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President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Craig Becker and Mark Pearce to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in a White House press release issued Friday, April 24, 2009. Congress created the NLRB in 1935 to administer the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the principal law that governs relations between labor unions, employers, […]
By Sara Parchello The face of unionization in Canada is changing. Although it’s declining in the private sector, it’s increasing in the public sector. A few recent decisions by Canadian courts show this trend. The most recent is a decision involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (commonly known as the “Mounties”). On April 6, 2009, […]
By Karen Sargeant In the last several months, we have posted several blog entries detailing how employers can reduce employment costs and/or increase workforce flexibility in these tough economic times. We have talked about furloughs, work-sharing programs, changing employment contracts, adjusting the size of the workforce and reducing employees’ hours of work. But all of […]
After forming an ad hoc committee called the “Committee for a Level Playing Field for Union Elections,” three U.S. retailer giants announced an alternative to the controversial Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Starbucks Corp., Costco Wholesale Corp., and Whole Foods Market, Inc., outlined six principles they believe represent a compromise between business and labor interests. […]
Two large and powerful health care labor unions have signed a pact that is expected to provide a shot in the arm for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Under the pact announced on March 19, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CAN/NNOC) will work together to […]
For the third week in a row, Congress and President Barack Obama have made changes to federal employment laws or regulations. First, it was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. The next week, President Obama signed executive orders affecting federal contractors and unions. And this week brings us the stimulus plan with changes to COBRA […]
by David S. Fortney At the end of his first full week in office, President Barack Obama took swift action to change employment and labor law. On January 28, he signed the Lilly Lebedetter Fair Pay Act, which relaxes the statute of limitation within which workers can file pay discrimination claims. On January 29, President […]
As surely as the word “layoffs” have become part of nervous break room conversations in companies across the country, enterprising employers have sought out creative alternatives to the standard layoff regime of cost-cutting. Using tactics such as hiring freezes, offers of unpaid leave, shortened workweeks, and even pay cuts, employers may be able to avoid […]
by Al Vreeland As with old girlfriends, we don’t always appreciate what we have in life until we don’t have it anymore. Employers have enjoyed pretty smooth sailing for almost a decade now. The feds have imposed relatively few new regulations, the courts have looked at most employment lawsuits with a skeptical eye, and unions […]
by Donald D. Berner and Forrest T. Rhodes The election of Barack Obama as the next president, coupled with the Democratic Party’s increased majority in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, is certain to bring changes. The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which President-elect Obama and Democratic congressional leaders vow to pass in […]