Showing blog posts tagged with collective bargaining
Today, in a culmination of months of listening sessions and reflection, the AFL-CIO announced that any U.S. worker can join the labor movement and that the labor federation will develop several new pathways for workers to join the labor movement, either through affiliate unions, AFL-CIO's community affiliate Working America, worker centers or as students. In addition to opening the labor movement to all and the commitment to building enduring
community labor partnerships
, the AFL-CIO passed two other important resolutions in the Monday morning session at its quadrennial convention in Los Angeles.
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In a
ruling last week
, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2011 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that said people in unions can organize smaller units of workers, rejecting Specialty Healthcare's claim that the NLRB overstepped its bounds. The company originally attempted to prevent a group of nursing assistants from forming a union without also including other, nonprofessional employees.
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A Superior Court judge ruled on Monday against Anchorage, Alaska, Mayor Dan Sullivan who sought to block a proposed referendum to repeal
an anti-working families law
he signed in March. A coalition of municipal unions and their allies filed the paperwork to launch a petition drive to get the repeal on the ballot, but the city rejected the application.
The unions sued and the court found the city was wrong to conclude that the matter was ineligible for a referendum.
The coalition announced on Twitter that they will begin gathering petitions on Thursday.
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Information about the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) working in secret to push state-level policy to more extreme levels is coming to light
more and more
and America's working families are starting to stand up to the group's corporate-driven agenda. While ALEC's agenda is all over the policy map, the organization has a particular focus on pushing new laws that attack working families and undercut the rights of workers, both in the workplace and in retirement. Here are eight of the most dangerous and most widespread ways that ALEC is targeting workers and their right to a voice on the job.
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California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) ordered a
board of inquiry
Sunday night to investigate the
contract negotiations
between the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) authority and the unions representing the system’s 2,400 workers. The order averted a strike—for at least seven days—that was likely to begin this morning if negotiators were unable to reach a new contract.
The unions, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)
Local 1555
and SEIU Local 1021, told reporters that they hoped the boards’ investigation would reveal BART management’s failure to bargain in good faith and its lack of commitment to reaching a fair settlement.
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While thousands of North Carolina residents
rally in opposition
, the state legislature continues to push an extremist agenda that will harm the Tar Heel State's working families. The latest outrage is H.B. 74, which is targeted directly at the rights of not only workers, but local governments. A special section of the bill contains a giveaway to large agricultural manufacturers that would provide them a shield against farm workers organizing and bargaining for better rights. A separate bill, that has been a key target of "Moral Monday" protests, would make it
harder for North Carolina residents to vote
, creating the most restrictive voter suppression law in the country.
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An editorial in the
South Jersey Times
calls on the U.S. Senate to approve President Barack Obama's nominations to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to ensure nurses at Memorial Hospital of Salem County have their rights to collective bargaining protected. More than two years ago, the nurses voted to form a union and attempted to enter into contract negotiations with Community Health Systems (CHS), the owner of the hospital. CHS refused to recognize the union and the appealed the election to the NLRB. The case remains in limbo because of a federal appeals court decision that is obstructing the work of the NLRB by severely limiting the president's authority to make recess appointments when Congress won't act on nominees.
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Workers at Sunny Day Car Wash in the Bronx, N.Y., who joined the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) last year, ratified a three-year contract this week. The pact mirrors the contract the workers made with
another carwash in Queens
less than two weeks ago.
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Last week's debate in the special Senate election in Massachusetts shows a sharp contrast in the positions of the two candidates hoping to replace new Secretary of State John Kerry. Democrat Edward Markey and Republican Gabriel Gomez differ greatly on the rights of government workers. Markey gave a spirited defense of the collective bargaining rights of first responders and others who work for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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