By Seth Borden on Posted in Beyond EFCA: Labor's Agenda,EFCA,Legislation,NLRA,Remedies,Representation Elections,UnionsOn Thursday, September 17, 2015, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Bobby Scott (D-WA) introduced the Workplace Action for a Growing Economy (WAGE) Act (S. 2042). The bill, promoting collective-bargaining and labor unions by drastically enhancing penalties against employers under the National Labor Relations Act, is being proposed primarily as an election season litmus test, with… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,White HousePolitico’s 44 blog quotes a piece by the Atlantic’s Molly Ball, highlighting AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s recent assertion that organized labor has not given up on the Employee Free Choice Act. Trumka tells Ball that the card-check legislation to facilitate private sector unionization will be enacted if President Obama is re-elected: I note that Trumka… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,SenateFormer Senator Arlen Specter passed away on Sunday. Per the Washington Post: For most of his 30 years as Pennsylvania’s longest-serving U.S. senator, Specter was a Republican, though often at odds with the GOP leadership. His breaks with his party were hardly a surprise: He had begun his political career as a Democrat and ended… Continue Reading
By Brennan W. Bolt on Posted in EFCA,Legislation,NLRB Rule-Making,Representation Elections,SenateYesterday and today the Senate debated and voted on S.J. Res 36, a Resolution of Disapproval aimed at prohibiting the National Labor Relations Board from implementing its new election rules that will shorten the time between the filing of an NLRB petition and the conduct of a union representation election. The Senate rejected the resolution… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,Legislation,NLRB Administration,NLRB Rule-Making,Representation Elections,SCOTUSThe National Labor Relations Board announced today that it has scheduled a vote on whether to adopt “a small number” of the changes to its election procedures that the Board proposed back in June. According to the Board, “[t]he proposed amendments are intended to reduce unnecessary litigation, streamline pre- and post-election procedures, and facilitate the… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,NLRB Rule-Making,Representation Elections,Unfair Labor PracticesOn the heels of the National Labor Relations Board’s proposed rulemaking to shorten the time period between the filing of a representation petition and the holding of an election, Cornell Professor Kate Bronfenbrenner has issued a new study entitled "The Empirical Case for Streamlining the NLRB Certification Process: The Role of Date of Unfair Labor Practice… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,NLRB Rule-Making,Representation ElectionsAs reported earlier, the National Labor Relations Board tomorrow will officially publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to drastically shorten the time for union representation elections. While legislators were unable to eliminate the time between petition and representation election entirely via the failed push for the Employee Free Choice Act, there have consistently been proponents… Continue Reading
By Brennan W. Bolt on Posted in EFCA,NLRB Rule-Making,Representation ElectionsAs has been expected, for quite some time now, the National Labor Relations Board tomorrow will officially publish a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to drastically shorten the time for union representation elections. According to the NLRB’s fact sheet, "[t]he proposed amendments are intended to reduce unnecessary litigation, streamline pre- and post-election procedures, and facilitate the… Continue Reading
By Brennan W. Bolt on Posted in EFCA,Federal Court Litigation,NLRA,Representation Elections,State/Local IssuesOn June 9, 2011, the nonprofit organization Save Our Secret Ballot and 34 individuals moved to intervene as defendants in the National Labor Relations Board’s lawsuit against the State of Arizona challenging Article 2 § 37 of the Arizona Constitution. That state constitutional provision, passed by voter referendum last year, requires a guarantee of a… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,House of Representatives,Legislation,NLRA,Senate,Unions,White HouseIn today’s Washington Post, columnist Harold Meyerson chronicles frustration with the state of the labor movement in America and the resulting shift in the organizing strategy of the AFL-CIO and the SEIU. In "Labor’s Hail Mary Pass," he asserts this shift "reflects a belief that the American labor movement may be on the verge of extinction and must radically… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,Federal Court Litigation,Legislation,NLRA,NLRB Misc.,Representation Elections,State/Local IssuesThe National Labor Relations Board this afternoon filed suit against the State of Arizona in the federal District Court for the District of Arizona. Consistent with its previous announcement of its intent to do so, the Board is seeking a Declaratory Judgment proclaiming Arizona Constitution Article 2 § 37 pre-empted by the National Labor Relations Act. Article… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,House of Representatives,NLRB Administration,NLRB Rule-Making,Representation ElectionsThis past April Fool’s Day, labor relations consultant Phil Wilson raised eyebrows and heart rates with his gag e-mail announcing that the National Labor Relations Board had adopted implemented a new 5-day timetable for union representation elections. Our post the next day: So, while LRI’s April Fool’s e-mail alert was a well-designed prank on employers and the management bar, none of us… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,Legislation,NLRB Administration,Representation ElectionsSome of you may have received an e-mail alert yesterday from labor consultant Phil Wilson at LRI with the Subject line “Breaking News: NLRB Implements 5-Day Elections.” This was enough to raise the heart rates of many labor professionals around the country. The body of the email explained that the NLRB’s Representation Casehandling Manual was being changed… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,House of Representatives,Legislation,Representation Elections,SenateChairman of the House HELP Sub-Committee, Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN) has introduced the Secret Ballot Protection Act (H.R. 972). Back on January 27, 2011, Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) introduced the Senate version of the bill (S. 217). Rep. Roe’s bill tracks Senator DeMint’s bill, and the language of the bill as introduced in previous sessions of Congress.… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,Legislation,NLRB Administration,State/Local IssuesIn case you missed the reference by Senator DeMint (D-SC) included in our post yesterday, the Attorneys General of Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah have filed a joint letter in response to NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon’s recent invitation to address the constitutionality of the states’ secret ballot amendments. The letter from the… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,Legislation,Representation Elections,Senate,State/Local IssuesSenator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina) today introduced the Secret Ballot Protection Act (SBPA), a bill intended to "guarantee the right of every American worker to have a secret ballot election on whether to unionize." While the full text is not yet available, versions of this bill introduced in earlier sessions of Congress would have made… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,NLRB Rule-Making,Remedies,Unfair Labor PracticesThe Employee Free Choice Act appears completely dead — not just "mostly dead," as it is unlikely to make the lame duck Congressional agenda as many feared. Yet, the National Labor Relations Board continues its recent efforts to expand traditional Board remedies administratively without the passage of new legislation. Today, Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,NLRB Decisions,Remedies,Unfair Labor PracticesThe Employee Free Choice Act provision which garnered the least attention during the legislative push for the bill during the last several years was the section expanding remedies under the National Labor Relations Act. After EFCA’s future prospects appeared particularly dim, back in February 2010, we speculated in a Bloomberg Law Reports piece that the National… Continue Reading
By on Posted in Bush Board Reversal,EFCA,NLRA,NLRB DecisionsBack in August, the Board granted review in Lamon Gasket Co., a case that will reconsider a 2007 Board decision (Dana Corp., 351 NLRB 434). Under Dana, when an employer agrees to voluntarily recognize a union based on signed authorization cards, it may advise employees that they have a 45 day window to file a… Continue Reading
By on Posted in EFCA,Legislation,State/Local IssuesAmid the various Election 2010 returns, NAM’s Shopfloor.org reports on the passage of ballot initiatives in four states to require secret ballots in union representation elections: In a multistate rebuke to organized labor, voters in four states are approving measures to reaffirm the sanctity of the secret ballot. No Employee Free Choice Act for us,… Continue Reading
