Labor Related Articles
The Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (Center of Workers United in Struggle), a worker center that forced Target and other retailers to hire unionized janitors, has been declared a labor organization by the Labor Department, and as such, is bound by federal rules for unions. This is the first such determination under the Trump administration. |
“We view this as a positive development and, hopefully, an indication that this Department of Labor is ending the longstanding DOL practice of turning a blind eye to this area of the law,” said Patrick Semmens, vice president for public information at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. |
Read the full article at Bloomberg Government.
A jury in Portland has awarded former container ship terminal operator ICTSI Oregon Inc. $93.6 Million in damages from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Local 8, the Portland chapter. The jury found that the union had been engaged in unlawful labor practices that ultimately resulted in Portland ending the city’s terminal operations and canceling its contract with ICTSI Oregon.
Read more about the court decision here.
A group of airline and railroad unions filed a complaint in D.C. federal court this week against the National Mediation Board over their two-year ban against workers in those industries voting to join a union after decertifying a previous union. The Transportation-Trades Department of the AFL-CIO, the American Train Dispatchers Association, and the Brotherhood of Railway Signalmen were among those unions.
Read more about the lawsuit at Law360 (please note, a log-in is required to access this article).
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register on September 23, 2019. The proposed rule would settle the recurring question regarding the definition of “employee” under Section 2(3) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to exempt from the NLRB’s jurisdiction undergraduate and graduate students who perform services for financial compensation at private colleges or universities in connection with their studies. The relationship for these students would be defined as predominantly educational rather than economic. |
In announcing the proposed rule, NLRB Chairman John F. Ring stated, “In the past 19 years, the Board has changed its stance on this issue three times. This rulemaking is intended to obtain maximum input on this issue from the public, and then to bring stability to this important area of federal labor law.” |
Public comments are invited on the proposed rule and should be submitted within 60 days of the Notice’s publication. More details may be found at www.regulations.gov, and additional information about the proposed rule may be found here. |
Leif Olson, who resigned 18 days after starting his appointed position as
senior policy advisor of the Wage and Hour Division for the Department of Labor, was reinstated Wednesday. His resignation on August 30 came four hours after Bloomberg reporter Ben Penn emailed the Department of Labor and White House about a Facebook post Olson made in 2016 that Penn cropped to appear anti-Semitic.
Once it became clear the original post was sarcastic, the Department released the following statement: “Following a thorough reexamination of the available information and upon reflection, the department has concluded that Olson has satisfactorily explained the tone and content of his sarcastic social media post and will return to his position.”
Bloomberg, which published an article Tuesday with the accusation, has declined to print a retraction.
Read more about it here.
Labor Day, which took place this past Monday, isn’t simply another holiday. It honors the value of work and the workers who make our country great.
Patrick Pizella’s opinion piece in the Washington Examiner this week entitled “There is Always Dignity in Work” is a great read to remind us what we should strive to celebrate. Find it here.