EverythingPeople gives valuable insight into the developments both inside and outside the HR position.
16 April 2024
26 March 2024
In the midst of the NCAA March Madness, a distraction is taking place. A regional director for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled last month that members of the Dartmouth men's basketball team are employees of the school. This ruling will allow the basketball team to organize under the NLRB rules, and they decided to join Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
12 March 2024
27 February 2024
Should workers violating a company dress code policy be protected under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) if they are wearing or displaying political slogans on their uniforms protesting for an issue unrelated to their work?
20 February 2024
In the category of what’s good for the goose is good for the gander we have the pro-union National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently finding the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union engaged in a myriad of unfair labor practices with its own unionized staff who are members of FAIR. (Yes, unions have unions.)
13 February 2024
30 January 2024
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported union membership continued to decline in 2023. The BLS reported that private sector union membership increased by 191,000 members during the year. Union representation was 11.2% of workers in 2023 down from 11.3% in 2022.
2 January 2024
As we closed out 2023, unions continued to win recognition elections at a rate of almost 75%. In 2023 this percentage is from 1,316 certification elections run nationally. This included an overall win rate in September, 2023 of 91%. This win rate was for recognition certification elections – also called RC elections.
On December 26, 2023, representation case procedures changed under a rule published in August 2023 by the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”). Essentially, the rule is reimplementing the 2014 Obama era “Quickie Election” rules.
19 December 2023
Labor contracts of large employers can significantly impact smaller related employers through a series of economic forces. One primary mechanism is the influence of wage and benefit standards set by major corporations within a specific industry. When large companies establish high standards in their labor contracts, it creates a benchmark that smaller employers often feel compelled to meet to attract and retain skilled and experienced workers.
28 November 2023
Shaun Fain, UAW President, is not only taking a victory lap around the recent contract settlements with the Detroit Three, but he has also repeatedly vowed to organize the other non-union auto manufacturers and their suppliers so that in 2028 he will be bargaining against the Big Five or Six.
21 November 2023
What the National Labor Relations Board seeks to give unions, the Courts taketh away. Since the beginning of the Biden era, the NLRB has issued ruling after ruling challenging employers’ policies as anti-union. Many policies that have been acceptable for years are now being cast as anti-union and in turn, an unfair labor practice.
31 October 2023
Last Wednesday Ford Motor Company reached a tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers. Though it remains to be seen what else was agreed to, the tentative deal increases wages 25% over the life of the contract. Top wage jobs will see cumulative wages rise 30% to over $40/hr. Starting wages will increase 68% to over $28/hr. Stellantis agreed to a similar deal last Saturday that mirrors the Ford deal.
17 October 2023
As the UAW strike enters its 5th week, Shawn Fain, UAW President, continues to call on more plants to strike and continues to increase pressure on the Detroit Three. Last week, Fain called on Ford’s Kentucky plant’s 8700 union workers to walk off the job having received Ford’s latest proposal at a meeting that Fain took just ten minutes to leave saying, “You just lost Kentucky Truck Plant.”
3 October 2023
In a case before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C., the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is claiming a program that solicits employee feedback created a union because the company discussed the issues with the employees (T-Mobile v. NLRB, Nos. 22-1310 and 23-1002).
26 September 2023
Businesses that may face their own fallout from the UAW strike against the Detroit Three should be cognizant of some resources and obligations. During ASE’s bi-weekly Conversations with Mike & Tony webinar, we asked the participants if they foresaw a direct impact from the strike in the next 30 days. 26% said they did, and the biggest percentage of those indicated the impact would be employee layoffs.
19 September 2023
29 August 2023
Last week the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued its long-anticipated decision in Cemex Construction Materials Pacific LLC and also issued a new rule changing union election procedures.
22 August 2023
With less than a month to go before the Big Three and the UAW labor contracts expire (September 14), the UAW is ratcheting up its negotiation rhetoric and posturing.
9 August 2023
Not unexpectedly, last week the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) changed its work rule test. The NLRB’s work rule test assesses whether particular employer policies (rules) illegally restrict workers’ rights. The Biden labor Board, now comprised of his appointees, and its General Counsel stated that since this Administration came into office, it would be reviewing many Trump-era labor rules and this rule in particular.
27 June 2023
13 June 2023
With the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) currently stretching union rights in every direction, earlier this month the U.S. Supreme Court put up a block against unlawful strike behavior. In an 8-1 decision the high Court said an employer may sue a union if they allowed their striking members to intentionally damage company property during a strike. This would seem to be a no-brainer but not in the world of labor.
5 June 2023
Every three years Detroit’s auto industry faces the “Auto Talks.” The Big Three and the United Auto Workers (UAW) will re-negotiate their contracts that are set to expire this September 14th. This event not only impacts General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis NV but also impacts the suppliers and vendors that support auto production.
21 March 2023
Most employer handbooks have a policy addressing solicitations at work. One major purpose of a no solicitation policy is to prevent union organizing on an employer’s premises. Union organizers want easy access to employees and where better to reach them?
14 March 2023