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On September 8, 2022, federal Congressional legislators from Massachusetts and California reintroduced the Nationwide Right to Unionize Act, which takes aim at state “right to work” laws and attempts to increase employees’ right to unionize. Section 14(b) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) prohibits compulsory union membership and payment of union dues and fees […]
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel (GC) Jennifer Abruzzo is taking aggressive positions designed to help unions be more successful in organizing. The GC is the agency’s top lawyer. While she can’t unilaterally change the law, she can argue prior precedent was wrongly decided and urge the present union-friendly NLRB members to change the […]
After years of declining membership, unions are redoubling their efforts to sell their product (membership) to new customers. While they have long targeted grocery stores like Kroger and SuperValu, they are now moving into the so-called “new economy” by zeroing in on employers like Amazon and Starbucks.
Against the backdrop of a new presidential administration, an evolving workforce, and a changing economy brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the landscape for union organizing has radically changed over the past two years. While the nation’s attention is currently focused on unionization efforts at household names such as Amazon and Starbucks, employers of all […]
A new memo from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) general counsel (GC) represents a continuation of efforts to promote unionization, according to attorneys who help guide employers through union campaigns. NLRB GC Jennifer Abruzzo on April 27 announced an initiative aimed at promoting collective bargaining through partnering with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service […]
For some people, loyalty to a particular coffee brand rivals their devotion to a favorite college football team. Kathleen, my spouse, would crawl three miles over broken glass for her Starbucks Americano decaf. I favor QuikTrip and McDonald’s coffee. Within the last three months, employees at several Starbucks locations voted to unionize. Seem like isolated […]
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel (GC) Jennifer Abruzzo recently issued a memorandum (GC 21-08) declaring certain college athletes will be classified as employees, giving them the right to unionize and engage in other protected, concerted activity. Read on to learn how things might play out in the real world.
Those of you who have watched the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—the nation’s primary enforcer of labor law—over the years no doubt expect it to reshuffle its priorities when the White House changes parties. The Board swore in Jennifer Abruzzo as its new general counsel (GC) on July 22, 2021, and three weeks later, she […]
by Martin J. Regimbal Workers at the Nissan auto plant in Canton, Mississippi, rejected a unionization effort by the United Auto Workers (UAW) on August 3-4, leaving intact the union’s record of unsuccessful organizing attempts at foreign-owned auto plants in the South. The UAW has never fully organized a foreign-owned auto plant in the South, […]
The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) ruling that graduate student assistants at private colleges and universities are entitled to unionize is the latest Board action seen as a boon to union interests. In a 3-1 decision issued on August 23, the Board ruled that graduate assistants at Columbia University are employees as well as students […]