Service Employees International Union, the nation’s second-largest labor union behind the National Education Association, will cut its budget by 30%, according to a December 14 internal union memo first reported by Bloomberg on December 27. A 10% cut will take place immediately; the cuts will reach 30% by the end of 2017. In the memo … Continue Reading
In a previous post, we reported on Browning-Ferris Industries of California Inc., 362 NLRB No. 186 (2015), a landmark National Labor Relations Board decision that established a new “test” for the NLRB to apply when determining joint employer status under the National Labor Relations Act. Browning-Ferris (BFI) operated a waste recycling facility and subcontracted employees … Continue Reading
On December 8, the Senate confirmed Lauren McFerran (D) as a member of the National Labor Relations Board by a vote of 54-40, along party lines. Ms. McFerran will replace Democrat Nancy Schiffer, whose appointment is set to expire December 16, 2014. Employers should expect that her views will be similar to Member Schiffer’s pro-labor … Continue Reading
According to multiple reports, President Barack Obama has announced his intention to renominate Sharon Block to the National Labor Relations Board. Block was one of the Board Members whose recess appointment on January 4, 2012 was invalidated in the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in NLRB v. Noel Canning as unconstitutional. Block, a former labor and … Continue Reading
Representatives John Kline (R-Minn.) and Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) have written to National Labor Relations Board Chairman Mark Pearce requesting a 30-day extension to the comment period to the NLRB’s re-issued proposed representation petition rule changes. The comment and reply comment period ends on April 14, 2014. While expressing general opposition to significant changes in pre-election procedure … Continue Reading
Due to a lack of funding, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) mediators are prohibited from attending mediation session until the government shutdown ends and funding is available, Jackson Lewis has learned. According to the FMCS’s Contingency Plan for Agency Operations in the Absence of Appropriations, FMCS will continue to provide collective bargaining mediation services … Continue Reading
Labor law issues again have taken a leading role in Washington politics. As reported on this blog recently, two controversial GOP-supported bills are currently before the House Education and Workforce Committee. See, NLRA Amendments Introduced in Congress. While their passage is extremely unlikely, given the Democrat majority in the Senate, the issues addressed by both … Continue Reading
The House Education and the Workforce committee is holding a hearing on February 11, 2011, to review the actions of the National Labor Relations Board. We expect they will talk about recent NLRB decisions and rulemaking efforts and the general direction of the Board. In 2010, the Board’s budget was $287 million, up $20 million … Continue Reading
The U.S. Senate has unanimously confirmed both Mark Gaston Pearce and Brian Hayes to serve as members of the National Labor Relations Board. This brings the membership at the Board from four to five for the first time since 2007. Mr. Pearce has already been serving as a member of the NLRB since April … Continue Reading
Senators Orrin Hatch and Tom Harkin, members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, spoke at the 20th Jackson Lewis Corporate Counsel Conference in Washington, D.C. on May 13. Senator Harkin said at an IAM conference held a few days before that EFCA was his top priority. We asked Senator Hatch during our breakfast … Continue Reading
As expected, the Senate Democratic majority failed to muster the votes necessary to invoke cloture on the nomination of Craig Becker to the NLRB yesterday. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s release below provides additional details as well as three possible directions this might take. *** TO: All Members of the U.S. Chamber’s Labor Relations Committee … Continue Reading
With the Administration’s nomination of Craig Becker for a seat on the National Labor Relations Board set for a cloture vote in the Senate today, Nebraska’s Democratic Senator Ben Nelson has announced he will join with Republicans in opposing the Senate leadership’s motion to cut off debate on Becker. Cloture would clear the way for … Continue Reading
As expected, the Senate HELP Committee has approved the nomination of Craig Becker to the NLRB on a party line vote. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s release below provides additional details. *** TO: Members of the U.S. Chamber’s Labor Relations Committee and other interested members of the business community As scheduled the Committee on Health, Education, … Continue Reading
Senator Orrin Hatch’s (R-Utah) opening remarks on the first day of Senate HELP Committee hearings on the nomination of Craig Becker to the NLRB, available here, contained a salvo of questions probing the nominee’s controversial positions on key labor relations law issues, such as his view that employers should have no right express their … Continue Reading
Immediate action called for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in connection with the Becker nomination to the NLRB. See Chamber’s release below. Additional information about the possible impact of this appointment will be found in several recent Jackson Lewis EFCA and Labor Law Reform blog. If you would like to discuss the significance of … Continue Reading
The Senate HELP Committee will hold a hearing on the Craig Becker nomination to the NLRB on February 2 at 4:00 p.m. (http://help.senate.gov/Hearings/2010_02_02/2010_02_02.html). The Committee will then consider him and we expect Becker’s nomination will be approved and likely referred to the full Senate for confirmation. Senate Democrats may try to rush Becker’s confirmation vote … Continue Reading
Workplace discrimination on the basis of an employee’s support for, or opposition to, a labor organization has been unlawful since 1935, when the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was passed. One exception to this principle of non-discrimination: In non-right-to-work states, such as Massachusetts and California, an employee can be required to pay union dues under … Continue Reading
On January 1, 2010, Oregon Senate Bill 519 became effective, making Oregon the first state in the country to bar employers from requiring employees to attend meetings to learn about the company’s views about unionization. The law has several components, including the creation of a new classification of wrongful termination lawsuits and the requirement that all … Continue Reading
As reported here, the Senate late last year unanimously refused to carry over Mr. Becker’s nomination for consideration in the next Session of Congress. The nomination was thus returned to President Obama. Now, according to the New York Times, President Obama has decided to renominate Craig Becker as a member of the National Labor Relations Board. … Continue Reading
Craig Becker’s NLRB nomination may not have been thrown under the bus, but it certainly seems to have been thrown off of it. Just prior to adjournment on December 24, the Senate unanimously refused to carry over Mr. Becker’s nomination for consideration in the next Session of Congress. It was returned to the President. As … Continue Reading
Labor advocates often refer to recent union “studies” as support for labor law reform. These, as it turns out, “lack sufficient credibility and analytical vigor” to support their conclusions. This revelation is made in a newly-released White Paper, Responding to Union Rhetoric: The Reality of the American Workplace, published by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber … Continue Reading
As we reported in “With EFCA ‘Reform’ on Hold in Congress, Unions Turn to State Legislatures for Labor Law Change,” Kris Maher wrote an article discussing the signing into law of the “Worker Freedom Act” in Oregon, which prohibits employers from holding mandatory meetings with employees to discuss union organizing. In Washington state, Oregon’s neighbor … Continue Reading
Last week we told you that “Organized Labor certainly has the ‘ear’ of this Administration.” We didn’t know how right we were. On Friday, the Obama Administration published a partial list of visitors who have visited the White House. Andy Stern, President of Service Employees International Union (SEIU), visited 22 times, more than any … Continue Reading
By a vote of 15-8, mainly along party lines, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (“HELP”) earlier today approved the Administration’s nomination of Craig Becker to the Labor Board. The other two nominees (Mark Pearce and Brian Hayes) received unanimous votes. The Committee’s action makes it more likely all three nominations will reach … Continue Reading
