After labor leaders released a statement to the Associated Press (AP) on Saturday threatening walkoffs, many businesses are concerned their unionized workforces will be ramping up their protest efforts in a lead up to the presidential election, primarily in support of the Black Lives Matter social cause, aimed to force local and federal lawmakers to pass police reform and address systemic racism.

Some of the nation’s biggest union names added their support to the AP statement, including branches of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and affiliates of the National Education Association (NEA). Members of these groups include teachers, autoworkers, truck drivers, and clerical staff, among others.

In addition, the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union, which represents hundreds of workers within civil rights groups and think tank organizations, signed the statement with a comment to the AP that “the fights for workers’ rights, civil rights, and racial justice are inextricably linked.”

Read more about it here: https://www.foxnews.com/us/union-workers-to-walk-a-picket-line-and-give-up-paycheck-to-support-black-lives-matter-before-election

A recent Gallup reading (Jul 30 – Aug 12) shows a national approval rating for United States labor unions at 65%, the highest it has been since 2003. Approval rating breakdowns by political affiliation are 45% for Republicans, 64% for Independents, and 83% for Democrats.

The highest approval rating for unions on record was 75% in 1953 and 1957, and the lowest hovered around 50% between 2009 and 2012. Historically, union approval dips during weak economic times.

Union membership also remained steady in comparison to previous readings with 10% of people saying they are a union member and 16% saying they have a union member in their household.

Read more about the Gallup results here.

On August 10 this year, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) members Marvin E. Kaplan and Lauren McFerran were sworn in for their second terms.

Marvin Kaplan began serving as an NLRB member on August 10, 2017 and was confirmed by the Senate for a five-year term on July 29, 2020. His new term will expire on August 27, 2025.

Mr. Kaplan, who holds a B.S. from Cornell University and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis, previously served as Chief Counsel to the Chairman of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, as counsel for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and as policy counsel for the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Lauren McFerran served on the Board between December 17, 2014 and December 16, 2019 and was confirmed for renomination on July 29, 2020. Her term will expire on December 16, 2024.

Ms. McFerran, who earned her B.A. from Rice University and her J.D. from Yale Law School, has served as Chief Labor Counsel for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP Committee) and as the Committee’s Deputy Staff Director. Previous positions have also included Senior Labor Counsel for Senators Ted Kennedy and Tom Harkin for the HELP Committee and law clerk for Chief Judge Carolyn Dineen King on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Read more about Mr. Kaplan and Ms. McFerran here.

COVID has been one of the biggest shocks to United States labor in recent history, increasing unemployment from a record 3.5% to 10.2% in July a few short months after the virus hit the country and lockdowns began. During this historic event, our government has worked hard to help its people, including implementing the CARES Act, which the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) aided by publishing 20 Unemployment Insurance Program Letters, hosting 15 webinars, and posting answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on 23 different topics in addition to helping states develop the functionality to make payments in each of their unique systems.

To help implement the CARES Act, the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has expedited its publications, including fact sheets for workers and employers in a dozen languages, infographic posters for workplaces, 97 new FAQs, animated videos, and created an interactive online tool for determining eligibility. Since April, WHD has also hosted 1,100 outreach events through virtual platforms and fielded 250,000 COVID-19-related phone calls.

In response to our nation’s emergency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has also published 19 industry-specific guidance documents, a range of return-to-work guidance, 12 agency alerts, and three posters that have been translated into as many as 17 languages. 

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Read more about our government’s efforts to protect its people in The Hill article written by Patrick Pizzella, the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has announced that it will implement all the rule changes unaffected by the U.S. District Court order issued on May 30 regarding the Board’s December 2019 procedure amendments.

The Court’s order, which prevents the Board from implementing five provisions of the amendments, did not vacate the majority of the rule, which has an effective date of May 31, 2020. The amendments impacted include: reinstitution of pre-election hearings for litigating eligibility issues, the timing of the dates of elections, voter list timing, election observer eligibility, and timing of Regional Director certification of representatives.

Read the full press release here.

Labor Standards Director Arthur Rosenfeld has succumbed to pancreatic cancer after a six-month battle. His death on May 16 marked the end of a prominent career that began in 1979 when he first worked as a U.S. Chamber of Commerce labor attorney. Rosenfeld, who also served under George W. Bush as general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board and as director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, came out of retirement in 2017 at the personal request of former-Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta.

Rosenfeld worked as Director for the Department of Labor until the week before his death. It is unknown at this point who will succeed him in his position.

Read more about his life and career at Bloomberg Law here.