Recently, I contributed to a paper by the Competitive Enterprise Institute discussing the negative impacts of the proposed Protecting the Right to Organize Act of 2019 (H.R. 2474), also known as the PRO Act. This act would overhaul United States labor relations law to facilitate labor union organizing without regard to the negative consequences on workers, consumers, employers, and the economy.

My segment, “The PRO Act Would Make it More Difficult for Workers to Make an Informed Decision Regarding Unionization,” begins on page 14, but I encourage reading the other strong cases against the PRO Act, written by leading experts Trey Kovacs, Olivia Grady, Russell A. Hollrah, Patrick A. Hollrah, F. Vincent Vernuccio, Morgan Shields, and Austen Bannan.

You can find the full paper here.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in a split-decision that employers may bar non-employees from leafletting on their premises, even if the non-employees work for on-site contractors.
The decision, which was made on a case brought forth by the San Antonio Symphony, reversed an agency judge’s ruling that the Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation violated the National Labor Relations Act.
Read more about it here.

On Friday last week, the Labor Department sent a rule to the White House for final review that would require union intermediaries, such as state and local branches and trusts formed under a union’s name, to discloses their finances to the Office of Labor-Management Standards. This financial reporting would include strike funds, training funds, credit unions, etc.

While Democrats view the measure as anti-union, the Department of Labor has stated the new rule will support “the labor organization’s own interests as a democratic institution and the interests of the public and the government.”

Read more about the new rule at Politico Pro here.

On July 26, 2019, the National Mediation Board (NMB) published the Final Rule that allows railroad and airline employees to decertify representation without having to utilize a “straw man.” RWP Labor participated in this process by testifying at the NMB hearing on the rule change and by submitting comments.

Read the official NMB press release about the Final Rule to Simplify Decertification here. A transcript of my testimony can also be found through that link.

For years, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) has been trying to unionize Delta Airline’s flight attendants and baggage handlers without success, a failing they claim stems from anti-union tactics by Delta.

After filing a complaint against the airline in May with the National Mediation Board (NMB), which handles labor relations with the airlines, IAM did not receive the response they wanted. The NMB has declined to investigate the allegations, stating they are unable to do so because the union has not filed an application for a unionization election.
NMB general counsel Mary Johnson wrote in a letter to the union that “the NMB would consider that request” if IAM decided to file an application for an election and request a pre-election investigation.

IAM general vice president Sito Pantoja responded to NMB’s decision with the statement, “By refusing to act, the NMB is saying that Delta firing workers for supporting a union election is an ordinary way of doing business, and therefore not worth an investigation.”

Read more about the complaint here.

In another blow to United Auto Workers, employees at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant voted against unionization on June 7 with 833 (51.8%) voting against the union and 776 (48.2%) voting for unionization. Overall, 93% of eligible employees voted.

While anti-union employees criticized the union for “the ongoing federal corruption probe of the union in Michigan and for what they felt were unfair attacks by the UAW and its supporters against the automaker,” pro-union employees “had eyed the opportunity to bargain with the company over issues such as health and safety, working conditions, paid time off, and the bolstering of retirement plans” according to the Times Free Press.

The last full union vote in 2014 handed UAW a 712-626 defeat, with a smaller group of maintenance workers going on to approve the union approximately a year later. Volkswagen would not bargain with the smaller unit, stating it wanted a vote of all production and maintenance workers. This vote honored the automaker’s request.

Read the full article here.