By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,NLRB Rule-Making,Representation Elections,UnionsNo shock to anyone, the National Labor Relations Board today announced that tomorrow it will publish anew a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to drastically shorten the timeframe for the conduct of union representation elections. According to the Board, the proposed amendments are identical to the changes first proposed in June of 2011. Indeed, the NPRM appearing… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,NLRA,NLRB Decisions,Social Media,Unfair Labor PracticesLast week, National Labor Relations Board Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon issued a second report summarizing cases involving social media issues reviewed by his office. The report is a sequel to a similar report issued by the AGC in August 2011 – around the time we contributed a chapter on the subject to Jon Hyman’s excellent compilation “Think… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,Executive Orders,Government Contracting,Representation Elections,White HouseThe Department of Defense, General Services Administration, and NASA have published a Final Rule in the Federal Register to implement Executive Order 13494, "Economy in Government Contracting." The Order, one of three Executive Orders issued by President Obama on January 30, 2009 regarding labor relations, declared the costs of any activities undertaken by federal contractors to persuade employees… Continue Reading
By Seth Borden on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,House of Representatives,Legislation,NLRA,NLRB Decisions,RemediesThe House Committee on Education and the Workforce passed a bill yesterday that would prohibit the National Labor Relations Board from ordering any employer to close, relocate, or transfer a business. The Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act (H.R. 2587), introduced by Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC), is aimed, in part, at stopping the NLRB from proceeding with its complaint against the Boeing… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,Card Check,EFCANational Journal reports on last night’s debate between Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and her primary challenger Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (D-AR): Halter went on offense first against Lincoln during a question about the Employee Free Choice Act, which is often referred to as "card check." He mentioned that she first sponsored EFCA, then opposed it and… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA,Legislative Strategy,SenateThe Hill’s Blog Briefing Room today reports that Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has told local Missouri journalists that the Employee Free Choice Act is unlikely to be addressed in the Senate in 2010: "I don’t think that card check is going to come up," McCaskill said during a weekly conference call with Missouri journalists. "It has not come… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,Beyond EFCA: Labor's Agenda,EFCA,NLRBThe Labor & Employment Team at McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP is launching Labor Relations Today, a blog providing analysis, resources and commentary regarding current and emerging issues in labor and employment law. Led by MLA partners Richard B. Hankins and Seth H. Borden, the authors of EFCA Report, the new blog seeks to become the… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA For the better part of the past twenty-eight months NLRB Member Peter Schaumber has worked with Chairman Wilma Liebman while the National Labor Relations Board has been operating with only two of its five positions filled. This week, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in New Process Steel v. NLRB, Docket No. 08-1457, to pass upon the issue of… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA,Filibuster,Media Round-Up,Senate,White HouseAs the Senate Recess begins, observers continue to speculate whether President Obama will use recess appointments to place nominee Craig Becker on the National Labor Relations Board. Last week, Becker’s nomination stalled in the Senate when a motion for cloture failed 52-33. Later in the week, the President strongly suggested that he would not be… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA,Filibuster,SenateThe Senate has posted the roll call on the Becker cloture vote here. Let the political speculation begin. What impact did the snow and the shutdown have? What impact did Senator Nelson’s proclamation have on participation? These Senators did not cast a vote: Brownback (R-KS) Byrd (D-WV) DeMint (R-SC) Ensign (R-NV) Graham (R-SC) Gregg (R-NH) Hatch… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,Card Check,EFCA,Filibuster,Legislative Strategy,SenateIn advance of a probable filibuster (with growing support) over Craig Becker’s nomination to the National Labor Relations Board, Glen Spencer of the U.S. Chamber’s Workforce Freedom Initiative and former Clinton-Gore advisor Peter Mirijanian swapped commentary on Fox News earlier today: Watch the latest news video at video.foxnews.com The anchor led with the angle that… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA,Filibuster,NLRBPolitico reports Monday night that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) will support a Republican-led filibuster over President Barack Obama’s nomination of Craig Becker to serve on the National Labor Relations Board: “Mr. Becker’s previous statements strongly indicate that he would take an aggressive personal agenda to the NLRB, and that he would pursue a personal agenda there, rather… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA,Interest Arbitration,Legislative Strategy,Remedies,SenateAs prospects for Senate passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, in its current form, have waned, observers have turned their attention to alternative ways in which the bill’s components might be implemented. The possibility attracting the most commentary lately has been the prospect of a new National Labor Relations Board majority, sympathetic to organized labor,… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,Card Check,EFCA,Expedited Elections,Interest Arbitration,Legislative Strategy,Remedies,SenateBack in August, AFL-CIO President (then Treasurer-Secretary) Richard Trumka told a webchat audience that efforts to pass the Employee Free Choice Act would probably not advance any further until after Congress was through with healthcare reform. As the debate over the healthcare legislation soldiers on, Tuesday’s Politico noted "For labor, there’s always next year": To be sure, health care reform has… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA,Legislative Strategy,SenateColumnist Brian A. Howey published a full-length interview with Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) at his Howey Politics Indiana (HPI) site. Months ago, we noted Senator Bayh’s formation of the "Practicality Caucus" and speculated that groups of moderates would likely seek to change the debate over EFCA. It seems that remains a strong possibility: HPI: Where are you on card check?… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA,Filibuster,Legislative Strategy,Special InterestsAt The Hill yesterday, Kevin Bogardus reported that Senator Tom Harkin told a union lobbying group that but for the late Senator Kennedy’s illness, the Senate had 60 votes on a "compromise" draft of EFCA back in July: “As of July, I can tell you this openly and I know the press is all here… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA,Legislative StrategyToday’s ChamberPost blog quotes Roll Call regarding the possibility of a troubling Democratic legislative strategy in the Senate on EFCA: As Senate Democrats struggle to hammer out a compromise bill on union organizing, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is sketching a process for railroading the bill through the floor as quickly as possible to prevent Republicans from… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA,Filibuster,Legislative Strategy,MLA MediaToday’s Atlanta Business Chronicle contains a piece on EFCA suggesting "Revision may speed passage of union bill" (subscription). McKenna Long & Aldridge partner and EFCA Report blogger Richard Hankins is quoted throughout, including the following passages: The first major development on the proposal in months occurred when moderate Democrats in the Senate this month decided to drop… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA,White HouseThe recent suggestions that Senators may jettison card-check, or “majority sign up” (or whatever we’re supposed to call it these days) from the Employee Free Choice Act comes with word that it may be replaced by a mandate that elections be held within five or ten days of the date a petition is filed. Criticism of… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,Card Check,EFCA,Expedited Elections,Interest ArbitrationMore following Friday’s New York Times report that Senate Dems are considering dropping card-check from EFCA, but retaining the troubling mandatory interest arbitration provision. At Commentary, Jennifer Rubin continues her coverage of EFCA developments, expressing skepticism that any such "compromise" would fly: If there is such a deal, those Red state Democrats will be back on… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Alternative Labor Law Reform,EFCA,Expedited Elections,SenateToday’s New York Times reports that moderate Democrats have agreed to a "compromise" on the Employee Free Choice Act that they believe would garner the sixty votes needed to overcome a filibuster. The compromise would reportedly remove the card-check requirement from the bill and replace it with a requirement that elections be conducted within five… Continue Reading
