auto manufacture stated it’s up to the Canton plant’s 6,400 employees to decide if they want a union before any discussions are considered. U.S. Sen Bernie Sanders and NAACP President Cornell…
