05/22/2013
May 16 was a bad day for the NLRB. First, yet another federal circuit court ruled that two current NLRB members had been illegally appointed. Then, Republican senators fired opening salvos in a bid to dump the two current board members and slow down the confirmation of two new NLRB nominees.
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05/20/2013
A federal appeals court on May 7 struck down a two-year-old National Labor Relations Board rule that would have required private-sector employers to post a notice informing employees of their rights to join or form a union.
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05/10/2013
After being locked out since Oct. 21, 2012, musicians with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra are prepared to complete a shortened season with a smaller contingent. A tentative agreement ending the lockout cuts the orchestra from 34 members to 28 and lowers the guaranteed minimum salary to $60,000—19% less than the previous contract that expired last September.
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05/10/2013
The 20-month-long American Crystal Sugar lockout is finally over. In April, 55% of the members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 167G ratified a contract that closely resembles a deal they rejected on four previous votes.
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05/01/2013
The Texas chapter of the AFL-CIO is opposing a bill introduced in the state House of Representatives that would criminalize payroll deductions for contributions to political action committees.
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04/29/2013
President Obama’s picks to fill vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board face stiff opposition from some Republican senators who continue to object to controversial “recess appointments” that occurred in 2012.
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04/03/2013
The NLRB has been stung several times in recent months, but continues to sting back. First, a federal appeals court ruled that several board members had been illegally appointed. Then an NLRB decision favoring striking health care workers was overturned. Regaining its footing, the NLRB decided to punish a nonunion employer for discouraging unionization in its handbook.
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04/03/2013
The NLRB has ordered a Plainview catering and food-service company to hand over reams of financial information to the United Food and Commercial Workers union to use in contract negotiations.
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04/01/2013
The National Labor Relations Board in March announced it will appeal a lower court’s ruling that President Obama exceeded his constitutional authority when he made three recess appointments to the board.
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03/29/2013
What striking workers say on the picket line is largely protected speech, even if it’s offensive. What’s said on the picket line is protected speech under federal law, not willful misconduct under Pennsylvania law.
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03/20/2013
Forty-five thousand Kaiser Permanente employees in California will start receiving new union ballots April 5 following a National Labor Relations Board ruling that a 2010 election was invalid.
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03/15/2013
Unions represent an ever-shrinking slice of U.S. employees, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only 11.3% of workers were unionized in 2012, down from 11.8% in 2011. In 1981, 20.1% of American workers belonged to a union. Several factors have contributed to the decline.
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02/28/2013
Late in 2012, the NLRB left many employers scratching their heads—and pulling their employee handbooks off the shelf. Until recently, the NLRB pretty much limited itself to dealing with labor unions and the right to organize, leaving employers alone as long as no union activity was involved. That’s all changed in the past year.
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02/20/2013
In a potentially far-reaching decision, the National Labor Relations Board has ruled an employer must turn over confidential employee witness statements to a union as part of a grievance procedure.
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02/20/2013
Minnesota’s quiet winter may become a silent spring if labor disputes continue for two of the state’s premier orchestras. Management teams at both the Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra have locked out musicians after the parties failed to agree on new contracts.
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